business plan for a training center

How to open a training center?

There's no doubt that starting a training center requires a lot of work, but with expert planning, you'll be well on your way to creating a profitable business venture.

This guide will give you a low down on all of the major steps involved, from choosing a legal structure to creating a financial forecast and registering your business.

We will also walk you through the process of checking whether or not your idea can be viable given market conditions.

Let's embark on this exciting journey together!

In this guide:

• Learn how a training center works
• Assemble your training center's founding team
• Undertake market research for a training center
• Choose the right concept and position your training center on the market

Explore the ideal location to start your training center

• Decide on a legal form for your training center
• Assess the startup costs for a training center

Create a sales & marketing plan for your training center

• Build your training center's financial forecast
• Choose a name and register your training center
• Develop your training center's corporate identity

Navigate the legal and regulatory requirements for launching your training center

Create a business plan for your training center, raise the financing needed to launch your training center.

• Track your actuals against your forecast

Key takeaways

What is the business model of a training center.

Before thinking about starting a training center, you'll need to have a solid understanding of its business model (how it generates profits) and how the business operates on a daily basis.

Doing so will help you decide whether or not this is the right business idea for you, given your skillset, personal savings, and lifestyle choices.

Looking at the business model in detail will also enable you to form an initial view of the potential for growth and profitability, and to check that it matches your level of ambition.

The easiest ways to acquire insights into how a training center works are to:

Speak with training center owners

Undertake work experience with a successful training center, participate in a training course.

Talking to seasoned entrepreneurs who have also set up a training center will enable you to gain practical advice based on their experience and hindsight.

Learning from others' mistakes not only saves you time and money, but also enhances the likelihood of your venture becoming a financial success.

Gaining hands-on experience in a training center provides insights into the day-to-day operations, and challenges specific to the activity.

This firsthand knowledge is crucial for effective planning and management if you decide to start your own training center.

You'll also realise if the working hours suit your lifestyle. For many entrepreneurs, this can be a "make or break" situation, especially if they have children to look after.

First-hand experience will not only ensure that this is the right business opportunity for you, but will also enable you to meet valuable contacts and gain a better understanding of customer expectations and key success factors which will likely prove advantageous when launching your own training center.

Undertaking training within your chosen industry is another way to get a feel for how a training center works before deciding to pursue a new venture.

Whichever approach you go for to gain insights before starting your training center, make sure you familiarise yourself with:

• The expertise needed to run the business successfully (do you have the skills required?)
• How a week of running a training center might look like (does this fit with your personal situation?)
• The potential turnover of your training center and long-term growth prospects (does this match your ambition?)
• The likely course of action if you decide to sell the company or retire (it's never too early to consider your exit)

At the end of this stage, you should be able to decide whether opening a training center is the right business idea for you given your current personal situation (skills, desires, money, family, etc.).

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Assembling your training center's founding team

The next step to opening your training center is to think about the ideal founding team, or to decide to go in alone.

Starting and growing a successful business doesn't have to be a solo journey and setting up a training center with several co-founders is generally easier. The business benefits from a management team with a wider skillset, decisions are made together, and the financial risk is shared among the partners, making the journey more collaborative and less daunting.

But, running a business with several partners brings its own challenges. Disagreements between co-founders are quite common, and these can pose risks to the business. That's why it's crucial to consider all aspects before starting your own business.

We won't go into too much detail here, as this is a complex topic that deserves its own guide, but we do recommend that you ask yourself the following questions:

What is the ideal number of co-founders for this venture?

Are you on the same wavelength as your potential partners in terms of vision and ambition , how will you deal with potential failure.

Let's look at each of these questions in more detail.

To answer this question you will need to consider the following:

• What skills do you need to run the business? Are you lacking any?
• How much startup capital do you need? How much do you have?
• How are key decisions going to be made? - It is usually advisable to have an odd number of partners (or a majority shareholder) to help break the tie.

Put simply, your co-founders contribute skills, capital, or both. Increasing the number of partners becomes advantageous when there is a deficiency in either of these resources.

Your business partners should share the same short and long-term vision, be it business expansion or social responsibility, to avoid future frustrations and simplify decision-making. Different views are natural, but alignment is ideal.

In any case, you should think of having an exit mechanism in place in case one of the partners wants to move on.

We wish you nothing but success when starting up and growing your training center, but it's always wise to have a backup in case things don't go as planned.

How you deal with a potential failure can vary significantly based on the relationship you have with your business partner (close friend, spouse, ex-colleague, etc.) and the personal circumstances of each of you. 

For instance, starting a business with your spouse might seem appealing, but if it doesn't succeed, you risk losing 100% of the household income at once, which could be stressful.

Similarly, going into a partnership with a friend can put pressure on the friendship in the event of failure or when you need to make difficult decisions.

There is no wrong answer, but it is essential to carefully evaluate your options before starting up to ensure you're well-prepared for any potential outcomes.

Conducting market research for a training center

The next step in launching a training center is to carry out market research. Let's take a look at what this involves.

The objectives of market research

The objective here is very simple: to assess the level of demand for your business and whether there is an opportunity for it to thrive in your chosen location. 

The first step will be to check that the market is not saturated with competing offers and that there is room for a new player: your training center.

Your market analysis will also help you identify a concept and market positioning that has every chance of being successful in your target market, thereby helping increase your business's chances of success.

Carrying out market research for your training center will also enable you to better understand the expectations of your future customers and the most effective ways to communicate with them in your marketing plan.

Analyse key trends in the industry

Your market research should start with an industry analysis in order to gain a good understanding of the main players and current trends in your sector.

Once you've delved into the current state of the market, it will be time to assess what proportion of your target market can be seized by your training center. To do this, you will need to consider both the demand and supply side of the market.

Assess the demand

After checking out the industry, let's shift our focus to figuring out what your potential customers want and how they like to buy.

A classic mistake made by first-time entrepreneurs is to assess demand on the global or national market instead of concentrating on their target market. Only the market share that can be captured by your company in the short term matters. 

Your demand analysis should seek to find answers to the following questions:

• Who are your target customers?
• How many are there?
• What are their expectations?
• What are their buying habits?
• How much budget do they have?
• What are the different customer segments and their characteristics?
• What are the main distribution channels and means of communication for reaching each segment?

The aim of the demand analysis is to identify the customer segments that could be targeted by your training center and what products and services you need to offer to meet their expectations.

Analyse the supply side

You will also have to familiarize yourself with the competing training centers on the market targeted by your future business.

Amongst other things, you’ll need to ask yourself:

• Who are the main competitors?
• How many competitors are already present?
• Where are they located?
• How many people do they employ?
• What is their turnover?
• How do they set their prices?
• Are they small independent businesses or national players?
• Do they seem to be in difficulty or are they flourishing? 
• What is their market positioning?
• What types of products and services do they offer?
• What do customers seem to like about them?

The aim of the competitive analysis is to identify who your competitors will be and to gather information that will help you find a differentiating commercial positioning (more on that later in this guide).

Regulations

Conducting market research is also an opportunity to look at the regulations and conditions required to do business.

You should ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you need to have a specific degree to open a training center?
• Do you need specific licences or permits?
• What are the main regulations applicable to your future business?

Given that your project is at an early stage, your focus should be to clear that there are no roadblocks from a regulatory standpoint before you deep dive into the planning process.

Once your project is more advanced, you will have the opportunity to talk about regulation more in-depth with your lawyer.

Concluding your market research

By the time your market research is completed, you should have either:

• Pinpointed an untapped business opportunity
• Or arrived at the realisation that the market is saturated, prompting the search for alternative business ideas or models.

If the conclusion is that there is an opportunity in the market to cater to one or more customer segments currently overlooked by competitors, that's great!

Conversely, if you come to the conclusion that the market is already saturated, don’t panic! The good news is that you won’t spend several years working hard on a project that has little chance of success. There is no shortage of business ideas either - at The Business Plan Shop, we have identified more than 1,300 potential business ideas!

Don't start from scratch!

With dozens of business plan templates available, get a clear idea of what a complete business plan looks like

How should I position my training center on the market?

The next step to start your training center is to define precisely the market positioning your company will adopt in order to capitalise on the opportunity identified during your market research.

Market positioning refers to the place your product and service offering occupies in customers' minds and how they differ from the competition. Being perceived as a low-cost solution, for example.

To find a concept and a market positioning that will resonate with your customers, you need to address the following issues: 

How can you differentiate yourself from your competitors?

Do you have the option of joining a franchise to reduce risk, is it better to start or buy a training center already in operation, how will you validate your concept and market positioning before investing in the business.

Let's look at these aspects in more detail.

Opening a training center means starting with a major disadvantage compared with competitors already active on the market. 

While you will have to create everything from scratch, your competitors already have everything in place.

Your competitors' teams know the business well, whereas yours has only just been recruited, their customers are loyal and they benefit from word of mouth that you don't yet have.

So you're going to need a solid plan to succeed in taking market share from your competitors and making your mark.

There are a number of aspects to consider in order to try to avoid direct confrontation if possible: 

• Can you target a different customer base than your competitors?
• Can you offer products or services that are different from or complementary to what your competitors already sell?
• How will your competitors react to your training center entering their market?
• Can you build a sustainable competitive advantage that will enable you to compete with your current and future competitors?

A proven way of reducing the risk of your business venture is to join a franchise.

Joining a training center franchise means you don't have to start from scratch. You benefit from the brand recognition of a group and support with operational processes, relations with suppliers, recruitment, etc.

On the flip side, being part of a franchise will restrict your personal freedom, and you'll have to pay an entry fee and an annual royalty (typically a percentage of your sales).

Nevertheless, where possible, starting up as a franchise is generally a good way of reducing risks, especially if you're up against competitors with well-known brands.  

Please note, however, that franchising opportunities vary from country to country and region to region, so there is no guarantee that you'll be able to find a franchise.

The other alternative to setting up a new independent business is to buy out and take over a training center already in operation. 

Here too, a takeover is a good way of reducing the risk of your project compared with a pure start-up.

Taking over a business has two enormous advantages over setting up a new one: you start out on an equal footing with your competitors since you take over the team and the customer base, and you don't increase the supply on the market enabling you to maintain the existing balance on the market where the business operates.

However, as with franchising, the capital requirements for a takeover are higher because the business will have to be bought from its previous owners.

However you decide to set up your business, you will need to ensure that there is a good fit between what you sell and what customers are looking to buy.

To do this, you'll need to meet your target customers to present your products or services and check that they meet their expectations.

The next stage in our guide on how to start a training center: choosing where to set up shop.

Setting up your business in the right location will have a direct impact on your chances of success, so it's a good idea to think things through before you launch.

To help you decide where to set up your business, we recommend considering the following factors:

• Visibility and foot traffic - A training center needs to be easily visible and accessible to potential clients in order to attract them and increase foot traffic. Being in a location with high visibility and foot traffic can also help with marketing efforts.
• Parking space, road and public transport accessibility - This is important for both clients and employees of the training center. Having ample parking space and good accessibility to public transportation can make it easier for people to attend training sessions.
• Proximity to target customers - A training center should be located in an area that is convenient for its target customers, whether it's individuals or businesses. This can help attract and retain clients.
• Competitor presence - It's important to consider the presence of competitors in the area. While some competition can be healthy, too much competition may make it difficult for the training center to stand out and attract clients.

These criteria will need to be refined according to the specific features of your project.

After weighing the factors mentioned earlier, it's crucial to focus on your startup's budget. Look for a location that suits your business needs while being affordable, especially in the short term.

One of the issues that will also come up is the long-term future of your location, particularly if you opt to rent your premises rather than buy. In this case, you will need to consider the conditions for renewing the lease (duration, rent increases, etc.).

Lease agreements vary widely from country to country, so make sure you check the terms applicable to your situation and have your lawyer review your lease before you sign.

Choosing your training center's legal form

The next step to open a training center is to choose the legal form of your business.

The legal form of a business simply means the legal structure it operates under. This structure outlines how the business is set up and defines its legal obligations and responsibilities.

Why is your training center's legal form important?

Choosing the legal form for your training center is an important decision because this will affect your tax obligations, your personal exposure to risk, how decisions are made within the business, the sources of financing available to you, and the amount of paperwork and legal formalities, amongst other things.

The way you set up your business legally will impact your taxes and social contributions, both at a personal level (how much your income is taxed) and at the business level (how much the business's profits are taxed).

Your personal exposure to risk as a business owner also varies based on the legal form of your business. Certain legal forms have a legal personality (also called corporate personality), which means that the business obtains a legal entity which is separate from the owners and the people running it. To put it simply, if something goes wrong with a customer or competitor, for example, with a corporate personality the business gets sued, whereas without it is the entrepreneur personally.

Similarly, some legal forms benefit from limited liability. With a limited liability the maximum you can lose if the business fails is what you invested. Your personal assets are not at risk. However, not all structures protect you in such a way, some structures may expose your personal assets (for example, your creditors might try to go after your house if the business incurs debts and then goes under without being able to repay what it owed).

How decisions are made within the business is also influenced by the legal form of your training center, and so is the amount of paperwork and legal formalities: do you need to hold general assemblies, to produce annual accounts, to get the accounts audited, etc.

The legal form also influences what sources of financing are available to you. Raising capital from investors requires having a company set up, and they will expect limited liability and corporate personality.

What are the most common legal structures?

It's important to note that the actual names of legal structures for businesses vary from country to country . 

But they usually fall within two main types of structures:

Individual businesses

Individual businesses, such as sole traders or sole proprietorships, are legal structures with basic administrative requirements.

They primarily serve self-employed individuals and freelancers rather than businesses with employees.

The main downside of being a sole trader is that there's usually no legal separation between the business and the person running it. Everything the person owns personally is tied up with the business, which can be risky.

This means that if there are problems or the business goes bankrupt, the entrepreneur's personal assets could be taken by creditors. So, there's a risk of personal liability in case of disputes or financial issues.

It is also not possible to raise equity from investors with these structures as there is no share capital.

Despite the downsides, being a sole proprietorship has some advantages. There is usually very little paperwork to get started, simpler tax calculations and accounting formalities.

Companies are all rounders which can be set up by one or more individuals, working on their own or with many employees.

They are recognized as a distinct entity with their own legal personality, and the liability is usually limited to the amount invested by the owners (co-founders and investors). This means that you cannot lose more than you have invested in the business.

This separation ensures that in legal disputes or bankruptcy, the company bears primary responsibility, protecting the personal assets of the founder(s) and potential investor(s).

How should I choose my training center's legal structure?

Deciding on the legal structure is usually quite straightforward once you know how many co-founders you'll have, whether you'll have employees, and the expected revenues for the business.

A good business idea will be viable whatever the legal form you choose. How businesses are taxed changes every year, therefore one cannot rely on specific tax benefits tied to a particular structure when deciding to go into business.

One easy way to proceed is to take note of the legal structures used by your top five competitors, and assume you're going with the most commonly chosen option. Once your idea is mature and you're prepared to formally register the business, you can validate this assumption with a lawyer and an accountant.

Can I switch my training center's legal structure if I get it wrong?

You can switch your legal setup later on, even if it involves selling the old one to a new entity in some cases. However, this comes with extra costs, so it's better to make the right choice from the beginning if you can.

Calculating the budget to open a training center

The next step to opening a training center involves thinking about the equipment and staff needed to launch and run your business on a day-to-day basis.

Each project has its own characteristics, which means that it is not possible to estimate the budget for opening a training center without building a complete financial forecast.

So be careful when you see estimates circulating on the Internet. As with all figures, ask yourself these questions:

• Is my project similar (location, concept, size, etc.)?
• How recent is the information?
• Is it from a trustworthy source?

Startup costs and investments to open a training center

For a training center, the initial working capital requirements and investments may include the following elements:

• Real Estate: This includes the cost of purchasing or leasing a building to house your training center. You may also need to factor in renovation or remodeling costs to customize the space for your specific needs.
• Equipment: This includes any necessary equipment for training, such as computers, projectors, audiovisual equipment, and furniture. You may also need to consider the cost of software and other technology tools.
• Supplies: This includes any materials needed for training, such as textbooks, workbooks, training manuals, and office supplies. It's important to estimate the ongoing cost of supplies for your training center.
• Marketing and Advertising: While this may fall under operating expenses, it's worth mentioning as a potential capital expenditure for a training center. This could include creating a website, designing marketing materials, and potentially hiring a marketing consultant.
• Insurance: As a training center owner, it's important to have insurance to protect your business and assets. This could include liability insurance, property insurance, and workers' compensation insurance.

Of course, you will need to adapt this list to your company's specific needs.

Staffing plan to operate a training center

To establish an accurate financial forecast for your training center, you will also need to assess your staffing requirements.

The extent to which you need to recruit will of course depend on your ambitions for the company's growth, but you might consider recruiting for the following positions:

Once again, this list is only indicative and will need to be adjusted according to the specifics of your training center.

Other operating expenses required to run a training center

You also need to consider operating expenses to run the business:

• Staff Costs: This includes salaries, wages, benefits, and any other related expenses for your training center staff.
• Accountancy Fees: You may need to hire an accountant to manage your financial records and taxes for your training center.
• Insurance Costs: As a training center, you will need to have insurance to protect against any potential accidents or liabilities.
• Software Licenses: This includes the cost of any software programs or licenses needed for your training center, such as learning management systems or accounting software.
• Banking Fees: You will need to pay fees for bank accounts, credit card processing, and other financial transactions for your training center.
• Rent/Lease: If you are renting or leasing a space for your training center, this will be a major operating expense.
• Utilities: You will need to pay for utilities such as electricity, water, and internet for your training center.
• Marketing/Advertising: To attract students to your training center, you will need to budget for marketing and advertising expenses.
• Supplies: This includes any necessary supplies for your training center, such as books, training materials, and office supplies.
• Professional Development: To ensure the quality of your training programs, you may need to budget for professional development opportunities for yourself and your staff.
• Maintenance/Repairs: You will need to budget for any maintenance or repairs needed for your training center, such as equipment or building repairs.
• Travel Expenses: If you or your staff need to travel for training or conferences, you will need to budget for travel expenses.
• Legal Fees: In the event of any legal issues, you may need to budget for legal fees for your training center.
• Taxes: As a business, you will need to pay various taxes, such as income tax and sales tax, for your training center.
• Insurance for Trainers: Depending on the type of training you offer, you may need to provide insurance for your trainers.

This list will need to be adapted to the specifics of your training center but should be a good starting point for your budget.

The next step to launching your training center is to think about the actions you need to take to promote your products and services and build customer loyalty.

Here, you'll be looking at the following issues:

• What is the best method to attract as many new customers as possible?
• How to build customer loyalty and spread word of mouth?
• What human and financial resources will be required to implement the planned actions?
• What level of sales can I expect to generate in return?

The precise sales and marketing levers to activate will depend on the size of your training center. But you could potentially leverage some of the initiatives below.

Besides your sales and marketing plan, your sales forecast will be affected by seasonal patterns related to the nature of your business, such as fluctuations during the holiday season, and your competitive landscape.

Building your training center's financial forecast

The next step to opening a training center is to create your financial forecast.

What is a training center financial forecast?

A training center financial forecast is a forward-looking tool that projects the financial performance of your business over a specific period (usually 3 years for start-ups). 

A forecast looks at your business finances in detail - from income to operating costs and investments - to evaluate its expected profitability and future cash flows.

Building a financial forecast enables you to determine the precise amount of initial financing required to start your training center.

There are many promising business ideas but very few are actually viable and making a financial forecast is the only way to ensure that your project holds up economically and financially.

Your financial forecast will also be part of your overall business plan (which we will detail in a later step), which is the document you will need to secure financing.

Financial forecasts are used to drive your training center and make key decisions, both in the pre and post-launch phases:

• Should we go ahead with the business or scrap the idea?
• Should we hire staff or use an external service provider?
• Which development project offers the best growth prospects?

Creating a financial forecast for starting a training center is an iterative process as you will need to refine your numbers as your business idea matures. 

As your training center grows, your forecasts will become more accurate. You will also need to test different scenarios to ensure that your business model holds true even if economic conditions deteriorate (lower sales than expected, difficulties in recruiting, sudden cost increases or equipment failure problems, for example).

Once you’ve launched your business, it will also be important to regularly compare your accounting data to your financial projections in order to keep your forecast up-to-date and maintain visibility on future cash flows.

What does a financial forecast look like?

Once ready, your training center forecast will be presented using the financial tables below.

The forecasted profit & loss statement

The profit & loss forecast gives you a clear picture of your business’ expected growth over the first three to five years, and whether it’s likely to be profitable or not.

The projected balance sheet

Your training center's forecasted balance sheet enables you to assess your financial structure and working capital requirements.

The projected cash flow statement

A projected cash flow statement to start a training center is used to show how much cash the business is expected to generate or consume over the first three years.

Which solution should you use to make a financial forecast for your training center?

The easiest and safest way to create your training center forecasts is to use an online financial forecasting software , like the one we offer at The Business Plan Shop.

There are several advantages to using professional software:

• You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
• You have access to complete financial forecast templates
• You get a complete financial forecast ready to be sent to your bank or investors
• The software helps you identify and correct any inconsistencies in your figures
• You can create scenarios to stress-test your forecast's main assumptions to stress-test the robustness of your business model
• After you start trading, you can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast, and recalibrate your forecast to maintain visibility on your future cash flows
• You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck

If you are interested in this type of solution, you can try our forecasting software for free by signing up here .

Finding a name and registering your training center

The next step in starting a training center is to decide on a name for your entity. 

For starters, you cannot take a name similar to a name already registered by a competitor or protected by a trademark without inevitably risking getting sued. So you’ll need to find a name available, and reserve it before others can.

In addition, you will probably want to use the same name for:

• Your company’s legal name - Example LTD or Example Inc
• Your trading name - Example
• A trademark - Example ® 
• Your company’s domain name - Example.com

The issue is that you’ll need to register your name in three different places almost simultaneously, but with each place having its own timeframes:

• Registering a domain name is instantaneous
• Registering a trademark takes at least 3 months (if your application is accepted)
• Registering a company depends on the country, but it's generally fairly quick

You will therefore be faced with the choice of either registering everything at once in the hope that your name will be accepted everywhere, or proceeding step by step in order to minimise costs, but taking the risk that someone else will register one of the names you wanted in the meantime.

Our advice is to discuss the strategy with your legal counsel (see further down in this guide) and to give priority to your domain names and your registered trademark. You'll always have the option of using a trading name that's different from your company's legal name, and that's not a big deal.  

To check that the name you want is not already in use, you should consult:

• Your country's business register
• The register of trademarks where you wish to obtain protection
• Your preferred search engine
• A domain name reservation company (such as GoDaddy)

If the name you want is available, you can go ahead and register it.

What corporate identity do I want for my training center?

The following step to start a training center is to define your company's visual identity.

Visual identity is part of the DNA of your training center: it makes you recognizable and recognized by your customers, and helps you stand out from the competition. It also helps convey your values, notably through the choice of colors that identify the company. 

Creating your business's visual identity yourself is entirely possible: there are several online tools that let you generate color palettes, choose typography and even generate logos.

However, we advise you to delegate this task to a designer or a communications agency for a professional result.

Your corporate identity will include the following elements: 

• Your business logo 
• Your brand guidelines
• Your business cards
• Design and theme of your website

Your training center's logo serves as a quick identifier for your company. It will be featured on all your communication platforms (website, social networks, business cards, etc.) and official documents (invoices, contracts, etc.).

Beyond its appearance, your logo should be easy to use on any type of support and background (white, black, gray, colored, etc.). Ideally, it should be easy to use in a variety of colors.

Brand guidelines

One of the challenges when starting a training center is to ensure a consistent brand image wherever your company is visible.

This is the role of your company's brand guidelines, which defines the typography and colors used by your brand and thus acts as the protector of your brand image.

Typography refers to the fonts used (family and size). For example, Trebuchet in size 22 for your titles and Times New Roman in size 13 for your texts.

The colors chosen to represent your brand should typically be limited to five (or fewer):

• The main colour, 
• A secondary colour (the accent),
• A dark background colour (blue or black),
• A grey background colour (to vary from white),
• Possibly another secondary colour.

Business cards

Classic but a must-have, your business cards will be at your side to help you easily communicate your contact details to your founders, customers, suppliers, recruitment candidates, etc.

In essence, they should feature your logo and adhere to the brand guidelines mentioned earlier.

Website theme

Likewise, the theme of your training center website will integrate your logo and follow the brand guidelines we talked about earlier.

This will also define the look and feel of all your site's graphic elements:

The next thing to do in getting a training center off the ground is to handle all the legal and regulatory requirements. We recommend that you be accompanied by a law firm for all of the steps outlined below.

Intellectual property

One of your priorities will be to ensure that your company's intellectual property is adequately protected.

As explained before, you can choose to register a trademark. Your lawyer can help you with a detailed search to make sure your chosen trademark is unique and doesn't clash with existing ones.

They'll assist in preparing the required documents and steer you in picking the right categories and locations for trademark registration.

Moreover, your lawyer can offer guidance on additional measures to protect other intellectual property assets your company may have.

Getting your training center paperwork in order

For day-to-day operations, your training center will need to rely on a set of contractual documents. 

Your exact needs in this respect will depend on the country in which you are launching your training center, the number of partners and the envisaged size of the company. 

However, you will probably need at least the following documents:

• Employment contracts 
• General terms and conditions of sale
• General terms and conditions of use for your website
• Privacy Policy for your website
• Cookie Policy for your website

Applying for licences and permits and registering for various taxes

Operating your business legally may require licences and business permits. The exact requirements applicable to your situation will depend on the country in which you set up your training center.

The lawyers who advise you will also be able to guide you with regard to all the rules applicable to your business.

Similarly, your accountant will be able to help you take the necessary steps to comply with the tax authorities.

The next step to open a training center: put together your business plan.

What is a business plan?

To keep it simple, a business plan comprises two crucial components:

• Firstly, a numerical part, the financial forecast (which we mentioned earlier), which highlights the initial financing requirements and profitability potential of the training center,
• And a written, well-argued section that presents your project in detail, aims to convince the reader of its chances of success, and provides the context needed to assess whether the forecast is realistic or not.

The business plan will enable you to verify the coherence of your project, and ensure that the company can be profitable before incurring further costs. It will also help you convince business and financial partners.

As you can see, your business plan must be convincing and error-free.

How to write a business plan for a training center?

Nowadays, the modern and most efficient way to write a training center business plan is to use startup business plan software like the one we offer at The Business Plan Shop.

Using The Business Plan Shop to create a business plan for atraining center has several advantages :

• You are guided through the writing process by detailed instructions and examples for each part of the plan
• You can access a library of dozens of complete startup business plan samples and templates for inspiration
• You get a professional business plan, formatted and ready to be sent to your bank or investors
• You can create scenarios to stress test your forecast's main assumptions
• You can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast by importing accounting data
• You can easily update your forecast as time goes by to maintain visibility on future cash flows

If you're interested in using this type of solution, you can try The Business Plan Shop for free by signing up here .

With your business plan in hand, you can tackle one of the final steps to open a training center  business: the search for financing.

Raising the capital needed to launch your business will probably require a combination of equity and debt, which are the two types of financing available to companies.

Equity funding

Equity is the sum of money invested in a training center by both founders and investors.

Equity is a key factor in business start-ups. Should the project fail, the sums invested in equity are likely to be lost; these sums therefore enable the founders to send a strong signal to their commercial and financial partners as to their conviction in the project's chances of success.

In terms of return on investment, equity investors can either receive dividends from the company (provided it is profitable) or realize capital gains by selling their shares (provided a buyer is interested in the company).

Equity providers are therefore in a very risky position. They can lose everything in the event of bankruptcy, and will only see a return on their investment if the company is profitable or resold. On the other hand, they can generate a very high return if the project is a success.

Given their position, equity investors look for start-up projects with sufficient growth and profitability potential to offset their risk.

From a technical standpoint, equity includes:

• Share capital and premiums: which represent the amount invested by the shareholders. This capital is considered permanent as it is non-refundable. In return for their investment, shareholders receive shares that entitle them to information, decision-making power (voting in general assembly), and the potential to receive a portion of any dividends distributed by the company.
• Director loans: these are examples of non-permanent capital advanced to the company by the shareholders. This is a more flexible way of injecting some liquidity into your company as you can repay director loans at any time.
• Reserves: these represent the share of profits set aside to strengthen the company's equity. Allocating a percentage of your profits to the reserves can be mandatory in certain cases (legal or statutory requirement depending on the legal form of your company). Once allocated in reserves, these profits can no longer be distributed as dividends.
• Investment grants: which represent any non-refundable amounts received by the company to help it invest in long-term assets.
• Other equity: which includes the equity items which don't fit in the other categories. Mostly convertible or derivative instruments. For a small business, it is likely that you won't have any other equity items.

The main sources of equity are as follows:

• Contributions made by the owners.
• Private investors: business angels, friends and family.
• Crowdfunding: raising funds by involving a group of people through campaigns where they contribute money or make donations, often getting something in return for their support.
• Start-up aid, e.g. government loans to help founders build up their start-up capital.

Debt financing

Debt is the other way of financing companies. Unlike equity, debt offers lenders a limited, contractually guaranteed return on their investment.

Your training center undertakes to pay lenders' interest and repay the capital borrowed according to a pre-agreed schedule. Lenders are therefore making money whether or not your company makes a profit.

As a result, the only risk lenders take is that of your training center going bankrupt, so they're extremely conservative and will want to see prudent, hands-on management of the company's finances.

From the point of view of the company and all its stakeholders (workforce, customers, suppliers, etc.), the company's contractual obligation to repay lenders increases the risk for all. As a result, there is a certain caution towards companies which are too heavily indebted.

Businesses can borrow debt in two main ways:

• Against assets: this is the most common way of borrowing. The bank funds a percentage of the price of an asset (a vehicle or a building, for example) and takes the asset as collateral. If the business cannot repay the loan, the bank takes the asset and sells it to reduce losses.
• Against cash flows: the bank looks at how much profit and cash flow the business expects to make in the future. Based on these projections, it assigns a credit risk to the business and decides how much the business can borrow and under what terms (amount, interest rate, and duration of the loan).

It's difficult to borrow against future cash flows when you're starting a training center, because the business doesn't yet have historical data to reassure about the credibility of cash flow forecast.

Borrowing to finance a portion of equipment purchases is therefore often the only option available to founders. The assets that can be financed with this option must also be easy to resell, in the unfortunate event that the bank is forced to seize them, which could limit your options even further.

As far as possible sources of borrowing are concerned, the main ones here are banks and credit institutions. Bear in mind, however, that each institution is different, in terms of the risk it is prepared to accept, what it is willing to finance, and how the risk of your project will be perceived.

In some countries, it is also possible to borrow from private investors (directly or via crowdfunding platforms) or other companies, but not everywhere.

Key points about financing your training center

Multiple solutions are available to help you raise the initial financing you need to open your training center. A minimum amount of equity will be needed to give the project credibility, and bank financing can be sought to complete the financing.

Launching your training center and monitoring progress against your forecast

Once you’ve secured financing, you will finally be ready to launch your training center. Congratulations! 

Celebrate the launch of your business and acknowledge the hard work that brought you here, but remember, this is where the real work begins. 

As you know, 50% of business start-ups do not pass the five-year mark. Your priority will be to do everything to secure your business's future. 

To do this, it is key to keep an eye on your business plan to ensure that you are on track to achieve your goals.

No one can predict the future with certainty, so it’s likely that your training center's financial performance will differ from what you predicted in your forecast.

This is why it is recommended to make several forecasts: 

• A base case (most likely)
• An optimistic scenario
• And a pessimistic scenario to test the robustness of your financial model

If you follow this approach, your numbers will hopefully be better than your optimistic case and you can consider accelerating your expansion plans. That’s what we wish you anyway!

If, unfortunately, your figures are below your base case (or worse than your pessimistic case), you will need to quickly put in place corrective actions, or consider stopping the activity. 

The key, in terms of decision-making, is to regularly compare your real accounting data to your training center's forecast to: 

• Measure the discrepancies and promptly identify where the variances with your base case come from
• Adjust your financial forecast as the year progresses to maintain visibility on future cash flow and cash position

There is nothing worse than waiting for your accountant to prepare your year-end accounts, which can take several months after the end of your financial year (up to nine months in the UK for example), to realise that the performance over the past year was well below the your base case and that your training center will not have enough cash to keep running over the next twelve months.

This is why using a financial forecasting solution that integrates with accounting software and offers actuals vs. forecast tracking out of the box, like the financial dashboards we offer at The Business Plan Shop , greatly facilitates the task and significantly reduces the risk associated with starting a business.

• There are 15 key steps to opening a training center.
• Your financial forecast will enable you to accurately assess your initial financing requirements and the potential profitability of your project.
• Your business plan will give your financial partners the context they need to be able to judge the consistency and relevance of your forecast before deciding whether or not to finance the creation of your training center.
• Post-launch, it's essential to have an up-to-date forecast to maintain visibility of your business's future cash flows.
• Using a financial planning and analysis platform that integrates forecasts, business plans and actual performance monitoring, such as The Business Plan Shop, makes the process easier and reduces the risks involved in starting a business.

We hope this guide has helped you understand how to open a training center. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or want to share your experience as an entrepreneur.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• Start-up business plan examples

Know someone who wants to start a training center? Share this guide with them!

Founder & CEO at The Business Plan Shop Ltd

Guillaume Le Brouster is a seasoned entrepreneur and financier.

Guillaume has been an entrepreneur for more than a decade and has first-hand experience of starting, running, and growing a successful business.

Prior to being a business owner, Guillaume worked in investment banking and private equity, where he spent most of his time creating complex financial forecasts, writing business plans, and analysing financial statements to make financing and investment decisions.

Guillaume holds a Master's Degree in Finance from ESCP Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business & Management from Paris Dauphine University.

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How to Create a Business Plan for a Training Center

by Ruth Mayhew

Published on 21 Nov 2018

The key to convincing investors, such as banks, to invest in your business, is to construct a business plan that demonstrates you have business acumen and that you know the industry. Constructing a solid business plan isn't difficult, but it does require deep expertise about the type of business or industry and knowledge of how businesses start, operate and grow. To launch a training center, create a business plan that proves you are qualified, experienced and have a passion for the training industry.

Training-Specific Qualifications

Creating a business plan for a training center requires that you have expertise or experience in operating one. Perhaps you have been the operations manager for a successful training center and you're ready to take the leap into starting your own center. Otherwise, you will need a team of colleagues whose collective experiences compel investors to want to share in your future success. According to Training Industry magazine, several critical steps to starting a training business include acquiring the credentials necessary to prove that your industry knowledge and credibility is sound. Training credentials can range from certifications or licenses in specific areas, such as IT security networks, to advanced degrees in adult education. If you don't personally have these credentials, you must have a team that does. That said, if you have training credentials, your business plan will carry more weight because you are spearheading an endeavor based on your industry-specific knowledge, which can be far more credible than simply hiring people with this expertise.

Food For Thought and Paper

Before you put pen to paper to create a business plan, your self-assessment will determine whether you actually are prepared to operate and own a training center. Questions such as, "If I cannot get investors' commitments, am I prepared to fund this endeavor from business loans or my personal savings?" and "What are the specific types of services that my training center will provide, and is there an opportunity for this training center in my area?" and "If the market is currently flooded with other training centers, what niche can I create, based on my own expertise and differentiation of services?"

Business Plan Components

Constructing a business plan isn't something you complete in an afternoon or even a day. Your research and analysis alone will take time to compile, and while you might be well-connected to the training community, if this is your first foray into the training industry or owning a business, you might need expert guidance in one or both areas. According to Forbes, basic components of a business plan include analyses of the future company, the industry and the competition. In addition, your business plan should include an analysis of your potential customers and the type of marketing your research shows will be most effective. Traditional business concepts, such as who is managing this effort, how you plan to operate the business and how you're going to fund it, are critical points to address in your business plan. When you complete the draft business plan for your training center, write an executive summary that answers this question: "Why do you believe your training center is different from all the others?"

Focus on the Specificity

You will find a plethora of business plan templates on the internet. Ensure that yours specifically says why your training center business concept will succeed when others have not, to maintain your investors' interest. For example, projections about your future training center should focus on what's presently available and accessible, therefore, your analysis should address physical space necessary. Is there even room in your geographic area to support another training center? Determine whether you are offering on-site training, remote training broadcast from one location or a hybrid model that combines classroom training and computer-based training, or CBT. That will determine the physical space you need to launch another training center in the area.

Describe your market, such as how many training centers are currently in existence, how many participants – according to job-specific areas – are in the market. For example, if your training center is dedicated to serving allied health care professionals such as nuclear-medicine technologists, dietitians or respiratory therapists, how many training centers are in the market? The rate at which they are producing graduates and if there are prospective students who do not have access to training is critical data that are particularly useful to your business plan. Your research could include the acceptance and graduation rates of existing training centers in the area versus the numbers of applicants or prospective students. Perhaps the demand is greater than what the existing training centers can accommodate. That is just the first part of the equation because the second and equally important factor is this: If the demand is great, do you have the ability to source and recruit qualified instructors to provide the training your center offers?

Let's Talk Money

A business plan is sorely lacking without a detailed analysis and discussion about funding. Entrepreneur Magazine says that a business plan should project costs for three-to-five years and include start-up costs, operating expenses and projections so that investors can see where their money will be spent, and what their return on investment will be. Your business plan should include projections in a balance-sheet-like format, which also demonstrates that you understand basic business concepts. If finance isn't in your wheelhouse, collaborate with an expert to present the financial picture for your training center.

The Proof Is in the Details 

Like other business reports, your business plan should include an appendix. The appendix includes documents that support every section of your plan, and, if appropriate, include your market research data. For example, if you have identified key personnel for your training center such as a training director, an operations director or a financial management professional, include their resumes and credentials in your business plan. In addition, state whether your business requires petitioning for jurisdictional business-or-land-use permits.

The final step is your executive summary, which you should write only after you have completed the final business plan. Many investors will take the time to read just a one-to-two-page executive summary, so it must include enough information to compel them to read the entire business plan or to make a decision based on a well-thought-out and well-written business concept. Your executive summary should answer the question, "Why do you believe your training center is different from all the others?"

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How to Write a Martial Arts Business Plan With Examples

School Business Plan

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Did you find what you are looking for.

Thinking of starting a school or a coaching business? Or is it about vocational school?

Well, no matter what’s your business segment in the education and training sector—you need a solid business plan to turn it into a long-term success.

This library of education and training business plan samples here can inspire and guide you as you begin to plan your business. So, don’t worry; we got you covered on that part.

Let’s learn more about these sample training and education plans, starting with their benefits.

Benefits of using an industry-specific business plan example

Believe it or not, using an industry-specific business plan example is the best and probably the quickest way of writing a business plan.

Doubt it? Hold, this may change your perception; an extended list of the benefits of using an industry-specific business plan template.

• Inspiration : Reading a business-specific template can be incredibly helpful in getting content inspiration. Furthermore, it helps you gain insights into how to present your business idea, products, vision, and mission.
• Risk-free method : You are taking a reference from a real-life, let’s say, After-school program business plan—so you know this plan has worked in the past or uses a method subscribed by experts.
• Deep market understanding : Analyzing and reading such examples can provide clarity and develop a deeper market understanding of complex industry trends and issues you may not know but relate directly to the realities of your business landscape.
• Increased credibility : A business plan developed using an example follows a standard business plan format, wisely presents your business, and provides invaluable insights into your business. There’s no question it establishes you as a credible business owner, demonstrating your deep business and market understanding.
• Realistic financial projections : Financial forecasting being a critical aspect of your plan, this real-life example can help you better understand how they project their financials—ultimately helping you set realistic projections for your business.

These were the benefits; let’s briefly discuss choosing an education or training business plan template that best suits your business niche.

Choosing an Education or Training Business Plan

This category has business plan templates for various education or tutoring businesses. With many similar business types and templates, you may not find the most suitable one through manual scrolling.

Here are the steps to consider while choosing the most suitable business plan template.

Identify your business type

Are you going to be an online coaching platform? Or a traditional school? Or a general daycare center?

Asking yourself these questions will help you identify your business type, which will help in choosing a niche-specific business plan template.

Once you identify your business type, you can choose between templates for different business segments.

Search for the template

We have an in-built search feature, so you can easily search for a business-specific template using your business name as a key term(e.g., summer camp business plan). Once you have the search results, choose the most suitable one. Simple as that.

Review the example

Look closely at the content of the sample business plan you are considering. Analyze its sections and components to identify relevant as well as unnecessary areas.

Since all the Upmetrics templates are tailored to specific business needs, there won’t be many fundamental customizations. However, a hybrid business model targeting multiple customer segments may require adjustments.

No big deal—you can view and copy sections from other business plan examples or write using AI while customizing a template.

That’s how you find and select the most suitable business plan for educational services. Still haven’t found the perfect business plan example? Here’s the next step for you.

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Updated on: 10 Dec 2020 , 9 mins to read

How to start a training business: 6 steps to success

The eLearning market is growing — fast. So fast, that from the $200 billion in 2019, it’s now expected to grow over $375 billion by 2026. And as people are warming up to the idea that eLearning is just as effective as traditional training, there’s never been a better time to think about how to start a training business.

Before you jump headfirst into starting a training business of your own, you’ll want to slow down and make sure you have everything in place. Do you know what will make your business successful?

Here’s our six-step plan on how to start a training company .

How to start a training business in 6 steps (and make it a success)

Starting a training company isn’t much different from setting up any other company. You’ll still need to think about all the essential aspects of business 101: Who’s your client base ? How will you persuade them to choose you? How will you beat the competition ?

Let’s look at how you can set your eLearning business up for success.

• Know your audience
• Use the right technology and tools
• Think about the content
• Partner with the right people
• Run it like a business

Curious to learn more? Let’s dive in!

1. Know your audience

Before starting your own training business, you need to decide who you’ll target with your business.

Enter market research.  The best way is to hire a market research company that can assess the viability of the training business you’re considering. A more affordable option is to talk to people, run an informal survey, or put up a simple “sign up for updates” form on your Facebook or landing page to gauge people’s interest.

Ultimately, the goal is to land on a specific target audience for your services before you start a training business. Who are they? What do they need to learn? What do they want to learn? The next step is to determine how large this audience is . This way you’ll be able to estimate your company’s profitability.

Sustainability and profitability are two elements you should look at before you commit your time and money to start an online training business. Of course, you’ll only be able to tell with real certainty after your business opens doors, but this will definitely help you rule out some impossible markets.

Another factor you need to consider regarding your audience is whether  you’re targeting your local market (which, in countries like the US or China can be more than big enough) or an international one. This will affect a great many things, such as your content (depending on who you want to reach you might need to offer localized courses), the way of delivery (to easily target an international audience you’ll need a full-featured eLearning platform), even your payment methods.

Another consideration is whether you are targeting the general market (that is, J. Random User on the web) or businesses.

Don’t rule out enterprise training. Offering enterprise training as an outside contractor is a wholly viable business option. Not all enterprises have internal enterprise training programs, and even those that do, don’t cover all their training needs with them. That’s where you, as an independent training contractor could come in and offer a complete training program saving them from the hassle of deploying and maintaining it.

2. Use the right technology and tools

To run a successful eLearning business, it’s important to pick the right technology. After all, eLearning is 50% content and 50% delivery. Delivery refers to speed, UI, ease of use, intuitiveness, features ,  and more. And that is all technology.

Modern technology, high-speed internet, and the emergence of turn-key, full-featured LMS platforms like TalentLMS , have leveled the playing field. With the right tools in place, even a small, two-person company can compete with a big, established training provider — if not in breadth of content, then surely in quality and presentation.

Besides, don’t forget that the technology you choose will affect your scalability options further down the road — i.e. how big your business can eventually get.

You probably want your eLearning business to be infinitely scalable from day one, but that’s not easy (or affordable) to achieve, especially if you’re considering building the learning platform yourself. It’s also something that’s not necessary to address when you first start a training business.

In this case, cloud-based LMS is the best solution , as essentially you offload the scalability problem to your cloud provider, and you’re free to increase your plan (and reach) whenever the need arises.

This flexibility will usually come at a small per-user fee, paid to your Cloud vendor. But, unless you’re at Google scale, it’s still better than paying a huge amount upfront for building your own server farm, plus the salaries to maintain your own IT team.

Build your online training courses in minutes with TalentLMS. The learning management system that’s easy to set up, easy to use, and easy to customize.

3. Think about the content

When we’re thinking about how to start a training business, one of the first things that comes up is content. Because content is indeed the core of your business.

Whether you’re offering Arabian flute lessons to all consumers or Economics 101 to enterprise audiences, your content needs to be top-notch, because this is what will make your eLearning business stand out.

Think polished, professional-looking content , with a high enough production value. No sloppy writing, no boring PowerPoints, no boring videos of talking heads.

Take the time to do it right yourself. Or hire a talented writer, and learn about all the trade tricks that can increase the perceived — and actual — quality of your content (e.g., consistent typography).

The most important decision, though, is the kind of content you’ll invest in. While you might be passionate about Latin, it doesn’t mean others are too — especially not a large enough audience to help you sustain an online training business.

You should also be cautious of uber-trendy subjects, as they may be unsustainable for any significant period of time. Cryptocurrency might be trendy now, but not in the next two years, and the last thing you’d want is to have invested loads of money on content that won’t pay off.

4. Partner with the right people

You might be tempted to wear every single hat in your new business. That’s fair. When you’re starting a training business, chances are you can’t afford to hire a dedicated department for marketing or sales. But, doing it all yourself is not a viable option, either.

Instead, find the right freelancers and partner with them. For example, you can outsource plenty of business administration tasks to a virtual assistant. You can hire freelancers to cover your marketing tasks, and even get instructional designers and subject matter experts to design your courses.

Be honest about your weaknesses and your strengths. And then hire the right people who complement those.

5. Market it

If you have your business license at hand, your content polished and loaded, and your LMS ready to welcome your learners, you might think you’re all set.

But that’s just the first part of starting a training business. The really hard part will be to market your training offering so that enough people sign up.

This all depends on your marketing budget and your ingenuity. At the very least, you should give your website and service a professional and memorable look based on your corporate branding .

Your target audience will also determine how you will market your eLearning offerings. For example, if you target a niche industry (e.g., music production courses), then it would be a good idea to advertise in trade magazines and websites. If you’re competing for enterprise training contracts, you should target websites like LinkedIn, talk to enterprise executives directly, etc.

Of course, if your eLearning business idea is unique and your content well thought out, it might market itself through word of mouth and favorable online reviews. But don’t depend on that  — to paraphrase Glengarry Glen Ross, you should “always be marketing”.

6. Run it like a business

This goes without saying, but if you want to start your own online training business, you would need to treat it like a business, too.

First, you’ll need a quick starter course in economics to learn about revenue, taxes, and  pricing . Don’t assume that you know these things and that running a business is intuitive. Some economic concepts are common knowledge. But most will come as a surprise, or maybe a revelation. A lack of understanding of notions like sunk cost, opportunity cost, and price curves has hurt far too many businesses to mention.

Grasping economic concepts is just the start; equally vital is establishing an LLC business bank account to separate personal and business finances, ensuring legal and financial clarity.

You’ll also need to keep up with the bureaucracy (the IRS doesn’t joke around), keep an eye on your competitors, and be on the lookout for new business opportunities and partnerships.

If what you have in mind is the cliche image of a boss who doesn’t do anything but collect profits each month, you better forget it. Running a business is a 24/7 job.

How to start a training company 101: From theory to practice

Now you know how to start a training business. And even though it’s hard work, there’s never been a better time to dive in. The online training industry is booming and will continue to grow.

Are you considering starting your own training and development company? What’s stopping you? Already a proud eLearning business owner? What lessons did you learn when you started your training business?

Let us know in the comments!

Save time, frustration and money with TalentLMS, the most-affordable and user-friendly learning management system on the market. Try it for free for as long as you want and discover why our customers consistently give us 4.5 stars (out of 5!)

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Originally published on: 13 Jul 2018

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Are you ready to take your training and development program to the next level? Look no further than ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Training and Development. This template is a game-changer for companies and entrepreneurs looking to establish or expand their training initiatives.

With ClickUp's Business Plan Template, you can:

• Clearly outline your goals, objectives, and strategies to attract investors and secure funding
• Create a comprehensive financial plan to effectively manage your training program's budget
• Streamline your planning process and collaborate with your team in one centralized location

Don't miss out on the opportunity to make your training and development program a success. Get started with ClickUp's Business Plan Template today!

Business Plan Template for Training And Development Benefits

A Business Plan Template for Training and Development can provide numerous benefits to companies and entrepreneurs:

• Clearly define training and development goals and objectives
• Develop a comprehensive strategy for implementing training programs
• Identify and allocate resources effectively to support the training initiatives
• Create a roadmap for measuring the success and impact of the training programs
• Attract investors and secure funding by showcasing a well-thought-out business plan
• Ensure alignment between training and development initiatives and overall business objectives
• Enable effective management and monitoring of training programs
• Provide a framework for continuous improvement and adaptation of training strategies
• Facilitate collaboration and communication among stakeholders involved in training and development efforts

Main Elements of Training And Development Business Plan Template

ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Training and Development is the perfect tool to help you create a comprehensive plan for your training initiatives. Here are the main elements of this template:

• Custom Statuses: Track the progress of each section of your business plan with statuses such as Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do.
• Custom Fields: Add important details to your plan using custom fields like Reference, Approved, and Section, allowing you to categorize and organize your information.
• Custom Views: Utilize different views to gain insights into your plan, including the Topics view to focus on specific areas, the Status view to track progress, the Timeline view to visualize deadlines, the Business Plan view for an overview of all sections, and the Getting Started Guide view to easily navigate the template.

With ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Training and Development, you'll have all the tools you need to create a successful plan that will propel your training initiatives forward.

How To Use Business Plan Template for Training And Development

If you're looking to create a comprehensive business plan for training and development, the Business Plan Template in ClickUp can be a valuable tool. Follow these six steps to make the most of this template and ensure that your training and development initiatives are well-planned and successful.

1. Define your objectives

Start by clearly defining the objectives of your training and development program. Are you looking to improve employee skills, enhance leadership capabilities, or onboard new hires effectively? Identifying your objectives will help you tailor your plan to meet specific goals.

Use custom fields in ClickUp to outline and track your training and development objectives.

2. Assess your current situation

Evaluate your current training and development practices and identify areas for improvement. Look for gaps in skills, knowledge, or resources that need to be addressed. This will help you determine the specific training programs and initiatives required.

Utilize the Gantt chart in ClickUp to visualize your current situation and plan for necessary changes.

3. Identify target audience and training needs

Identify the specific audience or employees who will benefit from the training and development program. Conduct a needs analysis to determine the skills and knowledge gaps that need to be addressed for each target group. This will help you tailor your training programs to meet their specific needs.

Create tasks in ClickUp to assign training needs analysis to team members and track progress.

4. Develop a training plan

Based on the identified training needs, develop a comprehensive training plan. Outline the specific training programs, workshops, or courses that will be provided. Include details such as content, delivery methods, and timelines. Consider incorporating a mix of internal and external training resources.

Use Board view in ClickUp to create a visual representation of your training plan and track the progress of each training program.

5. Allocate resources and budget

Determine the resources and budget required to implement your training and development plan. This includes identifying trainers or facilitators, training materials, technology platforms, and any other necessary resources. Allocate a budget that covers all aspects of the training program.

Utilize custom fields in ClickUp to track resource allocation and budget for each training program.

6. Implement, evaluate, and adjust

Implement your training and development initiatives according to the plan. Monitor the progress, evaluate the effectiveness of each program, and gather feedback from participants. Use this feedback to make necessary adjustments and improvements to your training and development plan.

Set up Automations in ClickUp to schedule regular evaluations and collect feedback from participants. Use this data to continuously improve your training and development initiatives.

By following these six steps and utilizing the Business Plan Template in ClickUp, you'll be able to create a well-structured and effective plan for training and development in your organization.

Get Started with ClickUp’s Business Plan Template for Training And Development

Companies or entrepreneurs who are looking to establish or expand their training and development programs can use the ClickUp Business Plan Template for Training And Development to streamline the process and ensure all aspects are covered.

To get started, hit “Add Template” to sign up for ClickUp and add the template to your Workspace. Make sure you designate which Space or location in your Workspace you’d like this template applied.

Next, invite relevant members or guests to your Workspace to start collaborating.

Now you can take advantage of the full potential of this template to create a comprehensive business plan:

• Use the Topics View to break down your business plan into different sections and topics
• The Status View will help you track the progress of each section and topic, with statuses such as Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, To Do
• The Timeline View will provide a visual representation of your training and development milestones and deadlines
• The Business Plan View will give you an overview of your entire plan, allowing you to easily navigate and make updates
• The Getting Started Guide View will provide step-by-step instructions and guidance on how to use the template effectively
• Utilize the custom fields Reference, Approved, and Section to add additional information, track approvals, and categorize different sections
• Collaborate with team members to brainstorm ideas, set goals, and develop strategies
• Monitor and analyze the progress of your business plan to ensure it aligns with your training and development objectives.
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Home » Sample Business Plans » Education

How to Write a Learning Center Business Plan [Sample Template]

Are you about starting a learning center company? If YES, here is a detailed sample learning center business plan template & FREE feasibility report. A learning center is a self-contained section of the classroom in which students engage in independent and self-directed learning activities. Learning centers provide students with exciting and interesting experiences to practice, enrich, reteach, and enhance their learning. These types of centers are filled with art materials, books, and other instructional tools.

Why Start a Learning Center?

It is important to state that there are different types of learning centers; learning centers can vary a great deal when it comes to their design and the results they want to achieve. But for the purpose of this business plan, we will concentrate on early childhood learning center.

Lastly, there are no barriers as regards those who can start a learning center in the united states; educationist, philanthropists, parents, community leaders, social entrepreneurs, religious organizations, businesses, teachers, school districts, and towns can start their own learning centers.

Having said that, if you interested in starting your learning center, then here is a comprehensive learning center business plan template that will give you the needed guide.

A Sample Learning Center Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

The Early Childhood Learning Centers industry comprises establishments that provide basic skill and education courses for children between the ages of two and five.

Basically, establishments in this industry, both public and private, provide basic preparatory education courses for children aged two years to those reaching the compulsory school-entry age. This industry excludes establishments that primarily service adults and provide child-teaching services.

Operators offer different programs, which vary by age. For younger children, typically those between the ages of two and three, programs focus on developing early math, reading and interpersonal skills. Children between three and five years old participate in a variety of activities and subjects to prepare them for grade school.

Recent reports released by IBISWORLD shows that over the five years to 2018, revenue fell early in the period as a result of low per capita disposable income levels and the decline in the labor force participation rate of women. However, the unemployment rate has declined each year since 2013.

Statistics has it that The Early Childhood Learning Centers industry in the United States of America, is worth $11 billion, with an estimated growth rate of 2.1 percent annually between 2013 and 2018. There are about 19,482 registered and licensed (accredited) early childhood learning centers scattered all around the United States of America and they are responsible for employing about 247,365 people.

Aside from Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. which has the largest enrollments, no other early childhood learning center can boast of dominating the market; every player can comfortably compete in the industry.

It is important to state that the barriers to entry into the Early Childhood Learning Centers industry are high. As a matter of fact, new entrants find it difficult to establish themselves. So also, the reputation of the early childhood learning center is of utmost importance, as the center that has a good history of getting students into prestigious colleges often have the best reputations hence good enrollments.

Reputation indeed is imperative to parents’ decisions when shopping for early childhood learning centers. This is because the quality of education cannot be assessed until after it is complete.

Even though this might seem like a highly competitive industry, the industry is still pretty much open for people to come in and compete. As a matter of fact, if you conduct your research and feasibility studies very well before starting your own center, you are likely going to struggle less to make headway in the industry.

2. Executive Summary

Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. is an early childhood learning center that will be located in a well – populated residential estate in Little Rock – Arkansas, United States of America. We are a standard early childhood learning center that will offer different programs, which will vary by age.

For younger children, typically those between the ages of two and three, the programs will focus on developing early math, reading and interpersonal skills. Children between three and five years old will participate in a variety of activities and subjects to prepare them for grade school.

Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. is a result driven early childhood learning center that provides broad-based learning approaches and experience at an affordable fee that won’t in any way put a hole in the pocket of our clients.

We will offer professional teaching services in a highly secured and conducive learning environment. We will ensure that we work hard to meet and surpass all our students’ educational goals whenever they enroll in our center.

At Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc., our students’ overall best interest would always come first, and everything we do will be guided by our values and professional ethics. We will ensure that we hire professional teachers in various subjects who are passionate at imparting knowledge to students.

We have plans in the future to also offer learning platforms to people with both learning disability and physical disability (especially the blind, the dumb and the deaf). Our overall business goal is to position our early childhood learning center to become the leading brand in the industry in the whole of Little Rock – Arkansas, and also to be amongst the top 10 learning centers in United States of America within the first 20 years of operation.

Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. is founded by Dr. (Mrs.) Becky Steve – Carson and her immediate family members. She is an educationist par excellence and she has won many awards in the educational sector in the United States.

Dr. (Mrs.) Becky Steve – Carson has both the academic qualifications and experience to run an early childhood learning center that can favorably compete with other leading early childhood learning centers not only in Little Rock – Arkansas, but also throughout the United States America.

3. Our Products and Services

Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. is going to offer varieties of early childhood learning services in the United States of America. Our intention of starting our early childhood learning center is to soundly educate kids in various subjects and of course to make profits from the industry.

Our service offerings are listed below;

• Planning and implementing a diverse curriculum for children
• Developing activities to introduce math and literacy concepts
• Providing child and infant daycare to an extent
• Operating Head Start programs

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

Our vision is to build a highly competitive early childhood learning center that will become the number one choice for both parents and students in the whole of Little Rock – Arkansas.

Our mission is to provide professional and conducive learning environment to students at different levels of learning. Our overall business goal is to position Little Rock® Community Learning Center to become the leading early childhood learning center in the industry in the whole of Little Rock – Arkansas, and also to be amongst the top 10 early childhood learning centers in the United States of America within the first 20 years of operation.

Our Business Structure

It is a known fact that the success of any business is to a large extent is dependent on the business structure of the organization and the people who occupy roles in the organization. Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. will build a solid business structure that can support the growth of our early childhood learning center.

We will ensure that we hire competent hands (teaching and non – teaching staff members) to help us build the early childhood learning center of our dream. The fact that we want to become one of the leading early childhood learning centers in the industry in the whole of the United States of America makes it necessary for our organization to deliberately build a well – structured business from the onset.

We will work hard to ensure that we only attract people with the right mindset to help us achieve our business goals and objectives in record time. Below is the business structure that we will build Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc.;

• Head of The Early Childhood Learning Center (School Proprietress)

School Administrator

Early Childhood Learning Specialist

• Accountant/Bursar
• Client Service Executive/Front Desk Officer

Security Officers

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Head of the Early Childhood Learning Center/School Coordinator:

• Responsible for providing direction for the center
• Responsible for handling high profile clients and deals
• Responsible for fixing fees and signing business deals (partnership)
• Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the early childhood learning center
• Coordinates all arms of the center
• Evaluates the success of the center
• Reports to the board
• Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the early childhood learning center
• Designs job descriptions with KPI to drive performance management for tutors (teachers)
• Regularly hold meetings with key stakeholders (parents and member of the school board) to review the effectiveness of the schools’ Policies, Procedures and Processes
• Maintains office supplies by checking stocks; placing and expediting orders; evaluating new products.
• Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
• Defines job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
• Carries out induction for new team members
• Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
• Responsible for arranging travel, meetings and appointments
• Oversees the smooth running of the daily activities of the early childhood learning center.
• Effectively teach subjects as assigned by the school administrator
• Accesses the progress of students under their care
• Ensures that students abide by the rules and regulations of the center
• Contributes his/her quota towards growing the early childhood learning center
• Receives complaints from parents and channel it to the appropriate quarters
• Handles any other duty as assigned by the school administrator.

Marketing Executive

• Identifies, prioritizes, and reaches out to new students, and business opportunities et al
• Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts
• Writes winning proposal documents, negotiate fees and rates in line with organizations’ policy
• Responsible for handling business research, market surveys and feasibility studies for clients
• Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
• Documents all customer contact and information
• Represents the company in strategic meetings
• Helps to increase sales and growth for the school

School Bursar (Accountant)

• Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
• Provides management with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports
• Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
• Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting for one or more properties.
• Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
• Responsible for administering payrolls
• Ensuring compliance with taxation legislation
• Handles all financial transactions for Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc.
• Serves as internal auditor for Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc.

Client Service Executive

• Welcomes/receive parents and students by greeting them in person or on the telephone; answering or directing inquiries.
• Ensures that all contacts with parents and students (e-mail, walk-In center, SMS or phone) provides a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
• Through interaction with parents and students on the phone, uses every opportunity to build parent’s interest in the schools’ services
• Consistently stays abreast of any new information on the organizations’ promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to parents and students when they make enquiries
• Receives parcels / documents for Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc.
• Distributes mails in the organization
• Handles any other duties as assigned by the School Administrator.
• Responsible for cleaning the school facility at all times
• Ensures that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
• Cleanses both the interior and exterior of the school facility
• Handles any other duty as assigned by the school administrator
• Ensures that the school facility is secured at all time
• Controls traffic and organize parking
• Gives security tips to staff members from time to time
• Patrols around the building on a 24 hours’ basis
• Submits security reports weekly
• Any other duty as assigned by the school administrator.

6. SWOT Analysis

Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. engaged the services of a core professional in the area of business consulting and structuring with bias in the educational sector to assist us in building a well – structured early childhood learning center that can favorably compete in the United States.

Part of what the team of business consultant did was to work with the management of our organization in conducting a SWOT analysis for Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. Here is a summary from the result of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc.;

As an early childhood learning center, our core strength lies in the power of our team; our workforce. We have a team with excellent qualifications and experience in the educational sector especially when it comes to working with toddlers. We are well positioned in a community with the right demography and we know we will attract loads of students from the first day we open our doors and welcome students for enrollment.

As a new early childhood learning center in Little Rock – Arkansas, it might take some time for our organization to break into the market and gain acceptance via reputation in the already saturated education cum Early Childhood Learning Centers industry; that is perhaps our major weakness.

• Opportunities:

Demand for day-care services is positively correlated with the number of children aged nine and younger. Increase in the number of children younger than nine, particularly those younger than five, boost demand and profitability for private centers. The number of children under the age of nine is expected to increase slightly in 2018, representing a potential opportunity for the industry.

The labor force participation rate of women, especially mothers, has a major effect on demand for child-care services. The participation rate is influenced by many factors, including social values, expectations relating to child care, the growth rate of employment, after-tax wages and child-care costs.

When the female workforce participation rate rises, it tends to increase demand for child-care services. The labor force participation rate of women is expected to increase slightly in 2018, posing a threat to the industry.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

The trend in the early childhood learning center business is that the keys to attracting students is the educational performance of their students. Any early childhood learning center that has good records will always thrive.

The demand for early childhood learning centers is driven by the fact that most public cum government owned schools cannot accommodate every student in a given geographical location. In some cases, students with special needs cannot cope in public schools hence the need for early childhood learning centers.

Early childhood learning centers are overwhelmingly located in urban areas. Over one-half of all early childhood learning center students reside in urban environments, compared with less than one-third of students at traditional public schools.

Growth in the percentage of the overall population living in urban areas increases demand for early childhood learning centers. The US urban population is expected to increase in 2018, representing a potential opportunity for the industry.

The economic downturn hasn’t really affected this industry, especially in countries that believe in the efficacy of education. The areas you would need to spend heavily on is in ensuring that your school is up to standard, your advertisements, and on insurance policy cover.

Lastly, it is trendier to find early childhood learning centers engaging in extra – curricular activities and as a matter of fact, an early childhood learning center that thrives in sports can leverage on that to attract students who are sports inclined.

8. Our Target Market

As a standard early childhood learning center, Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. is going to offer varieties of educational services. Our intention of starting our early childhood learning center is to prepare toddlers to enroll in schools and of course to make profits from the education industry.

Our target market as an early childhood learning center cuts across people (students) of different classes and cultural background whether African, White, Caucasian, Latinos, Indians, and Asians. We are coming into the industry with a business concept that will enable us work with the students at different learning stages in Little Rock – Arkansas.

Our Competitive Advantage

Indeed, the Early Childhood Learning Centers industry is highly competitive and the entry barriers are high. As a matter of fact, the industry is pretty difficult for new entrants to establish themselves. So also, the reputation of the early childhood learning center is of utmost importance, as early childhood learning centers that have a good history of getting students into prestigious schools often have the best reputations.

As a major marketing tool, schools need to show parents a track record of admission to elite schools. Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. might be a new entrant into the education cum Early Childhood Learning Centers industry in the United States of America, but the management staff of the center are considered gurus.

They are highly qualified educationists/teachers at various levels of learning in the United States. These are part of what will count as a competitive advantage for us.

Lastly, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category in the industry meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and objectives.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

• Sources of Income

Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. is established with the aim of maximizing profits in the education cum Early Childhood Learning Centers industry and we are going to ensure that we do all it takes to attract students on a regular basis. Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. will generate income by offering the following tutorial services;

• Providing child and infant day care to an extent

10. Sales Forecast

We are well positioned to take on the available market in Little Rock – Arkansas and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough income / profits from the first six months of operation and grow the early childhood learning center and our student base.

We have been able to examine the early childhood learning centers cum education market in the United States of America, we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast.

Below is the sales projection for Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc., it is based on the location of our tutorial center and of course the wide range of educational cum learning services that we will be offering;

• First Fiscal Year (FY1):  $250,000
• Second Fiscal Year (FY2):  $450,000
• Third Fiscal Year (FY3):  $750,000

N.B : This projection was done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and natural disasters within the period stated above. So, there won’t be any major competitor offering same services as we do within same location. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

• Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

We are mindful of the fact that there are stiff competitions amongst early childhood learning centers in the United States of America, hence we have been able to hire some of the best marketing experts to handle our sales and marketing concerns.

Our sales and marketing team will be recruited base on their vast experience in the industry and they will be trained on a regular basis so as to be well equipped to meet their targets and the overall goal of the early childhood learning center.

Our goal is to grow our early childhood learning center to become one of the top 10 early childhood learning centers in the United States of America which is why we have mapped out strategies that will help us take advantage of the available market and grow to become a major force to reckon with not only in Little Rock – Arkansas but also in other cities in the United States of America.

Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. is set to make use of the following marketing and sales strategies to attract clients;

• Introduce our early childhood learning center by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to schools, parents/household and key stake holders in Little Rock – Arkansas.
• Print out fliers and business cards and strategically drop them in schools, libraries and even student organizations.
• Creating a website, allows parents to be able to look you up, and also allows you to post general study tips, giving you an added advantage.
• Use friends and family to spread word about our early childhood learning center
• Introduce Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. to learning specialists, school coaches, school administrators, teachers, guidance counselors especially as they are with students everyday
• Post information about Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. on bulletin boards in places like schools, libraries, and local coffee shops.
• Placing a small or classified advertisement in the newspaper, or local publication about Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc.
• Using tutorial referral networks such as agencies that will help match students with Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc.
• Joining relevant association or body that will enable us network and meet others in same industry.
• Advertising online by using an advertising platform such as Google AdWords, that will allow us place text advertisements alongside on websites with related contents, and along results from search engines.
• Advertise our early childhood learning center in relevant educational magazines, newspapers, TV and radio station.
• Attend relevant educational expos, seminars, and business fairs et al
• Engage direct marketing approach
• Encourage word of mouth marketing from loyal and satisfied clients

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

We are aware of the potency of a good publicity strategy hence we have been able to work with our brand and publicity consultants to help us map out publicity and advertising strategies that will help us walk our way into the heart of our target market.

We are set to become the number one choice for both parents and students in the whole of Little Rock – Arkansas which is why we have made provisions for effective publicity and advertisement of our early childhood learning center.

Below are the platforms we intend to leverage on to promote and advertise Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc.;

• Place adverts on both print (community based newspapers and educational magazines) and electronic media platforms
• Sponsor relevant community based events/programs
• Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook, twitter, YouTube, Google + et al to promote our brand
• Install our billboards in strategic locations all around Little Rock – Arkansas.
• Engage in roadshow from time to time in targeted neighborhoods in and around Little Rock – Arkansas
• Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas in and around Little Rock – Arkansas
• Passing general information via our school’s social media handles like twitter, Facebook, Google hangouts etc.
• Ensure that all our teaching and non – teaching staff members wear our branded shirts and all our vehicles are well branded with our schools’ logo et al.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Early childhood learning centers in the United States of America and of course in all the parts of the world charge students per term/per session and students have the options of either paying their tuitions before resumption or during the school session. Early childhood learning centers charge students based on loads of factors including location, service offerings and extra – curricular activities.

At Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. we will keep our fees below the average market rate by keeping our overhead low and by collecting payment in advance. In addition, we will also offer special discounted rates to all our students at regular intervals.

• Payment Options

The payment policy adopted by Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of the United States of America.

Here are the payment options that Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. will make available to her clients;

• Payment via bank transfer
• Payment with cash
• Payment via online bank transfer
• Payment via mobile money
• Payment via Point of Sales Machines (POS Machines)
• Payment via check
• Payment via bank draft

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our clients make payment for tuition fees without any stress on their part. Our bank account numbers will be made available on our website and promotional materials to clients who may want to deposit cash or make online transfer for services rendered.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

In setting up an early childhood learning center business, the amount or cost will depend on the approach and scale you want to undertake. If you intend to go big by acquiring a large facility, then you would need a higher amount of capital as you would need to ensure that your employees are taken care of, and that your early childhood learning center’s environment is conducive enough for the students to learn.

The materials and equipment that will be used are nearly the same cost everywhere, and any difference in prices would be minimal and can be overlooked. As for the detailed cost analysis for starting a early childhood learning center business; it might differ in other countries due to the value of their money.

However, this is what it would cost us to start Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. in the United of America;

• Business incorporating fees in the United States of America will cost – $750.
• The budget for Liability insurance, permits and license will cost – $3,500
• Acquiring a large facility that will accommodate the number of block of classes, playing field, staff offices and parking lots et al (Re – Construction of the facility inclusive) will cost – $350,000.
• Equipping the classes and office (computers, printers, projectors, markers, pens and pencils, furniture, telephones, filing cabinets, and electronics) will cost – $50,000
• Launching an official website will cost – $500
• The budget for the payment of salaries for the first three months of operations: $120,000
• Additional Expenditure such as Running cost, Business cards, Signage, Adverts and Promotions will cost – $45,000

Going by the market survey and feasibility studies conducted, we came to the conclusion that we will need an average of six hundred and fifty thousand dollar ($650,000) to start a small but standard early childhood learning center in the United States of America.

Generating Funds/Startup Capital for Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc.

Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. is a family business that will be owned and managed by Dr. (Mrs.) Beck Steve – Carson and her immediate family members. They are the major financiers of the early childhood learning center which is why they decided to restrict the sourcing of the startup capital for the early childhood learning center to just three major sources.

• Generate part of the startup capital from personal savings and sale of his stocks
• Generate part of the startup capital from government, friends and other extended family members
• Generate a larger chunk of the startup capital from the bank (loan facility).

N.B: We have been able to generate about $250,000 (Personal savings $200,000 and soft loan from family members $50,000) and we are at the final stages of securing $100,000 education grant from the Government an also obtaining a loan facility of $300,000 from our bank. All the papers and documents have been duly signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

It is a known fact that the future of any business lies in the number of loyal customers that they have, the capacity and competence of their employees, their investment strategy and of course the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business, then it won’t be too long before the business closes shop.

One of our major goals of starting Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without the need for injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running.

We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers (students and parents alike) over is to ensure that we offer nothing less than the best, to offer quality education to all our students so much so that they can favorably compete with students all over the United States.

Little Rock® Community Learning Center, Inc. will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and re – training of our workforce is at the top burner of our business strategy.

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of three years or more as determined by the board of the organization. We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List/Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check: Completed
• Business Incorporation: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Securing a standard facility large enough to accommodate our design: Completed
• Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
• Generating part of the startup capital from the founders: Completed
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents: In Progress
• Design of The Schools’ Logo: Completed
• Printing of Promotional Materials: Completed
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Purchase of the needed furniture, office equipment, electronic appliances and facility facelift: In progress
• Creating Official Website for the school : In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the early childhood learning center in Little Rock – Arkansas: In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement: In Progress
• Establishing business relationship with vendors and key players in the education industry : In Progress

More on Education

Personal Training Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Personal Training Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their personal training companies. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a personal training business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What is a Personal Training Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your personal training business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Personal Training Business

If you’re looking to start a personal training business or grow your existing personal training company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your personal training business to improve your chances of success. Your personal trainer business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Personal Training Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a personal training business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for personal training companies.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a personal training business.

If you want to start a personal training business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The business plan outline below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your personal training business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of personal training business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a personal training business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of personal training businesses?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.

• Give a brief overview of the personal training industry.
• Discuss the type of personal training business you are operating.
• Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
• Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
• Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of personal training business you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of personal training businesses:

• Mobile personal trainer: This type of business involves traveling to the client’s home, a park, or another location that is convenient for the client to provide personal training sessions.
• In-home personal trainer: This type of business is operated out of the trainer’s own home. This type of business may be great for trainers that have their own equipment.
• Online personal trainer: This type of business involves providing training one-on-one or group sessions online live or via pre-recorded webinars.
• Gym trainer: This type of personal training business operates out of a gym that allows the trainer to work with their own clients at the gym.

In addition to explaining the type of personal training business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of clients served, the number of sessions provided with positive outcomes, reaching $X amount in revenue, etc.
• Your legal business Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the personal training industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the personal training industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your personal trainer business plan:

• How big is the personal training industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your personal training business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your personal trainer business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: individuals, schools, families, and corporations.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of personal training business you operate. Clearly, individuals would respond to different marketing promotions than corporations, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other personal training businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes other types of trainers, coaches, gyms, and fitness programs. You need to mention such competition as well.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What type of personal training business are they?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you make it easier for clients to acquire your services?
• Will you offer products or services that your competition doesn’t?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a personal training business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of personal training company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide lifestyle training, boot camps, or performance training services?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the products and/or services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the site of your personal training company. Document where your company is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your personal training business located in a busy retail district, a business district, a standalone gym, or purely online? Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your personal training marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertise in local papers, radio stations and/or magazines
• Reach out to websites
• Distribute flyers
• Engage in email marketing
• Advertise on social media platforms
• Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your personal training business, including answering calls, planning and providing training sessions, billing customers and collecting payments, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to book your Xth session, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your personal training business to a new city.

Management Team

To demonstrate your personal training business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing personal training businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a personal training business or successfully running a small fitness class.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you see 5 clients per day, and/or offer group training sessions? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your personal training business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a personal training business:

• Cost of equipment and supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your gym location lease or testimonials from happy customers.

  Summary Writing a business plan for your personal training business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the personal training industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful personal training business.  

Personal Training Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my personal training business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily write your personal training business plan.

Where Can I Download a Personal Trainer Business Plan PDF?

You can download our Personal Trainer business plan PDF  here. This is a business plan template you can use in PDF format.

How Do You Start a Personal Training Business?

Starting a personal training business is easy with these 14 steps:

• Choose the Name for Your Personal Training Business
• Create Your Personal Training Business Plan
• Choose the Legal Structure for Your Personal Training Business
• Secure Startup Funding for Your Personal Training Business (If Needed)
• Secure a Location for Your Business
• Register Your Personal Training Business with the IRS
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get a Business Credit Card
• Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
• Get Business Insurance for Your Personal Training Business
• Buy or Lease the Right Personal Training Business Equipment
• Develop Your Personal Training Business Marketing Materials
• Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Personal Training Business
• Open for Business

  OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how a Growthink business planning advisor can create your business plan for you.   Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

• Quarterly Business Review
• Employee Engagement
• Employee Onboarding
• Product Training
• Virtual Team Trivia
• Team Happy Hour
• Virtual Holiday Party
• Help Center

8 Steps to Create an Effective Sales Training Plan for 2024

Head of Product at Gloww

• Published on May 6, 2024

Struggling to execute a sales strategy? If you haven’t invested in an effective sales training plan, you stand little chance of achieving your objectives. A sales team can only sell if they’ve been given the skills and resources they need to thrive. While some people have an innate ability to convert customers, sales team development gives you the chance to upskill entire departments. 

Below, we’ll take a look at what it takes to create an effective sales training plan in 2024. 

Benefits and Importance of Sales Training 

A sales enablement training plan provides your team with the resources needed to convert leads into customers and close more deals. By helping your team improve their communication skills, they’ll be better able to connect with colleagues and customers alike. Sales training also ensures your team is fully versed on the USPs of a particular product or service, giving them the best chance of sealing a deal with a customer. 

Struggling with high turnover? Sales training opportunities are an attractive prospect to employees, while professional development pathways will also appeal to top talent looking for their next appointment. 

8 Steps to Create an Effective Sales Training Plan 

To get the best results from sales training, you’ll need to create an ironclad plan. Below are some of the most important things you’ll need to consider. 

1. Identify Needs Through Assessment

Before you can create a training plan , you need to get a handle on what areas your team is struggling with. With a skills gap analysis, you’re essentially comparing what you need against what you have, spotlighting the shortfall that training needs to address.  

2. Define Training Objectives (SMART goals)

Does your stream struggle with securing new customers or have issues with customer retention? Perhaps some find it hard to deploy hard-sell tactics. Whatever areas you choose to focus on, make sure you’re considering SMART goals. An acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely, a SMART framework serves as the foundation for creating a successful training strategy. 

3. Consider Experience Levels, Learning Styles, and Team Dynamics

When it comes to training, a one-size-fits-all solution rarely works . Your team is going to have wildly different levels of experience. Some are going to prefer to be mentored, while others will thrive with independent learning. Even the way your team interacts with each other on a daily basis can inform training. Consider all these factors when deciding on the best way forward.

4. Choose the Right Training Format 

Asynchronous learning can be cost-effective and time-efficient, but the lack of trainer oversight and direct connection can cause problems. For most companies, a hybrid approach that brings together independent learning with guided training will deliver good results. 

5. Consider Industry Experience, Training Experience, and Ability to Engage Your Team

If you’ve opted against third-party support, you’ll need to assign people from within your organization to trainer and mentor roles. However, an experienced employee isn’t always the best choice. They’ll also need to have mastered employee engagement and coax less confident team members out of their shells. Finding the right fit is often a case of trial and error.  

6. Develop Engaging Training Materials 

Your team is going to respond better to training if you’ve created compelling learning content. Reams of text aren’t the most inspiring tools for learning, so lean heavily on infographics and images that will help with visualization. People often learn best from real-life sales scenarios, so including case studies is also a good idea. 

7. Include Interactive Exercises, Role-Playing Scenarios, and Simulations

Role-playing exercises are a tried and tested approach, while training simulations can give you a clear idea of how well someone will fare in a live sales setting. 

8. Implement, Monitor, and Refine

The process isn’t over just because training is. Monitor sales performance and track success by keeping an eye on key performance indicators. If productivity is flatlining or customer satisfaction levels are still plummeting, it’s time to head back to the drawing board and make some changes. 

Essentials for Ensuring Your Team Understands Sales Training 

Sales is a multifaceted vocation. If you want your team to succeed, they’ll need to master a suite of vital skills. 

Sales Funnel 

Good salespeople need to understand the difference between unqualified leads from qualified ones. Only the latter group can be converted into loyal customers. 

Sales Methodologies 

Having a grasp on key sales methodologies like solution and conceptual selling will ensure your sales team knows how to act in any given scenario. 

In-Depth Understanding of Products 

If a salesperson doesn’t understand a product, they don’t have a chance of promoting its USPs to potential leads. As such, investing in product training for your sales team is a must. 

Understanding the Needs of the Customer

Some customers are simply looking for a service provider. Others are more indecisive, and unsure of their wants and needs. A skilled salesperson should be able to quickly sniff out what kind of customer they’re dealing with in order to seal the deal. 

Building Rapport and Establishing Trust with Customers

The best salespeople know how to strike the right note with customers, secure their trust, and maintain long-lasting relationships that continue to bring in revenues and generate fresh leads. 

Sales Techniques and Tools

Whether it’s proactive selling or a more personal approach that speaks to the customer as an individual, all manner of sales techniques can be deployed to close a deal. An effective sales team should also be armed with an arsenal of arsenal tools, such as client relationships and marketing automation software. 

Mindset and Motivation 

A successful sales mindset encapsulates confidence and determination to convert leads into paying customers. However, great salespeople need more motivation than this. Sales is more than a numbers game, with those who offer added value to their customers generally more successful. 

Five Common Methods for Sales Training 

Is your sales training curriculum falling short? Below are five useful methods for turning new recruits into top sellers. 

Role-Playing 

Role-playing is one of the most effective ways to train a sales team and instill good habits. For best results, craft scenarios to promote a particular sales technique skill, such as dealing with a tricky customer or demonstrating the USPs of a product. 

Shadowing 

Do you already boast top-tier salespeople within your team? Shadowing is a great way of onboarding fresh recruits , letting them learn the ins and outs of the job from the best possible people. 

E-Learning Modules

As well as being cost-effective, asynchronous learning is ideal if you can’t commit to many business hours for training. Perfect for independent learners, e-learning modules are also the only way forward if your business operates remotely. 

Group Discussions

Pick a topic like common sales stumbling blocks or pitching a new product and open the floor for discussion. Your team can then share their experiences, offering their own unique approaches to inspire colleagues. 

Feedback and Reviews

While receiving feedback from managers and colleagues can seem intimidating, it’s a handy tool for sales training. If someone is struggling to convert leads into customers, encourage other members of your team to offer their insights and opinions to help them improve. 

Streamline Sales Training with Gloww

Is it time to rethink your approach to sales training? With Gloww, you have everything you need to execute an effective sales training strategy . Perfect for connecting with remote teams, our full-featured video conferencing platform has all the tools you need to upskill and enhance existing talents. 

You can create tailored training sessions in just a few clicks or take your pick from a huge library of ready-made templates. Want to make things more interactive? Add live polls, trivia rounds , or classic games to increase engagement . 

You can start creating your online training sessions today. If you want to learn to unlock Gloww’s advanced features, why not take a look at our premium pricing tiers ? Do you have a question about the platform? Get in touch with the team. 

Ben Aflalo heads Gloww's product team with over two decades of leadership experience. Passionate about leveraging innovative technology, he is committed to building products for the greater good.

Table of Contents

• May 6, 2024
• by Ben Aflalo

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9 places to nosh on bagels in southern Maine

From old-school spots to foodie favorites, there's a 'hole' lot to try.

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Bread and bagels at The Works Cafe in downtown Portland. Photo by Aimsel Ponti

From New York-style boiled bagels to Montreal-inspired wood-fired ones, there’s lots of great bagels in southern Maine and several shops have the accolades to back that up.

In 2023, Bon Appetit named bagels from Rose Foods and Rover Bagel among the best in the country.

Two years before that,  Food & Wine Magazine put Rover, Forage and Scratch Baking Co. on its list of best bagels in the U.S.

Whether you like yours toasted with cream cheese or as the bread for your breakfast sandwich, you can find plenty of styles and flavors from Biddeford to Brunswick.

BEACH BAGELS

The offerings at Beach Bagels include a French toast and marble bagel, and the cream cheese menu comprises spreads like strawberry, olive and honey walnut. Along with breakfast sandwiches, Beach Bagels has hearty breakfast options like omelets and pancakes. Best of all, you’re steps away from a beach stroll. Just don’t let the seagulls steal your bagel. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily WHERE: 34 Old Orchard St., Old Orchard Beach. beachbagels.yolasite.com ______________

Dutchman’s opened in 2022 as a pop-up housed at Nomad pizza in Brunswick’s Fort Andross building. It’s since become a permanent fixture there and uses the pizzeria’s wood-fired ovens to bake its bagels. The hand-shaped, honey-boiled bagels come in plain, roasted garlic, poppy and a bagel-of-the-day flavor.

WHEN: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday to Sunday WHERE: Fort Andross, 14 Maine St., Brunswick. dutchmans.me ______________

FORAGE MARKET

Making bagels at Forage Market involves a two-day aging process. The bagels are naturally leavened with wild yeast starter and baked next to a hardwood fire. There are usually five flavors available, including sesame and garlic. Breakfast sandwiches (including vegan options) are available. Forage also has a location in Lewiston. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday WHERE: 123 Washington Ave., Portland. foragemarket.com _____________

MISTER BAGEL

There are 10 or so Mister Bagel locations in Maine, including South Portland and Falmouth. It all began with the Portland location, which was the first bagel shop to open in Maine. The late Rick Hartglass started Mister Bagel in 1977, and it is still a family business. Music fans will appreciate the breakfast sandwich menu, which includes The David Bowie (bacon, egg and American cheese), the Jimmy Buffett (egg with roast beef and cheddar) and The Lady Gaga (avocado, salt and pepper, with or without egg).

WHEN: 6:30 a.m. to noon Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to noon Saturday and Sunday WHERE: 599 Forest Ave., Portland. misterbagelforestave.com ______________

At Rose Foods, the menu varies depending on the day, but there are usually six to eight flavors available. For example, should you pop in on a Friday, you’ll find a poppy and onion bialy (a cousin of the bagel that is not boiled). Rose Foods also makes a number of bagel sandwiches, including the Classic Nova with Nova lox and the Classic Whitefish. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily WHERE: 428 Forest Ave., Portland. rosefoods.me

______________

ROVER BAGEL

At Rover Bagel, you’ll find wood-fired plain, poppy, sea salt, sesame and everything bagels available most of the time, and the spread game here is strong with cream cheese options like lemon-thyme-honey cream and chili-garlic.

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon Sunday WHERE: 10 West Point Lane Suite 10-204, Biddeford (Pepperell Mill). roverbagel.com

______________ Advertisement

SCRATCH BAKING CO.

You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced the line of devoted fans waiting for Scratch Baking Co. to open, especially on weekend mornings. Along with the popular Maine sea salt, plain and other everyday flavors, Scratch has a daily special bagel. There’s honeyed rosemary on Wednesday and jalapeno cheddar on Thursday. Scratch is also famous, at least to locals, for its P-Cheese spread. It’s a pimento cheese recipe made with cheddar, mayo, roasted red peppers and seasoning and was passed down to co-owner and head baker Allison Reid by her grandmother, Mern.

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to noon Sunday WHERE: 416 Preble St., South Portland. scratchbakingco.com ___________

THE MAINE BAGEL

The Maine Bagel is a drive-thru with several breakfast and other kinds of sandwiches available. With a bagel list that features egg and bialy among the standards, the family-owned spot is the perfect place to stop on your way to Pine Point Beach. The Maine Bagel really shines with a dozen kinds of cream cheese spreads, including raisin-walnut, lox, strawberry, cranberry-nut and bacon-chive.

WHEN: 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. WHERE: 117 Route 1, Scarborough. themainebagel.com Advertisement

THE WORKS CAFE

The Works Cafe is an institution on the edge of the Portland’s Old Port. It opened in 1990 as Bagel Works before it changed its name in 2002. The original shop in this regional chain opened in Manchester, Vermont, in 1988, and there are 11 locations around New England, though just the one in Maine. Gone are the ’90s-era banana-walnut bagels and cold pizza cream cheese, but The Works Cafe is still a reliable place to grab a salt, multigrain or cinnamon raisin bagel, among others. The menu also has bowls, sandwiches and smoothies.

WHEN: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily WHERE: 15 Temple St., Portland. workscafe.com

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