Free Templates for your Business
We offer a range of templates that cover everything from business plans and sales forecasts to cash flow forecasts and survival budgets.
Our templates are easy to use and customizable, so you can tailor them to your specific needs. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to grow your existing business, our templates will help guide you through the process and ensure that you stay on track.
We also offer a template for putting together your goals. This template will help you define your objectives and create a roadmap for achieving them. With our templates, you’ll be well on your way to success.
Your Goals
Use this document to put together your goals in one place to keep you on track towards your targets.
Business Plan
If you're serious about taking your business to the next level, don't skip the step of creating a solid business plan - it could be the key to your success.
Sales Forecast
Adapt this spreadsheet to your own business to see a sales forecast for the next 12 months of your business.
Cash Flow
Plan out your income and expenditure with this editable Cash Flow template.
Survival Budget
The self employed life can be daunting at first but it's much simpler when you plan out exactly what your personal circumstances will cost.
Get The Skills to succeed in business
Business courses for entrepreneurs, sole traders, startups and growing companies. Free and paid. Accredited and non-accredited. Live and on-demand. Total flexibility.
Smarta Startup Essentials
Covering all the essential legal side of things when setting up or running a business – looking at areas such as registering a business, tax, insurances, and licenses.
Make sure you’ve got your legal ducks in a row with the Startup Essentials course.
From whether you should set up as a sole trader or limited company, to what licences and insurance you need, to how to pay tax – learn everything you need so that you don’t have to worry about HMRC coming knocking!
Smarta Business Fundamentals
Everything you’ll need to know about starting and growing a business – from testing out ideas, market research to writing a business plan.
You don’t need an MBA to start a business – this self-study course will teach you all the skills you need to launch a successful business. From testing out your idea with market research to working out what to charge, to the boring-but-important stuff like the different UK business structures, this course is suited for anyone starting out or in their first couple of years of trading.
Smarta Marketing Fundamentals
Learn how to plan, create and implement your marketing strategies and grow a profitable business.
A successful marketing and sales strategy is essential for a business to succeed, but many small business owners find this area difficult and costly. Without a sales and marketing plan we know a business won’t reach its potential, and at worst, could fail altogether.
You will be given the skills, knowledge and tools to understand and identify customers, research the market, and learn best practice and techniques to sell products and services.
Smarta Digital Marketing
Can’t commit the time required to attend the Skills Bootcamp? Check out this short entry course into effective digital marketing tools and strategies to target, reach, and engage potential customers.
Digital marketing can have a huge impact on your business by raising awareness of your brand and increasing sales. But getting started can often feel daunting. In this short entry course, you’ll learn the tools and strategies you need to turn potential customers into buyers.
Top 5 Podcasts for Entreprenuers
Listening to podcasts can be a great way to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and happenings in the business world. They can provide unique insight into emerging technologies, strategies for success, and best practices for running a successful business. Podcasts also give busy entrepreneurs the perfect opportunity to learn something new or get inspired while on their commute. Whether it’s following industry leaders or getting sound advice from experts, podcasts are an invaluable resource that any business person should consider utilizing.
How I Built This with Guy Raz
Guy Raz interviews the world’s best-known entrepreneurs to learn how they built their iconic brands. In each episode, founders reveal deep, intimate moments of doubt and failure, and share insights on their eventual success. How I Built This is a master-class on innovation, creativity, leadership and how to navigate challenges of all kinds.
The Tim Ferriss show
Tim Ferriss is a self-experimenter and bestselling author, best known for The 4-Hour Workweek, which has been translated into 40+ languages. Newsweek calls him “the world’s best human guinea pig,” and The New York Times calls him “a cross between Jack Welch and a Buddhist monk.” In this show, he deconstructs world-class performers from eclectic areas (investing, chess, pro sports, etc.), digging deep to find the tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can use.
StartUp Podcast
If you want to listen to raw business stories, the StartUp podcast is the right for you. The episodes here are all about revealing the real lives of struggling founders: nothing is sugar-coated. You’ll listen to all kinds of stories – from how to write a business plan to how to handle conflict at the workplace. Alex and Lisa’s guests talk about real entrepreneurial problems rarely mentioned in the business world.
masters of scale
Award-winning business advice from Silicon Valley and beyond. Iconic CEOs, from Nike to Netflix, Starbucks to Slack, share the strategies that helped them grow from startups into global brands — and to weather crisis when it strikes. You can expect real-time wisdom from business leaders in fast-changing situations.
The Smart Passive Income, Online Business & Blogging Podcast
Discover how you can create multiple passive income streams that work for you so that you can have the time and freedom to do what you love. You’ll learn about building authority online, email marketing, building a team and outsourcing, content marketing, podcasting, search engine optimization, niche sites, social media strategies, how to get more traffic, creating online courses, affiliate marketing, and productivity tips so that you create something amazing without burning yourself out.
Top 5 Books for Entrepreneurs
Reading business-focused books is an excellent way for entrepreneurs to gain insight and knowledge from experts in the field. By reading these books, you can learn more about areas such as marketing strategies, customer service techniques, finance operations, and more – all of which are important skills for successful entrepreneurs. Additionally, reading business books is a great way to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the industry. The knowledge and experience gained from reading business focused books can be invaluable when starting out or growing a new venture.
The Lean StartUp by Eric Ries
Are all start-ups prone to failure? Or are all the failures caused by some mistakes which can be easily prevented? According to Eric Ries, a startup deals with a wave of uncertainty, indeed, and business plans might not be the key to make things run smoothly. This book gives a scientific approach to the proper management of a startup, mostly by making use of innovation.
Key takeaways:
- Find a business model that works through validation.
- Use split-testing to tell value from waste.
- Never ever indulge in vanity metrics.
Zero to one by peter thiel
You might think that we know everything by now and that there isn’t much to create at this point. That all the greatest inventions have appeared by now. And this is where you might be wrong: entrepreneur Peter Thiel confirms that there are still countless ways for us to create something new. And all this can be done by making use of your power and asking the right questions in order to come up with the next innovation.
Key takeaways:
- The biggest leaps in progress are vertical, not horizontal.
- Monopolies are good, for both business and society.
- Founders need a vision to take their business from zero to one.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by ben horowitz
It’s great to have your own business, indeed. Truth be told, though, it is rather hard to have a business and run it properly. Ben Horowitz provides us with key anecdotes in this book, derived from his success – which was not as easy to obtain, as people might think. Getting straight to the point, this book will answer all the questions you might have, no matter if you already have a business of your own or if you are thinking about starting one.
Key takeaways:
- The CEO should be the first one to shout when it hits the fan.
- There are 2 types of CEOs.
- Great CEOs must learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
It’s important nowadays to live a life full of meaning and purpose, but what is also important is to earn a good living. This book is filled with key principles that will help you figure out exactly what it is that you have to do to live your life the way you want. And the best part about it is that it doesn’t get lost in generalities which might not give you the insight you need.
Key takeaways:
- Passion is only 1/3 of the equation, you also need skills and customers.
- If you want your passion to be more than a hobby, focus on income and costs.
- Keep your plans simple, because action beats them every time.
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
Do you want to know how to grow your business productively? Michael Gerber has the answer for you in this book and walks you through all the steps you need to take in a business. And it is all sharp insight from his own experience, which will help you deconstruct all the myths regarding the way one should work when it comes to business.
Key Takeaways:
- Having great technical skills does not mean you know how to run a business.Having great technical skills does not mean you know how to run a business.
- Imagine your business as a nationwide franchise from day one, then build the first store.
- The franchise approach makes sure you build a business based on systems, not people.