How to write a one-page growth plan for your Ontario business

Step 1: Split last year's revenue by line

Start by breaking your revenue into three to six lines that you sell differently. A line might be a service (installations versus maintenance), a customer type (households versus businesses), or a channel (in-store versus online).

Pull the figures from your accounting software or invoices. If your books don't split revenue this way, estimate from job counts or invoice samples. Aim to be within 10% or so.

Write each line down with its annual revenue. That list alone often surprises owners: the line they spend the most time on is frequently not the biggest.

Step 2: Estimate gross margin and owner time for each line

Revenue tells you size; margin tells you value. For each line, subtract the direct costs, meaning materials, direct labour and subcontractors, and divide by revenue. Then estimate how many hours a month you and your senior people spend on it.

Here's a worked example for a fictional Ottawa-area interiors business with $940,000 in revenue:

Margin per owner hour tells the real story. Fit-outs produce about $329 of margin for each owner hour ($197,600 ÷ 12 months ÷ 50 hours). Furniture sales produce about $227. Consultations, despite the high percentage, produce about $157, because each one takes so much of the owner's time.

Step 3: Look at customers and towns

Find out where your best customers are and how they found you. Sort last year's customers by revenue and look at the top 20%. Note their towns, how they first contacted you, and whether they bought again.

Ontario businesses often find their best customers cluster in a few places. A Halton firm might discover most of its profitable work comes from Oakville and north Burlington, with Milton producing smaller, harder jobs. That points your marketing somewhere specific. Our areas page shows how buyers differ between Ontario regions.

Step 4: Choose three to five targets

Each target needs a number, a date, a line and a place. Weak targets sound like "grow sales" or "do more marketing". Strong targets sound like this:

• "Grow full-room fit-outs in Kanata and Stittsville from 14 to 22 projects by next November, keeping margin at 36% or higher."
• "Lift repeat furniture purchases from past fit-out clients from 18% to 30% by June."
• "Reduce owner hours on hourly consultations from 35 to 20 a month by raising the rate and offering a fixed-price design package instead."

Notice the third target is about stopping or shrinking something. Every good plan includes at least one.

Three to five targets is the limit for an owner-run business. With more, attention spreads too thin and nothing gets done.

Step 5: List the actions, by quarter

For each target, write the two or three actions that would move it, and put them in a quarter. Be realistic about capacity: if you're busiest from September to December, don't schedule a website rebuild then.

For the first target above, actions might be:

1. Q1: write a dedicated page for Kanata and Stittsville with real local projects; ask the last ten fit-out clients there for reviews.
2. Q2: run a small, capped local ad test aimed only at those two areas.
3. Q3: follow up every fit-out client at the six-month mark with a short check-in call.

Each action should have one named owner. If everything is owned by "us", nothing is owned by anyone.

Step 6: Decide how you'll measure it monthly

Pick one or two numbers per target and look at them on the same day every month. Use whatever tools you already have: your accounting software, your calendar, a simple spreadsheet. The habit matters more than the tool.

A minimal monthly review takes 30 minutes:

• Did each target's number move?
• If not, is it because the action didn't happen, or because it happened and didn't work?
• What's the one change for next month?

If after two quarters a target isn't moving at all, the target or the action is wrong. Change it. A plan you never adjust is just a document.

The template

Copy this onto one page and fill it in.

• Business: [Business name], [City]
• Year: [Start month] to [End month]
• Revenue last year: [Total], split by line: [Line 1: $], [Line 2: $], [Line 3: $]
• Best line by margin per owner hour: [Line]
• Best towns or customer groups: [List]
• Target 1: [Number] [line] in [place] by [date]
• Target 2: …
• Target 3: …
• One thing we will stop or shrink: [Line or activity]
• Monthly review day: [Day of month], owner: [Name]

Common mistakes

These five show up in almost every first draft.

1. Too many targets. Cut to five, then consider cutting to three.
2. Revenue without margin. Growing a low-margin line can leave you busier and no richer.
3. No geography. "Ontario" isn't a target market. Name the towns.
4. Ignoring capacity. If a target needs a new hire, include the hire and its cost in the plan.
5. Marketing before measurement. Know what a customer is worth before deciding what to spend to get one.

A note on what this plan isn't

This is an operating plan for you and your team, not a lender's business plan or a tax document. If you need financing, your bank or accountant will tell you what format they need. For questions about incorporation, HST or payroll, talk to an Ontario CPA or lawyer.

When to get help

If you finish the template and it feels obvious, act on it. If you get stuck on the numbers, or the targets feel like guesses, a second opinion helps. Our growth diagnosis and planning service does this work with you over three to six weeks, and monthly advisory keeps the review habit going. Prices are on the pricing page, and the other guides cover marketing rules and choosing your next market.