E-commerce Business Plan Example With 3-Year Financials

You may already know what you want to sell online and where you’ll source your products. But writing an e-commerce business plan means figuring out how many orders to expect, what it costs to attract customers, and how much you’ll earn after shipping, advertising, and other expenses.

To show how these numbers work together, I’ve created a sample plan for Shelfwren Home Co., a fictional home organization store in Columbus, Ohio. Its founder plans to start from home with a $75,000 SBA 7(a) loan.

Use this sample to see how product pricing, website traffic, inventory costs, and three-year financial projections fit together, so you can make more realistic assumptions for your own online store.

Executive Summary

Shelfwren Home Co. is a new online home organization store based in Columbus, Ohio. Starting March 1, 2027, we’ll sell practical, attractive storage products to customers across the U.S., beginning with pantry organizers, woven baskets, drawer inserts, and other everyday storage essentials.

Our founder, Rachel Donovan, has experience as a home goods buyer and weekend professional organizer. She’ll use that experience to build a collection of storage products that look good in the home without costing as much as premium designer brands.

We’ll start by storing and shipping orders from Rachel’s home in Clintonville, keeping our operating costs low while we build sales.

Our business address is Larkmoor Commons, 4280 Larkmoor Road, Suite 112, Columbus, OH 43214. This mailbox suite keeps the family’s home address off our website, emails, and return labels.

Our store will carry about 120 products in five lines:

• Pantry and kitchen
• Closet and entryway
• Drawer and desk
• Bath and under-sink
• Lifestyle accessories

About 65% of our sales will come from private-label products that factories make to our designs. The rest will come from finished goods we buy wholesale.

More of this shopping now happens online. Online sales accounted for 17.1% of U.S. retail sales in the second quarter of 2026, up from 16.3% a year earlier.

Yet shoppers who want storage that looks good on an open shelf usually find two choices: cheap plastic bins or designer pieces at $35 to $70 each.

We will sell the middle ground, with glass, bamboo, seagrass, and linen at mid-range prices. Our customers will be pantry resetters, first-apartment renters, gift buyers, and repeat organizers.

We expect about 240,000 visits to our website in Year 1. At a 1.5% conversion rate, these visits will bring 3,600 orders at an average of $72.00 each.

We will pack orders at home in Year 1 and pay no rent. On March 1, 2028, our stock and packing will move to a third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse in the Columbus area, which stores, packs, and ships orders for a fee.

Our vision is to become the online store people across the U.S. turn to whenever they’re ready to organize the next room.

We expect revenue of $259,200 in Year 1, $336,960 in Year 2, and $438,048 in Year 3. Year 1 shows a pre-tax loss of $17,641 because we pay $40,100 in one-time launch costs that year. After that, we expect a pre-tax profit of $34,346 in Year 2 and $45,164 in Year 3.

We are asking Alum Creek Community Bank for a $75,000 SBA 7(a) loan, and Rachel will invest $25,000 of her savings. The $100,000 will pay for $36,000 of opening stock, $40,100 of one-time launch costs, and $11,000 of equipment and product tooling. It also covers $1,800 of prepaid insurance and keeps an $11,100 cash reserve.

Company Overview

Shelfwren Home Co. will sell only through its own website. We won’t sell on online marketplaces, at craft fairs, or over a shop counter in our first three years. This helps us keep our prices, product pages, and customer email list in our own hands.

It also keeps our setup simple while we learn which products sell best.

Mission

Our mission is to help people organize their homes with simple, well-made products that look good enough to leave on open shelves, at prices below designer brands.

Ownership & Brand

Rachel Donovan formed Shelfwren as an Ohio single-member limited liability company (LLC) in September 2026. She owns 100% of the business and will personally guarantee the SBA loan.

Shelfwren is the importer of record for its private-label products. This means the company pays the import duty and makes sure the paperwork is right. It also holds our supplier contracts, and it has applied to register the “Shelfwren” trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Basement Stock Room

In Year 1, our stock room, packing table, and office will take up about 420 square feet of the finished basement in the Donovans’ Clintonville home. This is about 18% of the home’s 2,300 square feet of living space.

Steel shelving along two walls holds our 120 products, sorted by product line. One packing table with a label printer and a scale handles 10 to 17 orders a day.

A dehumidifier keeps the room dry and helps protect bamboo, seagrass, and cardboard cartons from damp.

Columbus is also a good place to ship from. It sits near the middle of the eastern half of the country, and ground parcels reach most customers in the Midwest and on the East Coast within a few days.

Business Goals for the First Three Years

We have set goals that mix sales, customers, and the way we run the business:

• Launch on March 1, 2027, with about 120 products and three bundles.
• Reach 4,000 email subscribers by August 2027, our first back-to-school and dorm season.
• Have our second private-label run on the shelves by September 2027, before the holidays.
• Finish Year 1 with 3,600 orders and 9,000 email subscribers, and sign our 3PL contract in February 2028.
• Ship every order from the 3PL warehouse starting March 1, 2028.
• Keep our return rate at or below 5% of sales.
• Reach 6,084 orders in Year 3 and hire a remote part-time assistant.

Market Analysis

Most people don’t shop for storage until something stops working. A pantry overflows, a move leaves boxes everywhere, or a drawer won’t close. Then they search online, compare a few options, and order.

Target Customers

We will sell to four groups of customers:

(1) Pantry resetters

Homeowners aged 30 to 50, often with young children and household incomes of $75,000 or more. A cluttered kitchen or a new house starts their search, and they find us on Pinterest and Google Shopping.

They buy the Pantry Reset bundle or six to eight canisters, and their orders run $85 to $110. This is our largest group.

(2) First-apartment renters

People aged 25 to 34 who rent one- or two-bedroom apartments. A move or a lease renewal starts their search. Because they can’t drill into walls, they buy stackable bins, over-door hooks, and drawer inserts. They find us through Instagram and TikTok creators, and their orders run $45 to $65.

(3) Gift buyers

These are the people shopping for housewarmings, weddings, and the holidays. They buy bundles and lifestyle accessories, mostly in November and December, and spend $55 to $100.

(4) Repeat organizers

Past customers who come back for another room once the first one is done. We reach them by email and text message, and their orders run $60 to $80.

Our 3,600 orders in Year 1 will come from about 2,900 customers, because one in five orders will come from someone who has bought before. This is a tiny share of the U.S. households that shop online for their homes. Our growth depends on reaching the right shoppers at an ad cost we can afford.

Emerging Market Trends

A few changes in how people organize their homes work in Shelfwren’s favor:

• Pinterest and short videos have made the “pantry reset” a common weekend project, and people now buy storage they want to show off. Our bundles are built around these resets.
• More people live in smaller homes and apartments, and they want storage that stacks, nests, or hangs.
• Many shoppers are moving away from cheap plastic that cracks and gets thrown out, which is why glass, bamboo, seagrass, and linen are our core materials.
• Online shoppers expect free shipping, which is why our two largest bundles clear our free-shipping line on their own.
• Moves, new babies, and New Year’s resolutions start many organizing projects. This is why we stock up for August and January.

Online Demand & Conversion

As mentioned earlier, online sales accounted for 17.1% of U.S. retail sales in the second quarter of 2026. Americans spent $340.24 billion online that quarter, seasonally adjusted.

The chart below shows how online sales have grown as a share of all U.S. retail sales:

With this much shopping already online, we don’t need a storefront. Our website will help us reach customers in every state from a basement in Columbus.

Home and furniture websites turned between 0.9% and 1.69% of visits into orders each month from October 2025 to September 2026. The highest rate came in November, when holiday shoppers arrive ready to buy.

According to Dynamic Yield’s e-commerce benchmarks, home and furniture websites averaged a 1.22% conversion rate over the reported 12-month period. We are forecasting 1.5% for Shelfwren in Year 1, slightly above that benchmark. Our plan assumes email subscribers and returning customers will help us reach that rate.

Without email, our other visits convert at about 1.29%, in the middle of the range. Our products also cost $12 to $68, while the home and furniture group includes sofas and beds that take much longer to decide on.

We expect our conversion rate to rise to 1.6% in Year 2 and 1.7% in Year 3, as returning customers place more of our orders.

Competitive Analysis

Shelfwren Home Co. will compete with established retailers, online sellers, and other ways people organize their homes. Some shoppers want the lowest price, while others prefer a wider selection, faster delivery, or products that look good in their space.

We have divided our competition into direct and indirect competitors based on what customers are looking for.

Direct Competitors

Our direct competitors sell home organization products similar to ours. They already have established customer bases, so we need to understand what they offer and where their limitations are.

1. Stowmore Storage Co. — National Storage Retailer

Stowmore sells a wide range of storage products through its stores and website. Its canister sets typically cost 80.

Pros

• Large selection across different storage categories
• Physical stores where shoppers can see products before buying
• Frequent sales and promotions

Cons

• Large assortment can make choosing matching products harder
• Some collections focus more on basic functionality than coordinated styling

2. Big-Box Retailers — Mass-Market Storage

Big-box retailers offer everyday organizers, bins, baskets, and storage accessories, generally priced between $5 and $25 per item.

Pros

• Affordable prices and convenient shopping
• Fast shipping and easy access to products
• Familiar names that customers already trust

Cons

• Many inexpensive options use basic plastic materials
• Coordinated collections may vary by brand and season

3. Online Marketplace Sellers

Online marketplaces give customers access to thousands of home organization products at different prices and quality levels.

Pros

• Extensive product selection and customer reviews
• Competitive pricing and fast delivery options
• Easy comparison between sellers

Cons

• Product quality and specifications vary between sellers
• Finding matching pieces can require comparing multiple listings

4. Linnet & Pine — Designer Organization Brand

Linnet & Pine focuses on stylish home storage, with coordinated collections promoted through social media. Individual pieces typically cost 70.

Pros

• Attractive product styling and coordinated collections
• Strong visual branding and creator following

Cons

• Higher prices for individual products
• Smaller selection than large storage retailers

Indirect Competitors

Our indirect competitors offer other ways to solve storage problems. They may not sell the same products as Shelfwren, but customers can choose them instead.

1. Dollar and Discount Stores

These stores sell basic bins and organizers, often for 5 per item.

Pros

• Very affordable for simple storage needs
• Easy to purchase locally without waiting for delivery

Cons

• Limited selection of natural materials and coordinated designs
• Product sizes, finishes, and availability can vary

2. Professional Organizers and Custom Closet Installers

These businesses help customers organize entire rooms or install permanent storage systems. Professional organizing services may cost 150 per hour, while custom installations can cost thousands.

Pros

• Personalized advice and hands-on help
• Suitable for larger or more complicated organization projects
• Custom solutions for specific spaces

Cons

• Much more expensive than organizing a room independently
• Some projects require appointments, installation, or additional product purchases

Competitive Advantage

Shelfwren won’t compete with the largest retailers on price, selection, or shipping speed. Instead, we’ll focus on three things:

(1) Natural materials at mid-range prices

We’ll offer glass, bamboo, seagrass, and linen storage for customers who want something more attractive than basic plastic bins without paying designer prices.

(2) Room-ready bundles

Sets like our $98 Pantry Reset will help shoppers buy what they need for a project in one order rather than choosing every item separately.

(3) Practical product selection

Rachel’s experience as a home goods buyer and professional organizer will guide which products we stock and how we combine them into useful sets.

We also know where we are weaker. Shelfwren is a new name, our shipping is slower than the largest marketplaces, and our range is about 120 products.

We will answer these with Pinterest and creator content that shows our products in real homes, a $75 free-shipping line, and bundles that make a small range feel complete.

Product Lines & Pricing

Shelfwren Home Co. will start with about 120 products across five home organization lines. We’ll sell a mix of private-label products made to our specifications and finished goods purchased from wholesale suppliers.

Our collection will focus on practical storage made from materials such as glass, bamboo, seagrass, and linen.

Product Lines

Our five product lines cover common organizing needs, from kitchen shelves and drawers to closets, bathrooms, and entryways.

We expect each product line to contribute differently to our sales:

Pantry and kitchen products will bring in our largest share of revenue, while drawer and desk organizers are expected to earn our strongest product margins.

Lifestyle accessories will contribute less revenue but give shoppers affordable add-ons and gift options, particularly during the holidays.

Bundles & Pricing Strategy

Not every customer wants to choose organizers one at a time. We’ll offer ready-made bundles for common projects, such as organizing a pantry, entryway, or set of drawers.

We’ll promote the Pantry Reset bundle around January, when customers often start organizing projects, and the Entryway Drop Zone bundle in August and September, when families prepare for the school year.

We expect an average order of $72, with about 2.9 items per purchase. Since free shipping starts at $75, we’ll also suggest matching products on each product page. This gives shoppers a way to complete their project while helping us increase the value of each order.

Shipping, Returns & Discounts

We’ll keep our shopping policies straightforward:

• Orders of $75 or more ship free, and smaller orders pay $6.95 for shipping.
• Customers can return unused items within 30 days, and our $72.00 average order already allows for about 5% of sales coming back as returns and refunds.
• We keep discounts simple and easy to follow. New email subscribers get a 10% welcome code, and we hold one site-wide sale a year, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

Sourcing & Inventory

For Shelfwren, buying stock is where most of the money goes. We buy private-label products where the margin pays for large minimum orders and long waits. We buy wholesale where we want more choice with less risk.

Sourcing Strategy

Our private-label lines bring in 65% of our revenue. Factories make them for our design specifications, and they cost us 27% to 30% of the selling price once they reach Columbus. In return, we must order 300 to 500 units of each product, and most orders take 10 to 14 weeks to arrive.

Our wholesale lines cost 34.5% to 35% of the selling price. These suppliers ship small orders in one to two weeks, which lets us try new products without a large order.

The table below shows each line’s sourcing, average price, and landed cost, which is the full cost of a product once it reaches our shelves:

Packaging adds 2.5% of revenue. Together, product and packaging cost 33% of our sales.

We set every price from landed cost, never from the factory’s quote. Take a large glass canister that sells for $24. The factory price, ocean freight, import duty, the customs broker’s fee, and the truck from the port to Columbus add up to $6.50, or 27% of the price.

Freight and duty can add a third or more to a factory quote, and new online stores often miss this when they set prices.

We use the duty rate in force when each order ships, and Rachel checks every landed cost again before she places a reorder.

Suppliers and Opening Stock

We work with these suppliers and partners:

Vietnamese bamboo factory

A bamboo goods factory in northern Vietnam makes our drawer inserts, desk trays, turntables, and canister lids. It needs 300 to 500 units per product, takes a 30% deposit with the order and 70% before shipping, and delivers in 10 to 12 weeks.

Indian glassware manufacturer

A glassware maker in India supplies our canisters and spice jars, with a 500-unit minimum per size and the same payment terms. Its orders take 12 to 14 weeks, and it sends a food-contact test report with each batch.

Midwest plastics manufacturer

A Midwest plastics molder makes our stackable bins and under-sink caddies. It needs 300 units per product, gives us 30 days to pay, and delivers in four to six weeks. Because these products are made in the U.S., import duty changes don’t affect them.

U.S. wholesale suppliers

A U.S. importer of handwoven goods supplies our seagrass baskets and lidded bins, with a $500 minimum order, 30 days to pay, and delivery in one to two weeks.

We’ll also use a sourcing agent to inspect factory orders and arrange freight, while a customs broker handles import paperwork and duty payments.

Before our March 2027 launch, we plan to have about 5,500 units of opening inventory worth $36,000 at Rachel’s home. This includes $23,300 in private-label products and $12,700 in wholesale goods.

We’ll also invest $4,000 in custom molds for our bamboo inserts and canister lids. These will be recorded as equipment rather than inventory.

Buying Calendar & Reorder Plan

Ordering early matters because we often pay for private-label products months before we can sell them. Factories require a 30% deposit when we place an order and the remaining 70% before shipment.

We have planned five main inventory purchases during our first year:

• A back-to-school restock in June, at $13,657
• The holiday private-label run in September, at $20,485
• The January reset run in early December, at $20,485
• A winter top-up in December, at $13,657
• A spring wholesale order in February, at $4,687

These purchases put pressure on cash before the corresponding sales arrive. We expect our cash balance to reach its lowest point in August 2027, at $15,492.

To manage that pressure, we’ll time larger orders around seasonal demand. For example, we’ve planned the January reset stock to arrive in early December rather than October. This allows us to make its payments later, after some back-to-school and holiday revenue has come in.

The timeline below shows how our first-year buying and selling periods fit together:

After launch, we’ll review inventory levels and sales each week. We’ll reorder when the stock remaining is less than the supplier’s lead time plus four weeks of expected sales.

If a product sells less than half of its first order within 120 days, we stop reordering it and sell the rest through bundles instead of deep discounts.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

Shelfwren’s marketing focuses on bringing the right visitors to our website and turning first-time buyers into repeat customers. We judge every traffic source by the orders it brings and by what those orders leave after ad costs.

Visits to Orders

We forecast revenue from three numbers: website visits, the share of visits that end in an order, and our $72.00 average order. Each traffic source converts at a different rate and costs a different amount. Planning each one on its own helps us see which visits pay for themselves.

Each order leaves us $35.50 after product, packaging, packing, shipping, and card fees, before any ad cost. We call this the order’s contribution.

The table below shows how we expect Year 1 visits to turn into orders and contribution:

Paid social ads cost $40.91 per order, which is $5.41 more than a first order leaves us.

We still run them because they find new customers, and one repeat order from every six or seven of these customers covers the gap. Google Shopping costs $30.56 per order and pays for itself on the first order.

Organic search and Pinterest, email, and direct visits bring 2,320 orders with no ad cost. Email earns the most, at $3.24 for every visit.

Marketing Channels

Our ongoing marketing budget is $48,000 in Year 1, $56,000 in Year 2, and $66,000 in Year 3. In Year 1, $46,400 goes to paid ads and $1,600 to product gifts for creators.

We will use these channels:

• Paid social and Pinterest ads will get $2,400 a month. We build them from pins and short videos of real pantry and drawer resets, and we show ads again to people who visited the site or left items in their cart. We aim to pay about $0.45 per click.
• Google Shopping and search ads will get $17,600 in Year 1. Every product goes into our Shopping feed, and we bid on searches from people ready to buy, such as “glass pantry canisters with bamboo lids.”
• Organic Pinterest and search will cost us time but no ad money. We will post five new pins a week, publish room-by-room guides on our blog, and write each product page for search. We expect 72,000 visits from these in Year 1.
• Email and text messages will follow up on abandoned carts, suggest products after someone browses, and send “next room” ideas 45 days after a first order.
• Home and organizing creators will receive our products to use in their own posts, with $1,600 set aside for gifts during Year 1.

Pinterest is especially important because it supports both paid ads and unpaid discovery. One of our first launch creatives will promote the Pantry Reset bundle, which gives shoppers a simple, room-based starting point.

Launch Plan

Our $15,000 launch budget covers the first three months of extra ads, bundles for 40 home and organizing creators, and a launch giveaway. Email sign-ups open in January 2027, and subscribers get first access to the store on March 1, along with their 10% welcome code.

During launch week, we will give away three Pantry Reset bundles to people who join our email list. Our launch costs sit outside the traffic table above, because we count them as one-time costs.

Repeat Customer Strategy

Returning customers matter most to our profit, because their orders carry no ad cost. Our goal is to make the second order easy. We will bring them back with:

• Reorder reminders for spice refills and labels
• “Complete the room” bundles based on what they bought first
• Early access to new product lines

We expect returning customers to place 20% of our orders in Year 1, 30% in Year 2, and 36% in Year 3.

Operations Plan

Shelfwren’s operations focus on shipping orders on time and keeping our fixed costs low.

We plan to handle fulfillment from Rachel’s home during Year 1, subject to zoning approval, before moving to a third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse in March 2028.

Hours & Shipping

Our store takes orders around the clock. Rachel works Monday through Friday, from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and answers customer emails within one business day.

We pack orders placed by 2 PM the same day, and the mail carrier collects them on the next delivery day. Most parcels go by USPS Ground Advantage at discounted commercial rates. Baskets over 5 pounds go by UPS Ground from a drop-off point near our home.

Delivery takes two to five business days, and we ship only within the U.S. in Years 1–3.

USPS picks up prepaid parcels from a home address at no charge. This means we need no delivery van, and no customers come to the house.

Weekly Schedule

Rachel starts each weekday with overnight orders and stock levels, packs the morning’s orders, and spends her afternoons on buying, content, and ads. Her husband, Marcus Donovan, packs on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings and on Saturday mornings, for about 12 hours a week.

Fridays are for our weekly ad review and reorder check, which helps us keep ad costs and stock levels on track.

On the last Saturday of each month, we count our stock.

January is our busiest month, with about 17 orders a day. During January, Rachel and Marcus both pack every day, and Rachel pauses new content work.

Home-Based Operations

Columbus allows home businesses that follow its home occupation rules, in section 3332.37 of the city’s zoning code. We follow each of them:

• The business stays inside the house, with nothing stored in the yard or in a detached garage.
• It uses about 420 square feet, under the limit of 20% of the home’s living space.
• Only people who live in the home work there, which is why Marcus is our only packer in Year 1.
• We make no changes to the house’s structure or its utility service.
• Our parcels leave with the regular mail carrier, and we add no traffic to the street.

The rules also bar wholesale or retail business conducted in a home. This is why we have no showroom, no local pickup, and no in-person sales.

In October 2026, Rachel asked Columbus Building and Zoning Services to confirm in writing that an online-only store shipping by carrier fits these rules. The same limits are why our packing moves out of the house in Year 2.

Moving to a Third-Party Logistics (3PL)

In February 2028, after our January peak, we will move our stock to a 3PL warehouse in the Columbus area.

Our orders start shipping from there on March 1, 2028. By then, about 390 orders a month and more than $30,000 of stock would outgrow our basement and Marcus’s evenings.

The 3PL will receive our shipments, store our stock, and pick, pack, and ship each order in our own branded mailers, for about $4.30 an order. Our Shopify store connects to the 3PL’s system. Orders reach the warehouse on their own, and orders placed by noon ship the same day.

Rachel moves her packing hours to buying and marketing, and our office stays at home.

We chose February because it is one of our slowest months and comes right after the January peak. A move just before a busy season could delay orders when they matter most.

Packing at home costs us 4% of revenue in Year 1, plus payroll tax on Marcus’s pay. The 3PL will cost about 6%, and storage is part of its fee, so we still pay no rent. This is why our gross margin dips from 62.6% in Year 1 to 61.0% in Year 2, while our order volume can keep growing without a lease.

Store Systems

Our store runs on a few connected tools, which cost $4,800 in Year 1:

• Shopify for our website, product pages, and checkout
• An email and text message tool for sign-ups, abandoned-cart emails, and reorder reminders
• A reviews app that asks each customer for a review after delivery
• Inventory software that shows how many weeks of stock we have left for each product
• Accounting software linked to our bank account and Shopify

Risk Analysis

Shelfwren’s main risks are rising advertising costs, supplier delays, and cash tied up in inventory. We’ll review ad performance, stock levels, and cash flow weekly so we can respond early.

If customer acquisition costs rise or fewer visitors place orders, we’ll reduce underperforming ads and focus on more profitable channels. For supplier delays, we’ll keep extra stock of popular products and use wholesale alternatives when available.

We’ll also adjust upcoming inventory purchases if our cash forecast falls below $12,000. If order volume grows faster than expected, we’ll move to a 3PL earlier than planned.

Licenses, Taxes & Insurance

We will hold these registrations before our first sale and make sure our home-based operations have the necessary zoning clearance before fulfillment begins.

We collect Ohio sales tax on orders shipped to Ohio addresses. Shopify tracks our sales into every other state, and most states require an out-of-state seller to register only after $100,000 of sales into that state in a year.

We don’t expect to reach that in any state in Years 1–3, and we will check it every quarter.

Each glass canister comes with a food-contact test report, and every private-label supplier gives us a written statement of the materials it uses.

Our in-home business insurance policy covers general and product liability at $1 million per claim and $2 million in total. It also covers our stock, which a standard homeowner’s policy covers poorly or not at all. When our stock moves in Year 2, our insurance broker will move that coverage to the 3PL warehouse.

Management & Team

Shelfwren is a small, owner-run business. Rachel runs it full time, with help from Marcus in Year 1 and a few outside advisors.

Rachel Donovan, Founder

Rachel spent nine years as a buyer for a national home goods retailer. For five of those years, she bought kitchen storage and closet organization products from overseas factories. She has already negotiated minimum orders, approved product samples, and planned stock around ocean freight.

For the last three years, Rachel has also worked weekends as a professional organizer in 60 client homes. This work showed her which products people keep using after the first week and which ones end up back in a drawer.

Rachel runs buying, marketing, customer service, and our finances. She will earn a salary of $30,000 in Year 1, $42,000 in Year 2, and $48,000 in Year 3.

Part-Time Help

Marcus will pack orders part-time in Year 1, at $17 an hour for about 610 hours. He has no ownership in the business, and his paid role ends when the 3PL takes over packing.

In Year 3, we will hire a remote part-time assistant for $18,000 a year. The assistant will handle customer service, content, and email. This lets Rachel spend more time on new products.

Advisors

Rachel will work with four outside advisors:

• A Columbus bookkeeping firm for our monthly books and sales tax filings
• A small-business attorney for our LLC, trademark, and supplier terms
• An insurance broker who places our in-home business policy
• A volunteer mentor from SCORE, the free small-business mentoring network

Financial Plan

Shelfwren needs $100,000 to launch, funded by a $75,000 SBA 7(a) loan and $25,000 from Rachel. We expect a loss in Year 1, while we pay our launch costs, and a profit from Year 2 onward.

Startup Costs

Financial Assumptions

Projected Profit & Loss

Projected Balance Sheet

Projected Cash Flow

Year 1 Cash by Month

Break-Even Analysis

Loan Repayment