Test your Massachusetts 7D business plan assumptions

You'll learn to

• Distinguish startup expenses from ongoing costs.
• Explain the limits of a simple daily worksheet.
• Choose a milestone that reduces uncertainty.

Connect the plan to money and time

The SBA's planning resources cover startup expenses and ongoing costs. For this RouteReady exercise, separate the spending needed to get started from the costs of delivering the proposed service. Buying a vehicle is one decision. Having the staffing, preparation, coverage, and money to deliver a service consistently raises additional questions.

Model a whole service day

Our worksheet subtracts the costs you enter from a proposed daily price. Include the paid work and travel involved in your service, and investigate vehicle, coverage, maintenance, and overhead assumptions. The worksheet is deliberately simple. It does not establish a market rate, financing suitability, tax outcome, or guaranteed profit.

Try an uncomfortable change

Use a hypothetical example: a daily price of $240 minus $200 in entered costs leaves $40 before anything omitted. If an additional $50 cost applies, the same example leaves negative $10. These invented figures teach how an assumption changes the result. They are not a recommended price or forecast for a real route. Record the missing assumption before drawing a conclusion.

Choose evidence before expansion

A sensible milestone makes an important unknown clearer. You might obtain a service-specific cost estimate, read a current specification, or resolve how backup coverage would work. Write what evidence you need and who can provide it. Expand your plan after you understand the service and its constraints, while keeping unresolved requirements visible.

• What assumption most affects the result?
• What expense or operating need might be missing?
• What evidence would help you judge the next commitment?