Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer & Consultant
Montana Business Plan Writer: Who Staffs the New Location?
On the Hi-Line and across the Gallatin Valley, owners often find the building before they find the people to run it. Dr. Paul puts a hiring schedule, worker housing costs and an overtime budget into your forecast, instead of counting on a help wanted sign.
Building found, crew still missing? Call or text (321) 948-9588. Dr. Paul answers personally.
Last Updated: 10/31/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Funding and Licensing Snapshot
Montana Offices That Review Your Plan
From Helena to Missoula, these are the desks Montana owners send plans to most.
SBA Montana District Office
Montana’s SBA district office is in Helena. Banks making SBA loans in Billings, Kalispell and every town between work with that one office.
Montana Department of Commerce Loan Participation
The department joins participating lenders on loans using federal State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) money, and a recycled-funds track lets lenders reuse repayments from earlier SSBCI loans.
Big Sky Economic Development and MoFi
Big Sky Economic Development offers business plan consulting and loan packaging in Billings. MoFi in Missoula lends to owners a bank cannot finance.
Montana SBDC
Regional centers from Havre and Miles City to Bozeman and Missoula are led from the Department of Commerce in Helena.
Secretary of State
File your LLC or corporation with the Montana Secretary of State, and send annual reports there too.
Board, City and County
Montana has no general state business license. Licensed trades go through Department of Labor and Industry boards, and cities and counties add their own.
Choose How Your Montana Hiring Plan Comes Together
The crew question needs an answer whether Dr. Paul writes the plan or you do. Pick the level of help that fits your time.
Business Consulting
For Montana owners with more work than hands. Hiring, pay, scheduling and cash decisions, settled before the next location opens.
See consulting options →Business Plan Writing
FeaturedHire dates, the yearly wage step and worker housing each get a line in the forecast, so a Montana lender or investor can see who runs the new location and what they cost.
Start your plan →Business Plan Templates
Starting a cleaning crew in Billings or Missoula? The cleaning company template gives you a Word file for the story and an Excel file for the numbers, and it lets you set a different start date for each hire.
Browse templates →Small Business Education
Staff schedules, the management section and break-even math are all covered in no-cost lessons. For the leadership side, Book 1 of the Fabled Forest Business School picks up where the lessons stop.
Start learning →Learn It Yourself
Montana Lessons on Hiring, Pay and Payroll
The people side of a plan is where Montana lenders push hardest. Read up before you post the next job opening.
City Spotlight
What Each Montana City Asks of Your Staffing Plan
Billings needs drivers, Missoula needs servers on Griz Saturdays, and Bozeman needs engineers who can afford to live there. In all three, the building is the easy part.
| City | What Drives Demand | The Plan Question |
|---|---|---|
| Billings | Billings Clinic and St. Vincent patients, refinery trades, a wide rural trade area | Can rides from both hospitals fill a van? |
| Missoula | Griz home games, University of Montana students, Hip Strip and Reserve Street diners | How many extra servers on game day? |
| Bozeman | Montana State University, the optics and photonics cluster, Yellowstone and Big Sky visitors | Can a startup hire enough engineers? |
Billings Clinic and Intermountain Health St. Vincent anchor a medical corridor that draws patients from across the region, while the Phillips 66 and Par Pacific refineries keep the trades busy.
“Can a Billings medical transport service win rides from both hospitals?”
The Plan FixMap rides from Billings Clinic and St. Vincent out to the West End and the Heights, price long rural trips by the mile, and ask Big Sky Economic Development about packaging the van loan.
The Griz fill Washington-Grizzly Stadium on fall Saturdays, and the Hip Strip bars across the Clark Fork catch the crowd after the game.
“How many extra hands does a Missoula bar need on Griz game days?”
The Plan FixSchedule extra servers for every home game at Washington-Grizzly, cross-train Hip Strip staff so anyone can cover any station, and keep the weekday crews on Reserve Street steady.
Montana State University and the Montana Photonics and Quantum Alliance anchor a growing optics and photonics cluster around Bozeman.
“Can a Bozeman photonics startup recruit enough engineers to grow?”
The Plan FixHire from MSU’s optics programs, build Four Corners and Belgrade rents into every offer so the pay actually works, and recruit at SPIE Photonics West, where the Alliance and MSU have exhibited.
Customers and suppliers rarely stop at the border. See Dr. Paul’s pages for nearby Idaho, Wyoming, and North Dakota.
How Dr. Paul Helps
How Dr. Paul Helps Montana Owners Plan the Crew First
Montana lenders have watched new locations sit half staffed. Your plan should answer the hiring question before they ask it.
- Hiring on the calendar. Each new position gets a start date, a wage and a training cost in the forecast, so sales never assume people you have not hired yet.
- Commerce loan participation requests. The Montana Department of Commerce joins participating lenders on SSBCI loans, including through its recycled-funds track. The lender underwrites first, so the plan is built to clear that credit review.
- Regional lenders matched. Big Sky Economic Development packages loans in Billings, and MoFi in Missoula lends to owners who cannot get bank financing. Each reads a plan a little differently.
- Wage steps in the template. The cleaning company template lets you set a different start date for each hire and add Montana’s yearly January wage adjustment.
- LLC filed first. Your LLC registers with the Montana Secretary of State. Professional and local licenses go on the checklist next, since Montana has no general state business license.
- Scheduling basics. Montana SBDC regional centers from Wolf Point to Kalispell offer no-cost advising, and Dr. Paul’s staff schedule guide shows how to cover a week with the crew you have.
Montana plans rarely fail on the building. They fail on the hire nobody could find. Dr. Paul puts housing costs, wage steps and a realistic hiring pace into the forecast, because a lender who reads “we will hire locally” wants to know how, when and at what pay.
Real work in Montana: In 2022, Dr. Paul built a bank-ready business plan for a trucking company in Montana.
From Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest
A Book for Montana Owners Who Need Hands More Than Walls
Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School · Book 1
Management and Leadership for Small Businesses
Montana owners often find a building before they find the people to run it, and holding on to a scarce crew is a leadership job. The book follows Fabled Forest owners as they hire, delegate and lead, and shows what keeps good people around after the busy season ends.
You found the building. Have you found the hands to run it? Walls do not open a business. People do, and keeping them is your work.
Doctor Owl, Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business SchoolWatch
The Numbers and the First Page, on Video
Before a Montana lender gets to your hiring plan, the projections and the summary have to hold up. Dr. Paul covers both.
Financial ProjectionsWhat belongs in the numbers section, including payroll that matches your hire dates.
How to Write an Executive SummaryThe opening page that tells a lender who you are and what you need.
FAQ
What Montana Owners Ask About Crews and Loans
Will a lender in the Montana Department of Commerce loan participation program ask for a staffing plan?
Does Montana’s January wage step change how a Billings cleaning crew prices contracts?
How can the Bozeman SBDC center help a Gallatin Valley owner plan hiring?
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer, Consultant & Author | 14+ Years | 1,000+ Clients Served
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA is the founder of Quality Business Plan. He writes business plans and financial projections for owners across the United States and Canada, works remotely with clients in every state, and has written plans behind more than $100M in funded projects. He is the author of the Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School series and has published over 1,000 business videos on YouTube. He has taught as an adjunct college instructor and teaches in Florida public schools.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, lending, or financial advice. Program rules, loan sizes and local requirements change, so confirm them with the program or agency before you apply. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional.