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Business Plans are for Wimps!
By: Dan Nichols
Business Planning is for Wimps!
After 20 years of self employment and the last 4 as a small business
consultant and coach helping people to start or grow their
businesses, I can say with no shame I used to feel that business
plans were only for wimps. That was until I did one.
It is easy to knock something you've never tried. After many years
of not only starting businesses but actually succeeding in them it
would have been easy to think that business plans aren't necessary.
Part of that lies in the fact most entrepreneurs are actually
working a job not growing a business. That is certainly where my
maturity as a self employed person was until I hit my mid 30's. Sure
I had earned an income and eeked out a life in a business of my own
but I really didn't see the business of the business. What I saw was
that I got what I wanted which was to not have to work for someone
else. Woo hoo... I was my own boss. Truth be told it was my lack of
planning out the business that hindered my growth and financial
prosperity. Thankfully I figured it out and now, my newest business
is going places I never dreamt possible when I lacked a plan. Doing
a plan, the very act of doing it, almost in its very nature is
enough to take you to the next level as an entrepreneur.
You see, put simply, when you plan a business you begin to
understand it as a business. When you don't plan a business but
still go into business for yourself, you more than likely created a
job. For example with lawn maintenance we think of the cutting of
the lawn, not the structure of the organization, the future growth
and direction of the business, the various marketing strategies
etc.. There is a critical difference between having a business and
the business of business and that requires another article of its
own. So, if you ever want to get out of the grind and truly grow a
business you need to plan to grow it. Plan every little bit of it
and then re-visit this plan often and make changes as things evolve.
We've all heard it before - "when you fail to plan you plan to
fail". Only when we sit down to do a business plan do we see it is
so much more than that. Not planning a business causes us to fulfill
the role we "thought of" when we thought of that business and not
see the things planning would have taught us.
Yes, most business planning is boring with a capital B and a really
long "O" but that is because most planning mechanisms and
information on the topic is intellectually based and they have you
planning at a level of logic - business, marketing, operational
procedure, organizational structure, customer service, accounting -
when we plan these things we are mostly adult minded and leave the
excitement, the passion out of it. So when it is done the
traditional way, you're left with a stack of paper, a business plan
that bores you and leaves you uninspired. That to me is a waste of
time. Be sure to put the fun into planning a business. Have it
appeal to you on an emotional level because that is what drives
results and stop worrying what type of business planning procedures
the academic world is trying to push. Fewer than 10% of businesses
in the Fortune 500 ever borrowed start-up money from a formal
institution. They got it from friends and family. So most likely a
banker won't see your plan anyhow. Make the business plan appeal to
you first and foremost. Happy planning.
Author Bio
Dan Nichols - America's Small Business Advocate is a business coach
and consultant headquartered in Royal Oak, MI. He is the author of
Lemonade Stand Simple - The only business plan system you'll ever
need. He loves to help entrepreneurs - it's his passion. His website
is at
www.businesssensei.com
Article Source:
http://www.ArticleGeek.com
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