Do You Have A Business Plan? Or Are You One Of The Multitudes Of Businesses Without A Plan? Article

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Do you have a business plan? Or are you one of the multitudes of businesses without a Plan?

My question to you: Do you have a business plan? Or are you one of the multitudes of businesses worldwide who talk about planning, think about planning, but don’t have one? I’ve been in that position, and I understand how you get there.

Author: Pierre Pienaar

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Dear Entrepreneur

My question to you: Do you have a business plan? Or are you one of the multitudes of businesses worldwide who talk about planning, think about planning, but don’t have one? I’ve been in that position, and I understand how you get there.

An amusing irony is how few businesses manage their businesses with a good plan. Most businesses just fail to plan.

The failing-to-plan phenomenon is common with businesses because they feel they don’t have time to plan, that they manage, and that they will just adapt with circumstances, and then in the same breath they say they don’t have cash flow to expand, or business is not doing well. Business consultants, for an example don’t see the need for a Business Plan since it is not a capital-intensive business, and working capital is not nearly the problem it is in many other businesses, particularly product related businesses.

In the real world, business plans are about as popular as root canals. Of course, when you have a toothache, you want that root canal to end it. Most people avoid root canals and business plans until they desperately need them. So, if you aren’t looking for a loan or for outside investment, you may not recognise the need for a business plan. As a Consultant drafted numerous Business Plans over the years experienced this problem, where businesses, start-ups and running businesses that they only feel the need for a Business Plan if they seek financing. Thereafter, they forget that they have such a document, and then the problems start.

Now, please listen, Business Plans are not only for Financing Needs, but: There are benefits to planning that extend beyond simply creating a plan because someone, like a banker, asks for one—even if you have a full backlog of work. The benefits of planning that you sell to clients also apply to your practice.

Business plans are a bit like to-do lists. Like it or not, we all make “to-do” lists from time to time. And most of us fail to complete all the tasks on the list. That’s just the nature of life; none of us gets as much done as we’d like.

Given that, shouldn’t the most important tasks be on the top of the list? That’s the best real-world summary of what a business plan is really about, making sure you’re managing the most important aspects of your business, actually your everyday operations with your eyes always on the future as well.

A plan is most likely to give you business results, to actually make your business better, by allowing you to do five things:

Set all your priorities properly.
Track plan-vs.-actual results and make operation corrections.
Plan and manage the critical numbers that aren't intuitive: not just profit and loss, but the critical relationships between cash flow, the balance sheet, and the income statement.

Always communicate your plan to others: partners, employees, lenders, investors. You may have a great plan in your head but as soon as you need to explain it to others, you need to write it down.
Gauge your success and meet your goals in the near and lasting future. A Business Plan is a road-path that will assist you to always have control over your Business.

Business plans are easier to create for yourself than for financiers. You don’t have to write a thesis on your business. You’ll organise your activities, set priorities, and look ahead. While a plan does become a fairly elaborate task when you need to produce the full document for a bank or an investor, a plan for your own use doesn’t have to be.

You don’t have to develop a complete description of your company, service, or marketplace if you’re doing a plan just for yourself. You already know all that, and you’re the only reader. Although, you must test your business operations all the time, to see if your still on track and do what you set out to do.

You do have an opportunity to project your business numbers into the future, set priorities, and decide how you can influence that future and the steps you’d take along the way.

Does the idea of planning your own business seem worth thinking about and worth the effort? I hope so. Ultimately, the benefits of creating a business plan are the same for large, small, even one-person businesses: it's about planning for results that improve your Million-dollar Business.

However, Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.

Stay focused, determined, knowledgeable, and take action!

About Author

info@xclebiz.ws Owner of Xcellence Biz Creator (www.xcelbiz.ws), specialising in Business Plans, Marketing and Financial Plans, Income Tax, Financial Analysis, and Small Biz Development. He is also the Editor of the Free Weekly Xcellence Biz Creator Newsletter at http://adcurl.com/f19.

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Do you have a business plan? Or are you one of the multitudes of businesses without a Plan?