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Business Planning 101
SELLING YOU ON YOUR BUSINESS! You’ve probably heard it said that a business plan is a selling document. While it is very true that your business plan will be an invaluable aid to you in selling your business to others, you may not have considered...
Client Service as a Competitive Advantage
*My name is Susan Young and I am Doug Brown's publicist. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 732-613-4790.* (Do not include this in this article) As someone who has been heavily involved facilitating strategic planning...
Coaching for Lawyers: 10 Ways a Lawyer Can Benefit from Working with a Professional Coach
Marie noticed that Diane seemed to be sailing through her career and receiving “nods” from the firm’s partners. According to Marie, Diane was extremely successful in handling her cases, developing strong relationships with her clients and seemed...
Embrace Diversity to Build Effective Teams
Embrace Diversity to Build Effective Teams: one of the biggest challenges faced by companies today is how to turn a group into a highly efficient global team. (reprinted from Semiconductor Magazine, May, 2000) Turning a group into a team is one of...
Useful Tips for Evaluating Your Meeting Venue Options
However, large or small the meeting, location is key. Your environment, formal or informal, helps set the necessary mood and ambiance for the meeting to take place. Think about choosing a comfortable, yet stimulating environment that encourages...
 
Business 101: Passion Before Planning

Contrary to what myriad Internet sites would have you believe, there is much more to small business planning than a good marketing mix and solid financials. Whether you want to sell the next big thing or you simply want to rev up sales and profits for an existing operation, no business plan template will adequately address the complex psychology of being an entrepreneur, especially a successful one.

To illustrate what I mean, let's pretend you aspire to be the next coffee shop ingénue. You have articulated a comprehensive business plan; you have chosen your product lineup, location, promotion plan, and pricing strategy; and you have snagged some decent financing to keep you running for at least a year. On paper, you are a coffee empire in the making. "Great!" you think to yourself. "Let's get started!"

You proceed to sign the lease, shell out some bucks to a lawyer and an accountant, order a few gazillion pounds of coffee beans in anticipation of your success, and open for business.

About six months and a few hundred lattes later, you realize that you do not possess high tolerance levels for the teen angst, high turnover, and sleep deprived yet incredibly nitpicky about extra-hot-no-whip-non-fat-double-mocha-latte-now-or-I'll-go-posta l cranky clientele that have suddenly become an intimate part of your life. You despise this situation but also realize that it will probably be your reality for many years to come, or at least until you can make enough margin to take a day off and enjoy a five-dollar coffee poured for you across the street at Starbuck's.

Perhaps this all too common scenario points to one explanation for the alarmingly high failure rate of small business start-ups in North America. The Business 101 textbook explanation of this phenomenon would state that failure to plan is the root cause of most small business shutdowns. Indeed, without some kind of road map, inspiration can quickly turn to chaos if not complete financial ruin. But even the most well crafted business plan cannot cement the road to success, and an entirely fabulous product is no guarantee either.

Work-at-home business gurus, Paul and Sarah Edwards, cite two independent studies involving a number of successful entrepreneurs. Both studies concluded that business plans are overdone in many cases and their importance even overemphasized. What is needed, the Edwards say, is a succinct plan that uncovers key aspects of the market you wish to pursue and a simple roadmap for pursuing them (www.workingfromhome.com/pages/faq.htm). Of course, in approaching the planning process this way, you


are more apt to make strategic changes when necessary because you will be less "invested" in the document itself and more interested in doing whatever it takes to succeed.

Failure to plan is a symptom, not a root cause, of small business collapse. The true "illness" lies within the heart of western entrepreneurship and the bizarre twists and turns it has taken in the information age. Get-rich-quick schemes abound in magazines and on the Internet, yet the only ones getting rich from these programs are the passionate individuals who envisioned the intricate pyramid of wealth in the first place. However, one need not take such an unethical path of deception toward financial independence.

My overpriced but thankfully small "l" liberal education taught me something I have not seen in any business textbook: Determine the correct questions before seeking answers. In saying this, I am not at all trying to sound literary, highfalutin or Stephen Covey-esque (loved 7 Habits by the way). I write only what I know from observation and experience, and it would seem to me that you cannot derive health, happiness, or wealth from something that does not reflect your personality, your vision of your best self, or your basic code for living.

Money in the hands of an entrepreneur who does not know himself might as well be lumps of coal. And a business plan written by such a person is not worth much more. No bank loan or angel moneys can replace the value of introspection. Some questions you must ask yourself:

* What are my reasons for pursuing this venture?

* Will those reasons be enough if I don't turn a profit in the first five years? * What will I have lost if the business fails? What will I have gained?

* Does this venture reflect who I am? Or am I only trying to be someone I think I "should" be?

Such questions should be fleshed out long before you begin typing up that business plan. How you honestly answer those questions should subsequently color every element of your marketing mix. Passion must precede planning. This authenticity will shine through in everything you do and say thereafter, and--in this day--there is nothing so irresistible to your prospects as authenticity.

About the author:

Karri Flatla is a business graduate of the University of Lethbridge and principal of snap! virtual assistance inc., a small business consulting firm providing online marketing services to the progressive entrepreneur. Karri also produces Outsmart, the newsletter for small business with big purpose. Visit http://www.snap-va.com for more information.

 

Strategic Planning (in nonprofit or for-profit organizations)
Adapted from the Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. ... First, a Point About For-Profit and Nonprofit Strategic Planning ...
www.managementhelp.org
 
Basic Description of Strategic Planning (including key terms to know)
Adapted from the Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. ... Strategic planning often includes use of several key terms. ...
www.managementhelp.org
 
Strategic Planning, Strategic Plan, Business Strategy, Strategic ...
Strategic planning advice with free strategic planner & sample strategic plan covering mission statement, SWOT analysis with business plan software for cash ...
www.planware.org
 
Strategic Planning
FAQs regarding strategic planning - geared primarily toward non-profit organizations but with enough detail and general information to provide useful ...
www.allianceonline.org
 
Frequently Asked Questions
Strategic Planning · Fundraising · Financial Management · Risk Management · Credit Card Acceptance. The FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) listed on this ...
www.allianceonline.org
 
Strategic planning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Strategic planning involves defining objectives and developing ... Strategic planning uses "the big picture" to pursue large scale, long term objectives. ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
08/26/96 STRATEGIC PLANNING
You guessed it: strategic planning. Suddenly, the idea of rising above the ... But if strategic planning is back with a vengeance, it's also back with a ...
www.businessweek.com
 
Dr. Strategy - Dr. Pete Johnson, Keynote Speaker, Marketing ...
StrategicPlanning.com “Turning Change Into A Competitive Advantage”. Dr. Pete's Preview Video Click Here. Take-Away Value Sample Program Handouts ...
strategicplanning.com
 
Strategic Planning Society: Strategy Development and Implementation
Strategic Planning Society: Strategy Development and Implementation.
www.sps.org.uk
 
Guide 7
Strategic Planning in Smaller Nonprofit Organizations ... In short, as a result of a strategic planning process, an organization will have a clearer idea of ...
www.wmich.edu
 
STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Your browser may not have a PDF reader available. Google recommends visiting our text version of this document.
 
BPubs.com: Strategic Planning & Business Planning Articles
Business Publications related to Corporate Strategic Planning.
www.bpubs.com
 
Strategic Planning Tools
Strategic Planning is a method for positioning an organization to take ... A strategic planning process incorporates an in-depth planning model that takes ...
www.nsba.org
 
Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc.
The Center for Simplified Strategic Planning offers training, seminars, consulting, speakers, workshops, a book and a newsletter on strategic management for ...
www.cssp.com
 
LEADERSHIP: Strategic Planning and Strategic Management
Introduction: Is strategic planning really worth it? ... The purpose of strategic planning is to encourage thinking about your organization's "big ...
vskn.ca
 
The CEO Refresher Archives - Strategic Planning
When done right, the integrated strategic planning process can take a ... Strategic Planning and Project Management: The Key to Successful Implementation ...
www.refresher.com
 
HEFCE : Publications : 2000 : 00/24 - Strategic planning in higher ...
This guide reviews good practice in strategic planning in higher education (HE). It originated in a consultation exercise which we held in 1998 to review ...
www.hefce.ac.uk
 
The Association for Strategic Planning
The Association for Strategic Planning (ASP), is a non-profit professional society whose mission is to enable people and organizations to succeed through ...
www.strategyplus.org
 
Amazon.com: Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A ...
Amazon.com: Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook: Books: Michael Allison,Jude Kaye by Michael Allison,Jude Kaye.
www.amazon.com
 
Amazon.com: Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for ...
Amazon.com: Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast!: Books: Robert W. Bradford,Robert W. Bradford,J. Peter ...
www.amazon.com
 
 

 
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