Stop planning & start your engines

[Ric Willmot]

Business Planning, in my personal opinion, isn't the panacea many claim it to be. Strategy is necessary, and action on strategy is vital. Being a solopreneur places restraints on available "down-time" required for thinking about your business in the deep ways we might otherwise like to.

Ric's Tips for creating, quick, actionable strategy for your business:

1. Where is your business placed, right at this very moment?

2. What do you want your business to look, feel, sound like 5 months from now?

3. Do you currently have the competency to achieve that vision? If not, what do you need to bring in to your organisation to have the competency? (Staffing, technology, infrastructure, equipment, so on.)

4. What alternatives do you have available to reach your 5 month objective?

5. Which of those alternatives affords the greatest opportunity for success with most ease of implementation?

6. How can you take steps to make that happen, today?

7. When can you have this done by, realistically?

8. Who can you now find to share this with, who will hold your feet to the fire?

9. Set ... Go!

Always have fun doing it.
Good luck.
Rgds,
Ric

[ryanchadwick]

I think you are right that for many small businesses planning is not hugely important. Or more specifically in depth planning is not important. Small businesses are light and agile and can work better with a trial and error type aproach.

There is a saying I quite like which is:

Ready....Fire....Aim

If you want to get things done, and avoid procrastination then this can be a beneficial philosophy.

[Benedict]

Right on Ric

Most small businesses have little to no strategy and while this can lead to great (unexpected) results it generally leads to failed enterprise, which hurts.

[Burgo]

I agree Business plan for soloists is not the end all and ball, but you need to have some idea what you want to achieve and how your going to achieve it .

Ric stratedy is a good one to follow and his point 3 is often not looked at carefully enough by we soloists.

At a lunch I attended today part way through the discussion I realised that I no longer had the compency to achieve what we were discussing but the other guy did, so we have struck an agreement which should in turn work to both of our advantage.

[BB]

Well said!

You can have the best business plan in the world, and the best systems in place - but -

there comes a time when you have to just get out there and do it!


B.B.

[beanydc]

Originally Posted by Benedict

Right on Ric

Most small businesses have little to no strategy and while this can lead to great (unexpected) results it generally leads to failed enterprise, which hurts.

There's a saying along the lines of how do you get a beagle to do what you want - figure out what he wants to do, and then tell him to do it. (with apologies to beagle lovers)

You can focus on where you want to go, or you can focus on what you have to offer. Strategy is usually about where you want to end up, which doesn't take into account what happens when what you have to offer interacts with the real world. There's no problem ending up in a different space, unless you've sold your heart on strategy that isn't flexible enough to recognise the need for adaptation.

[BookkeepiingPro]

I think if you have a detailed plan that is rigid, you could be setting yourself up to fail.

More to the point, I think you actually need guidelines and goals rather than a rigid plan.

Needs to be flexible enough to allow you to change direction slightly when plan A goes belly up - without sending you to the wall.

I suspect a lot of small businesses start of with great plans - but when their assumptions are out (who never assumed revenue would be higher and costs lower - we all do that) they get into trouble.

I like the thoughts.....

[Tristan Boyd]

Ric, you're the man!