Sticking to the Plan

When is the last time you looked at the business plan for your company? That is, if you actually bothered to write a business plan at all. The reality is that too many of the owners of small to medium sized businesses (SMB) never bothered to do so. Starting a business without a business plan is like planning a trip around the world and to never consult a map of any kind along the way.

So you might say, "So what is the big deal anyway if I didn't? I have done fine without one" Well, suppose that is true, then it is very probable you could have probably done significantly better in business if you had taken the time to write a Business Plan. You would have at least known where you wanted to be headed and along the way, you would have known if you were still going in the right direction.

The big deal is that if you want to succeed at trying to do anything, you have to have an idea of what you want to accomplish, what you are going to have to do, what you will need to succeed and a tentative timetable of what you can expect to have accomplished in 3 months, 6 months, 9 months from now.... well you get the picture. Long story short, you have to have a plan of attack and know what your tentative strategies are, if you hope to be successful. In business, we call that plan of attack a Business Plan.

A lot of work and a lot or forethought go into the writing of the Business Plan. But you will reap so many benefits from having put in the effort.

• You will have defined how you want to be perceived by the people who purchase your services or goods. [Branding]
• You will have clearly defined objectives as to what you want to accomplish vis-a-vis your vendors, your customers, your employees and your peers in the business community.
• You will have identified your competitors, and established why customers should buy goods and services from you rather than from them. 
• You will have carefully thought about the product you are going to offer, determined that your product is actually what your customers want and have figured out why what you are offering is definably more desirable than whatever else is being offered in the market place. 
• You will have worked out a business strategy to follow, which you will use as a benchmark against which to measure how closely you are sticking to the plan, and to determine if the strategy is actually working... or not. 
• You will have a predictive Profit and Loss Statement over three years into the future, against which you will compare your actual Profit and Loss figures over those three years. You will know if you underperforming, on target or performing beyond your estimated expectation. 
• As you write your Business Plan, you will be forced to actually go out into the business world to find out what is actually going on out there and to clearly see what you will have to deal with: in terms of the industry realities, competitors, customers wants and expectations, the economic environment and, looking inwardly, your own strengths and weaknesses.
• You will avoid being blindsided by events that could easily have been foreseen at the onset of the business.

Starting in business is no simple proposition. It seems like common sense that you should have to consider a lot of factors before you commit to going into business for yourself. The hard reality is that the odds of a small business being successful aren't all that great, at best. But without a Business Plan, the odds are increasingly stacked against a SMD.

If you have a Business Plan, take it out of the drawer, dust it off and use it to measure how well you have done so far. If you never took the time to write one, now is never too late. Having it will make your business operations a lot more understandable.

And if you have no idea about where to start, when it comes to writing a Business Plan, contact the great folks at SCORE, here in Houston. SCORE is an organization manned by retired businessmen, who were successful in their respective industries. They are volunteers and share their knowledge and experience, at no charge. The folks at SCORE will assist you  in creating a Business Plan for your company. You can find SCORE on the internet at: www.scorehouston.org.

Howard Fireman
Productivity Consultant/Accounting
howard.fireman46@gmail.com