Ask Don’t Tell Leadership: Why Do I Need A Business Plan?

Why you need a business plan!!!

Q: In last week’s column, you gave advice about starting a business, and you kept preaching about writing a business plan. I own a business, I don’t have a plan, and I’m doing just fine. What’s the big deal?

A: How do you know your business is doing “fine” if you do not have a business plan? This is like a runner stating that he is “fast” when asked his running pace. Quality and success cannot be measured without having benchmarks and goals. A business plan provides both, allowing you to compare your outcomes to your goals. Without a plan, it is all too easy to keep moving the bar for yourself.

In the words of Alan Lakein, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Business owners may neglect planning for a variety of reasons. They may dislike making decisions, or they may worry about how the plan will reflect their success. An owner may feel anxious about documenting (and making “official”) job descriptions, lines of authority, budgets, and marketing plans. An entrepreneur may dread such control measures, feeling that a business plan is just like having a boss! If you build a house without a plan, however, you may find yourself living in what looks like a child’s play fort. Every stage is based on a sudden inspiration, and your new home becomes “curiosity run wild.” A quality architect begins with his or her final product in mind. To build a secure business, you must plan.

According to the Small Business Center at Bradley University, 70 to 80 percent of new businesses fail in their first year, and of those that continue past a year, only half survive to five years. Similarly, statistics from Dun & Bradstreet reflect that only 37 percent of businesses with fewer than 20 employees will survive four years, and only 9 percent will survive ten years. In light of such daunting statistics, it seems foolish to take unnecessary risks – like failing to plan.

You may still be thinking, “I can’t make a plan, because things change too quickly.” Although constant change is inevitable in any business, a good plan can be your key to dealing with change. As a sailor, I view a business plan as similar to a centerboard on a small sailboat. Thanks to its centerboard, the boat can continue moving forward, as the winds shift direction; without its centerboard, the boat would flail around and eventually crash. A good plan keeps you consistently moving forward – sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but without crashing!

While writing your business plan, you may feel frustrated. After all, you will be writing your goals, without taking immediate action to reach them. You must understand where you are and where you are going, before going anywhere. Writing a plan can be exhausting, too. I guarantee, however, your listless feelings will disappear, as your business transforms from “doing just fine” to “doing very well.”

I hope my response to your question is sufficient and gives you an understanding of why I believe a business plan is critical. Below are some questions to consider while developing your plan:

• Why do I want to start my own business?
• Have I found the right business for me?
• Who are my customers?
• What do these customers need that the market is not currently providing?
• How will I reach them?
• What will it take to reach them?
• How much will it cost to provide for their unmet needs?
• How much are they willing to pay to meet these need?
• Can I make money at this business?

Five Steps To Stop Procrastinating And Achieve Your Goals Today

The two rules of procrastination: 1) Do it today. 2) Tomorrow will be today tomorrow. Vincent T. Foss

Susan Daley was a successful entrepreneur selling promotional products. She enjoyed making decent money while having the flexibility to work at home. Susan recently took over a colleague’s account, a huge growth opportunity. So why did she spend her mornings playing solitaire in her messy office rather than making phone calls to prospects?

To procrastinate is “to put off doing something”, or “to postpone or delay needlessly”. Sometimes we avoid doing the tasks that must be done because they are unpleasant or boring, or because we have poor time management skills or are lazy. And yet, often it is the tasks we most want to do that we put off, resulting in much internal pressure.

In Susan’s case, she loved building relationships with potential clients, helping them to better serve their customers and employees, and making a good paycheck to support her family.

So what was going on?

Awareness is the first step. Think about your excuses for not accomplishing your goals. Everyone has his or her own pattern of procrastinating. Here are eight examples:

- Fear of change, rejection or failure
- Need to be perfect (I can’t do it perfectly so I won’t start)
- Lack of time
- Too much stress, pressure or anxiety which leads to paralysis
- Overwhelm on how to start (task is too big, don’t know how to do it, etc.)
- Self-doubt or lack of confidence
- Disorganization, indecision
- Other priorities, big (work/family crisis) and little (need to check email first!)

Do these excuses sound reasonable and logical? That’s often the case. The problem is that if you buy into the excuses, you don’t follow-through on the steps needed to achieve your goals. Procrastination can feel good in the moment, but then creates stress. This becomes a vicious cycle.

Overcoming Procrastination

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. Walt Disney

Getting into action alleviates the stress of procrastination almost instantaneously.

Here are the five simple steps:

1. Identify the task to be done
2. Identify the first or next step to accomplish the task
3. Commit to a time when you will begin the first step
4. Be aware of your pattern of excuses
5. BUT begin the first step in collaboration with the excuses

Susan outlined the steps needed to organize her files and her office to have ready access to client information. She set daily and weekly goals for contacting prospects and clients. Working with a coach provided the structure and accountability to stay in action on these tasks. She developed strategies to counteract the fear of rejection that was fueling some of the procrastination.

Don’t worry about eliminating all the excuses, or analyzing too much why you are procrastinating. Getting into action actually reduces the grip of the inertia and overwhelm of procrastination. As Susan found, it can be helpful to have partners and strategies to keep the excuses at bay.

You’ll feel more confident and relaxed as you experience the success of reaching your goals. You gain momentum and if you begin the task again and again, you WILL ultimately achieve it.

How To Feed The Hungry Heart

zen, stress reduction, recovery, healing, advice, peace of mind, addiction, obsession, compulsions

Article Body:
Most of us live our lives hungry, hungry for love, attention, praise, success. But no matter how much we take in, it’s hard to be satisfied and feel full. We may get what we need momentarily, but then before long we’re craving more. It is easy to spend each day waiting for tomorrow when we will get what we dream of. Most think that tomorrow they will arrive arrive at their goal, find a new job, have good weather, or finally, magically, meet the love of their life.

But when tomorrow comes it’s another day, just like this one. Unless we know what this day is, and how to live it fully and truly, the fulfillment we dream of never comes. In Zen this is called being a hungry ghost- someone at a banquet who eats and eats, but is still unable to taste the food, feel full or be nourished by it.

The good news is that we can learn to eat, digest and be nourished by all that comes to us. Zen practice is about stopping the merry go round of our minds and heart.

We take our attention off the prizes we think are waiting for us, off being good enough someday, and realize we’re good enough now. At this very moment we are that which we seek so fervently.

How To Take The First Step

Stop For A Moment

Practice is about stopping. We stop our usual way of running,moving, chasing, fixing, thinking, doing and take a breath. Just a simple breath, just like one we take every moment of our lives, but pay no attention to. The first step is to take charge of our focus and pay attention to what’s going on now,right here, under our eyes, to this very breath.

Without this precious breath and the one that follows it, we would not be anywhere. Strange, isn’t it, how we take this breath for granted. What else do we take for granted? It’s worthwhile to look and see.

Exercise: Paying Attention

Consider for a moment what you pay attention to all day long. What seems important to you, what do you take for granted and hardly attend to at all? Write it down. Do not judge your answers. Be honest and simple. As you keep track all week long, you’ll be amazed at what claims your attention, what you give your life force to.

Most of us spend our lives paying attention to the dreams created by our racing, scheming minds. We allow this Monkey Mind to rule us. The monkey mind is the mind that hops from person to person, job to job, desire to desire, thought to thought. It always wants more, never feels good and doesn’t now how to say thank you.

It chatters endlessly and is an expert in spoiling, judging and criticizing everything. Sometimes it is very loud in our lives. Other times it settles down. This monkey mind pursues that which has no value and doesn’t know how to find that which it is yearning for.

In order to fill our hungry hearts, we must learn how to recognize and dissolve this monkey mind, to take our attention away from it, to turn our focus to what counts.

Exercise: Stop The Monkey Mind

Spend some time getting to know how the Monkey Mind is operating in your life. Much of our misery is caused by IT. The first step is becoming aware. We need not hate, reject or try to get rid of it, just to recognize what’s going on. This recognition takes its power away. As we learn to make friends with this part of ourselves we help it to settle down and take its proper place. As you pay attention and stay in the present, little by little you will be returning to your original self. This is the part of yourself which knows the truth, is kind and filled with clarity. As this part of you grows, everyday life and the struggles it brings, will become transformed. Life will become fresh and new possibilities will come to you all by themselves.

Cc/author/2007