Is your business past due for an independent check-up? Please consider letting me help you. We have small business advisory packages starting as low as $1,000 for businesses with revenues less than $2 million. Download our free On-Purpose Business Person Development Tool to get started with your business plan review... even if you don't have a business plan or have sales of $200 million.
For many business owners, heading into the summer months provides a time of recreation, reflection, and planning. Reflecting on the lessons of the current year and projecting into the future are beneficial exercises. Committing your thoughts to paper provides your team (and you) with a blueprint for building the business. But is writing a business plan enough?
Are you willing to risk a review of your plans? It will be some of the best money you'll ever invest. An independent business assessment provides sight into your blind spots. This reveals danger spots as well as missed opportunities.
Mark Goldstein, the president of the Central Florida Christian Chamber of Commerce, often says, "No one loves the creation as much as the creator." As the creator of a business, isn't it great to have such devotion and love for one's work? Yes, but, as Mark so rightly points out, there's a side to being the creator that can bite us in the long run. Blind devotion to our ideas can lead to folly.
What if you don't have a business plan to review? That's manageable! Writing a business plan need not be onerous. Know the reason why and assess the context of your business plan. Sample business plans and templates are widely available on the web. Business plan software programs are helpful. Candidly, a formal business plan is typically overkill for most small business owners unless you are raising money or borrowing from the bank.
How do I write a business plan? Here's a simple suggestion: in lieu of writing a business plan, create a strategic plan at the top level of your thinking using The Service Model (You can download a free copy by clicking here). It will help you identify relationships of essential activities in each level. You'll also discover gaps in your thinking that may have been hidden from you under the surface of business activity and customer service and care.
Finally, after over three decades of being a business advisor, I see two weaknesses in the "Process" level for most small and mid-sized businesses: 1) Marketing and sales and 2) Hiring. That's because the entrepreneurs who start businesses most often have an operations or technical expertise rather than a sales or personnel background. Pay particular attention here when creating your business plan! Get help here sooner rather than later by outsourcing to agencies.
No matter what, your business (plan) will be reviewed by the marketplace over the rest of the year. How well your customers receive and respond to your products or services will provide amazing feedback. Avoidable poor performance, however, is an expensive teacher.
First, congratulations for planning ahead. Even more kudos for committing your plans to print.
Now, are you willing to have your business plan be reviewed? Before you invest and commit your time, money, energy, and team to a hope and dream plan, consider having your business, marketing and sales plan, and people plan scrutinized by:
- A SCORE (Service Core Of Retired Executives) volunteer.
- Your trusted industry or business peer group and advisors.
- Me! I'm available to review your business plan and to help you refine it so you aren't blindsided and have better success in the market.
Think you can't afford to have your business plan reviewed? Think again! You can NOT afford to NOT have it reviewed. To paraphrase an old saying, "An ounce of planning is worth a pound of cure."
Let's grow your business over the summer and you'll enjoy the harvest in the fall and through the winter months!













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