If Your Business Plan is Done, So is Your Company
We're all familiar with the concept of a business plan. And most of us would agree that a business plan is an essential element on your business checklist.
But attitudes toward business plans have changed a lot over the years. Business plans used to be seen as mammoth efforts that resulted in lengthy written documents. Once you created that masterpiece of a document, you had to rigidly adhere to it for a long time.
No wonder so many business plans were written, put on the shelf, and never looked at again.
Today the trend is toward shorter, nimbler, more flexible business plans. Today's business plans are living breathing tools that change regularly.
Recently I had the chance to interview Tim Berry, CEO of Palo Alto Software (http://paloalto.com), the makers of Business Plan Pro Software. Tim has been in the business planning industry for over two decades. If anyone could be called "Mr. Business Plan" it would be Tim Berry.
He spoke about today's new enlightened approaches to business planning, and made these points:
- It's business planning, not a business plan - Business planning isn't really about a plan as a document - so much as it's about planning. And as speed in business increases, planning is a way to manage the ever constant ebb and flow of change of your business.
- Plans are not straitjackets - Having a plan doesn't mean that what you planned to do in June 2008 - you actually have to do. Think of a business plan as helping you maintain a long term direction even while short term changes occur.
- If your plan is done, so is your company - This isn't your father's business plan anymore. Nowadays, a plan lives in a computer, is shared with your team, is fluid and flexible and operates as a series of reminders to keep you on track along your journey. It must be manipulated and changed. A good business plan is never finished.
- Getting started writing - If you have writer's block or are unsure where to start, you'll be happy to hear that it doesn't matter where you start -- just start writing. Start using whatever piece you've composed immediately. Then continue to build on your plan as time progresses.
- Include specifics - Include a lot of detail: such as, specifics related to cash flow and dates. Who is doing what and when, how much does it cost, how much money will be earned? What is going to happen and when is it going to happen? This is vital to business planning and you cannot really manage your company without the details. List them - manage them.
He made a lot more points, and I've only highlighted a handful of them. I wanted to share this information with you because I thought the advice was iconclastic -- and realistic about the way small businesses operate. It wasn't at all what I expected out of someone whose company product helps you write a business plan.
If you'd like to hear the full interview of Tim Berry, download this audio file:
http://www.smbtrendwire.com/podpress_trac/web/746/0/BTR_110607_Berry.mp3
Also, Tim Berry is the founder of BPlans (http://bplans.com) a site containing tons of free resources for writing business plans, financial calculators and other helpful tools. Be sure to bookmark BPlans.com, too.
