Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Marketing & PR Blogs -> Blawg for Profit

Legal Marketing & PR

: Blawg for Profit

Why Planning Is Important, Your Plan is Not

Guest Post From: George Krueger and Mary-Lynn Foster

As small business owners, we often link a business plan to a funding request. We need money so we need a plan. Our funders demand it.

Unfortunately, entrepreneurs who think like this haven?t made a crucial distinction. Planning serves a more critical function than raising money. You (and, therefore, your business) benefit more from planning than anyone.

In fact, the plan itself isn?t really that important. In today?s fast-moving business world, the plan may be largely irrelevant by the time you hit ?Print?.
It?s the process of planning that creates the benefits. Note the distinction ? the process itself is where most of the benefits reside.

4 benefits of planning

If we haven?t learned anything else from our recent economic conditions, we have learned (should we say relearned?) how uncertain the future can be.

Academicians and corporate chieftains are starting to understand what successful entrepreneurs already knew ? you can?t predict the future; you must create it!

To create your future, focus on the planning process. This helps you:

Turn abstract thoughts into tangible directives.

Thoughts are fuzzy. Planning helps define them. You will likely discover many ?gaps? when you put your thoughts through a rigorous planning process.

See ways to reduce your risk.

Outsourcing your risk is one of the most critical skills you can develop. It begins with the planning process.

Eliminate opportunities.

We often think of planning as a process to discover opportunities. In fact, the reverse is true ? the planning process helps you rule out options. By ruling out options, you can focus on the few things that will make you successful.

Proceed with confidence.

You will face fewer surprises as a result of your planning. When they do arise, you will be prepared to adapt more quickly.

3 key questions

Planning doesn?t have to be cumbersome, especially if you?re already in business. Just answer these three questions:

Given the resources available to you, what do you want to achieve?

You want to know where you?re going even if you don?t fully know how you?ll get there. Planning helps you set your course. The path you take will change as you assess the situation on the ground.

What must be done now to get to the next phase in your business?

In his book, The Richest Man in Town, Randall Jones ? the founder of Worth magazine ? showed us that this is the entrepreneur?s focus. This paradigm perfectly aligns with our rapidly changing world.

What might derail you?

One thing you can be certain of is that things won?t go as expected. Think about course corrections before you encounter them. Then, if you face them, you?ll be more prepared. This extra effort will serve you well.

After you?ve invested some time in planning, go! Action is to planning what planning is to the plan.

George Krueger and Mary-Lynn Foster blog about entrepreneuring at biggsuccess.com. George is a serial business owner and teaches Entrepreneurship at the University of Illinois. Mary-Lynn is a first-time entrepreneur and audio production specialist.

---

Exclusive for subscribers! Download Blogging Tips To Help You Blog

Copyright © 2009 Blog For Profit. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us so we can take legal action immediately.

Published by: Grant Griffiths

Related posts:

1. How One Estate Planning Attorney Used Blogging and Social Media to Get Noticed This is a guest post from California Estate Planning attorney...
2. Central Massachusetts Estate Planning News — Newest G2WebMedia Launch I often get asked what I do in my “day...
3. Daily Blogging and Social Networking - You Have to Have a Plan (Day 31-31) As a wrap up to our 31-Days to Kick Your...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Full post as published by Blawg for Profit on December 28, 2009 (boomark / email).