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Abandon Your Business Plan......If You Want to Take Your Business to the Next Level

Written by: George C. Huang

Article Overview: If you take a look in the business section of any bookstore, you'll see an over-abundance of books that teach you how to write a "winning" business plan. The problem is, conventional business plans are great for showing it to your banker to get financing, but they are rarely, if ever, practical or action-oriented. This article presents the cure for business plans that don't ever work.

Abandon Your Business Plan......If You Want to Take Your Business to the Next Level

Have you ever gotten so fired up about growing your business ("I'm really gonna nail it this time!") that you dove right in—spending hours and hours pouring your mind, heart, and soul into to writing up a business plan? Or, maybe you didn't have any plan at all. But either way, written plan or not, it just didn't work out.

So what went wrong?

Here's the Problem:
Business plans look good on paper but, in the jungle of everyday business, they simply aren’t very practical. At least not in the format that is common for submission to financial institutions to secure capital funding.

Ask yourself—how does your business plan help you to figure out how to attract and hire the best people to be on your team? How does it help you develop and document the appropriate systems that will ultimately help you produce greater profits and more free time and energy to enjoy them?

The format of a traditional business plan typically includes some of the following:
*Executive Summary
*Company Description
*Industry Analysis and Trends
*Target Market
*Strategic Position and Risk Assessment
*Research about the Competition
*Descriptions of plans for technology, management, and company organization
*Cursory tip of the hat to vision and growth strategy
*A fabricated jumble of financial projections and associated fantasy

Traditional business plans have little, if any, relationship to reality and practicality. Multi-million dollar businesses have been built on paper. But unfortunately, the paper isn't green. It's crumpled up in the recycle bin.

In too many instances, the polished business plan is nothing more than a highly thought out collection of concepts and ideals, tied together by wishful thinking. None of which will result in customers and dollars flying through your doors.

The Solution:
You need the appropriate blend of focus, strategy, and tactics. The essence of focus is all about knowing where you want your business to go and, more importantly, why you want to take it there. Strategy is a systemic plan of action. Tactics are the processes and procedures—the specific actions—that you take to achieve your main objectives.

Instead of a business plan, you and your business would be better served with a Strategic Action Plan.

A Strategic Action Plan (SAP) is a game plan for your business growth that clearly defines the underlying reason for your business’ existence (the mission), establishes specifics about where you are headed (intended outcomes), and defines how you'll know you are fulfilling on your mission, (specific measures of success). The SAP also lays out specific ACTIONS toward your end goals (the action plan).

Here's how a strategic action plan might be structured:
*Mission of the Company
*Vision
*Specific Goals and Objectives (Intended Outcomes and Targets)
*Specific Measures of Success (for each of the above)
*Strategies in each of the following "success engines:" a) Leadership, Management, and Team; b) *Operational Logistics; c) Marketing; and d) Deliverables (products and services).
*Business Structure required to a) successfully support the growth and b) operate efficiently and effectively in order to give you more free time and energy
*Documented Systems needed to achieve the desired objectives.
*Required Support, Skills and Resources needed to act and follow-through effectively
*Action Plan (including expected dates of completion)
*What is your structure and system of Accountability that ensures that you follow-through with your plan of strategy and action?

Pick up any traditional business plan and you'll immediately notice the difference.

An effective SAP does not require that you have all the pieces of the puzzle worked out. It's far better to act when you're 80% ready rather than wait until you think you're 100% ready. Because the fact is, you'll never be 100% ready.

This is what I call the Fire! Ready, Aim approach. The key to being successful with this approach is to recognize when you are 80% ready and to know the right time to pull the cord and let your business strategies loose!

The Strategic Action Plan and the Fire! Ready, Aim approach are both highly effective tools that I use with all of my clients. These same tools helped one client generate more revenue in four months of 2006 than in all of 2005. Another client doubled revenue from his moving average in only one month. Yet another client created an annualized, six-figure recurring revenue stream in 70 days.

Does this commitment to your business require an investment of time and energy? You bet. But the degree of increased focus and confidence for you and your team is well worth it.

This highly-leveraged investment in your business can produce a greater ROI than any stock in your current portfolio. It's all about developing your greatest asset (aside from your health) — your business. So, get cracking on your Strategic Action Plan.

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Article Tags: business plans, capital funding, company description, company organization, dollar businesses, financial institutions, financial projections, free time, growth strategy, heart and soul, jumble, practicality, risk assessment research, strategy and tactics, target market, technology management, tip of the hat, traditional business, wishful thinking, writing up a business plan



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