Should We Do a Business Plan?

When I started my company at the age of 21, the first thing I did was sit down and write a business plan. I'd never done one before, but I had listened to many podcasts and read quite a few books on business. I knew it was the smart thing to do. So, I began writing a business plan. I outlined all my products, the people I intended to market to, what my hiring process would look like, and even began to build systems. I spent more than 3 months constructing it! It was beautiful and perfect. But I made absolutely no money on the time I spent creating the intricate plan. So, the question must be posed: Should we even do a business plan? If so, when should we do a business plan?

Fast forward 4 years and I literally just did a business plan a week ago. I spent lots of time and effort into creating a strategic plan that took into consideration my goals and my purposes and then I drew everything out into a tactical plan with metrics and orders that could be carried out. This was the best business plan I have ever built. A week later something happened that wasn't in my business plan.

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." -Mike Tyson

Mike was right! The only thing we can guarantee is that business won't go according to the plan. We will get punched in the face unexpectedly by various circumstances and it will happen frequently. With all things considered, YES, we should do a business plan. Let me tell you why.

For every time, we get punched in the face, there are thousands of moments we didn't. A plan allows us to have a degree of control over those moments. Just because we may hit red lights in traffic does not mean the GPS has now suddenly become obsolete. A business plan is that GPS.

When we do a business plan, we must realize that it is a general plan. We know the gist of what we are going to do and we want to control as much as we can but there are many small elements that we just must be surprised by and be ready to handle when they come up. A good business plan should force us to commit to handling those smaller things when they come up. A poor business plan will cause us to think we have planned for everything and nothing will come up or go wrong.

A business plan should start with strategy. Like a general planning out a war campaign. Which territories must we establish ourselves in first? How will we take territory? What vehicles will be used? This should be a very broad focus.
The broad plan does need to boil down to SMART targets (Specific, Measurable, Action Based, Relative, and Time Bound). This is the part of the plan that should force us to commit and know that we will get "punched in the face". For example, if I must make 67 sales per week to achieve my revenue target, I must commit to this target no matter what. And I must realize that there will be cancellations, chargebacks, flaky customers, product malfunctions, and a vast platter of other non-conforming items that have no regard to my plan. And then when those things happen I must still commit to my 67 sales per week target, do whatever it takes to get there even though I just got slugged in the eye, and simply do it anyways.

A business plan starts with a bigger picture and boils down to a series of activities and metrics that we are willing to commit to no matter what. We all can choose stories, reasons, and excuses as to why we cannot, won't or shouldn't achieve our targets. After all, we all get "punched in the face" often, right? Those committed to success will do it anyways and sacrifice their story, reason, and excuse.

If you need a plan for your business and your finances, talk to one of my Wealth Coaches. They are trained experts on how to help you create a workable business plan that you can commit to. Click here to speak with a Wealth Coach.

Own your potential!

Jerry Fetta

Jerry Fetta is an Entrepreneur and Owner of A.G. Capital Group, the nation's first and foremost Real Estate based Wealth Coaching firm. We help our client's build a Life by Design.

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