business planning

The Dribbling Metaphor for Business Planning

January 25, 2013

Think of basketball or soccer. In both of these popular sports, dribbling is what the players do to move the ball in the right direction. It’s not the point of the game, it doesn’t score baskets or goals, but it’s an important skill, right? I think of dribbling as a great analogy for business planning. [...]

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The Real Use of the One-Page Business Plan

November 12, 2012

The question is:  There’s been quite a bit written recently about the value of a 1-page business plan. What are your thoughts on this type of plan vs. a thorough document? And my answer: The only problem is confusing the two as if one replaces the other. The 1-pager is a summary of the plan. [...]

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You’re Not a Startup. Why Would You Want to Plan?

August 9, 2012

Ask the owner of a small-to-medium company about a business plan. Expect the answer: “Business plan? but I’m not a start-up. Why would I want a business plan? Former president and military leader Dwight Eisenhower once said: The plan is useless; but planning is essential.   The business planning process is such a great tool [...]

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You Need People Committed, Not Just Involved

July 30, 2012

In breakfast, the chicken is involved, the pig is committed. In the business planning process, commitment is essential. Plans need to be implemented, and implementation means commitment.  There has to be accountability, and peer pressure.  You have to follow up on what was planned to make sure that it was actually carried out. Here are [...]

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What You Think You Know About Business Planning Can Hurt Your Business

March 20, 2012

(Note: I posted this yesterday as a guest post on Howard Lewinter’s Talk Business With Howard blog, part of getting ready for a radio chat with Howard on Blogtalkradio tomorrow morning. It starts at 8 am Pacific time. Please click here to listen or get more info on that.) Is this you? When asked if [...]

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Creativity Contest: Fun Way to Say Business Planning. With Prizes.

September 29, 2011

Here’s a challenge: Donna Maria of INDIEBusiness asked: what’s a fun way to say business planning? That’s the tweet you see here, which I saw a few minutes ago as I sat down looking at the Willamette River drinking my coffee and starting my day. I think I know exactly what she means. Business planning [...]

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The Single Most-Often-Overlooked Key to Successful Business Planning

July 25, 2011

Sadly, it’s so simple that it should be obvious: Make sure the way you organize the rows of sales, costs, and expenses in your financial projections match the way your accounting tracks them. So if your accounting divides sales into widgets, gadgets, and dealios, don’t project your sales as direct, channels, and distributors. And if [...]

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When Is a Business Plan Not a Business Plan?

June 29, 2011

This has been bugging me for a long time now: It turns out that the phrase “business plan” is a homonym, exactly as in these examples from yourdictionary.com: Just like the different meanings for crane and date, there are at least two completely different meanings for the two-word phrase “business plan:” Business plan: what’s supposed [...]

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Planning vs. Accounting: 2 Different Dimensions. And Why You Care.

June 13, 2011

Just as the stargate in the picture was a gate between two different dimensions (from the 1994 movie), today is also the stargate between planning and accounting. Accounting starts today and goes backwards in time in ever-increasing detail. Planning, on the other hand, starts today and goes forward in time in ever increasing summary and [...]

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Closing the Loop: How Planning Is Management

April 6, 2011

A couple of weeks ago the editor of my entrepreneur.com column poked me sideways a bit with the suggestion that I explain how planning is management. He said (I’m paraphrasing): What do you really mean when you say planning is management? It’s not immediately obvious. Can you explain how a business plan becomes better business [...]

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