Business Plan Tips & Ideas

Business Planning - should you trust your intuition?

Monday, June 30th, 2008

I believe the answer is “no” and “yes”. This is an important issue, so let me explain with a short story.
About five years ago, an electrical engineer, let’s call him Tom, contacted me for help to put a business plan together.
With the aid of some photos and diagrams, Tom explained the technology he had developed […]

How to Create a Business Action Plan in Less than a Day

Monday, May 26th, 2008

I’m in the process of developing a free tutorial on the Accelerated Planning Technique.
This will be a simplified online version of a public seminar workshop that I have conducted in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA: “How to Create a Business Action Plan in Less than a Day”.

A visual flowchart of the Accelerated Planning […]

Should a Life Plan be a part of Your Business Plan?

Monday, April 14th, 2008

When I facilitate business plans for farmers, it is frequently impossible to separate the farmer and his family from the farming business. The two can be significantly intertwined.
The same situation frequently exists for family businesses and for many lifestyle businesses.
So in these situations, a Life Plan or a Lifestyle Plan can become a very important […]

Your Business Plan – The secret of getting “Buy-In”

Monday, March 17th, 2008

Three simple steps that will multiply your chances of success
If you are planning anything that’s worthwhile, it is almost certain that you will need the co-operation of others to succeed. The starting point of gaining this co-operation is getting “buy-in” from other participants or stakeholders.
“How do I get buy-in for this project, scheme or business […]

Writing a Business Plan - avoid this frustrating mistake

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Every month, I see abandoned attempts at business plans. Each one usually has a story attached to it…. and often it’s a story of frustration and disappointment.
But here’s what’s interesting… I estimate that in around 50% of cases, this frustration and disappointment was avoidable. Many of these plans could have been successful if they had […]

100 Day Plans

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

I have long been a fan of the 100 day plan. It’s a magic time frame. Long enough to get something worthwhile achieved, and short enough to keep the mind focused.
Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, penned a good blog post on this topic a few days ago.
He starts off:
“I am an optimist. I believe […]