To Be Or Not To Be

To be or not to be; that is the question....

You may recognize the quote from William Shakespeare's, Hamlet.  The focus of this post however has little to do with Shakespeare and everything to do with if your business will "be" in existence a  in a year, 2 years, 5 years from now.

To  a great extent that depends on the development of a Business Plan.  Yes, I hear collective moans and groans emanating through cyber space at this very moment;  but folks, numbers don't lie.

Statistically,11% of small businesses develop and execute from a written business plan; 89% of small businesses fail within the first 5 years - pretty simple math.

That said, let me debunk the myth that business plan development will require months and months of time, extended research, acquisition of comparable data and a several reams of paper.  It may evolve to that, but start small -  develop a plan that will act as a benchmark for decisions about your business direction and focus.  Otherwise, (trust me) your focus will be all over the map, pursuing every new idea and nuance that may float by your peripheral vision.

Here's a place to begin, The One Page Business Plan Company, a resource  I happened upon recently.  Curious to learn a bit more, I linked from their website and connected with them via email.  A response to my question came within hours...very impressive.  The next day a follow-up email came from the company President Jim Horan; even more impressive.  Why?  Because in this day and age, to receive a response, let alone a timely response to any email inquiry is unusual, and in this case, I received a personalized response and additional follow-up.

My bet is their professional response to my simple email inquiry is indicative of their organization as a whole, and of their product. Although I have not yet ordered the product, I very well may do so as my business plan is quite frankly archaic and could benefit from developing a fresh perspective.

Let me interject a disclaimer here.  If you are developing a small business in which you will be making application for funding either from a bank or investor, your business plan will need to be developed to greater detail.  The One Page Business Plan looks to offer resources in that direction, or, your local community college can likely provide you with assistance as would SCORE.