Business Planning: Thoughts For The Beginning Entrepreneur

Walsh Enterprises Business & Financial Advisors Huntington Beach, California USA http://www.awalsh.us walshal1@aol.com (714) 465-2749 Business Planning Thoughts for the Beginning Entrepreneur Reprinted from a blog posted December 2008 at www/walshal.wordpress.com

The following is a response I wrote to a discussion on LinkedIn regarding Business Planning for startups. I thought it worthy enough to include in my blogs… A Business Plan is primarily intended to get you thinking. It’s a means of organizing your Vision into a rational plan – it forces you to identify and come to grips with risks – and it provides a framework for transferring thought to action. Of course, it is necessary if chasing startup money. I highly recommend that those who have not done a startup before develop a comprehensive Business Plan. In the process, you’ll learn a lot of things you didn’t know.

Some people are experienced enough to take the plunge without going through a comprehensive process. It could be said that these people are not operating without a Business Plan – they merely carry it in their heads. For those who are inexperienced but think they’re intuitive enough to “rough it out” without a plan – I say good luck to you. The statistics on business failures are filled with sad stories of failed “intuitive geniuses”. Of course, there’s always the rare example to prove me wrong – but they’re in the thin minority. There’s an old military saying that “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” This serves to illustrate the point that no Business Plan can address all risks & concerns; but certainly lack of a plan leaves you less- prepared, and the plan can & should be adjusted based upon experience as the startup progresses.

Remember that a Business Plan is not an Operating Plan. It is strategic in nature, and is not intended to define the fine details of how the business will be run. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but after two decades of entrepreneurial service I know where to find them when I need them. As a budding entrepreneur, ask yourself if you can say the same. You can’t find the answers until you know the questions to ask; hence the Business Plan. Good Luck, Al Walsh

Business Planning: Thoughts For The Beginning Entrepreneur

by Alan Walsh on Jul 12, 2009

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

2 Embeds 12

Statistics

Business Planning: Thoughts For The Beginning Entrepreneur — Presentation Transcript

http://www.slideshare.net	8
http://careerdevelopmentalwalsh.blogspot.com	4