Planning – Entrepreneur Style The difference between a business owner and an entrepreneur is simple. A business owner does business but an entrepreneur, what I call “moves the game on”. http://adrianfleming.com/planning-entrepreneur-style/ By moving the game on you are able to stay ahead of the competition, charge more money, stay excited and energised but most of all add value again and again and again to your chosen marketplace by innovating and refining what you do, not just doing what you do well and continuing to do it. http://adrianfleming.com/planning-entrepreneur-style/ In my own experience much of running a business is quite boring, it’s where all the hassle, stress, frustration, hard work and costs reside. Being an entrepreneur is different because this is where all the freedom, energy, fun and opportunity hang out, the fact is I’ve never found an entrepreneur talk anything other than excitedly about their latest idea, sharing their passion, emotion and energy with me as the talk. http://adrianfleming.com/planning-entrepreneur-style/ So what turns that positive situation in to what’s more often than not less than the dream lifestyle entrepreneur’s start out with – the lack of a proven system, so let’s do something about that right now. Let’s talk planning, not normally a favourite subject for entrepreneurs like us who want to take their ideas and make something great happen fast. http://adrianfleming.com/planning-entrepreneur-style/ So my advice to you is to dispense with the boring stuff and instead of a business plan start by creating a business map because a business plan tends to be quite formal and inflexible where as a map is something you refer to before you start out on a journey and can refer to along the way. It gives you choices and the ability make changes as you take the journey based on where you ultimately want to get to and where you are right now, which is ever changing, even the destination. http://adrianfleming.com/planning-entrepreneur-style/ When deciding on the map to use you have to have an idea of where you want to get to and also where you are now and the best way to do this in an entrepreneurial situation is to look at what business you are in and where you fit, or in map terms where you are right now and also see if that’s your ideal final destination. So is it? Are you exactly where you want to be right now? As entrepreneurs we need to stop defining what we do by the products and services we provide. We need to be clear with ourselves and others that what we are about is delivering value to our chosen market, that we are comfortable with, in fact embrace change, we care about the people we serve and that we can connect with them too because we understand what they want and need. We are not there to try and convince somebody they should by from us Read more at http://adrianfleming.com/planning-entrepreneur-style/ Check out Adrian Fleming's book at http://TheEntrepreneursbook.com