plan ahead?

I have always envied the so called "prepared." But what does prepared mean when dealing with a start up business? If I have learned anything along my journey thus far it is that you can never have all of the answers all the time. I feel good these days if I have some of the answers most of the time.

Seriously though, one of the highlights of being an entrepreneur is that everyday produces different challenges as well as rewards. One of the challenges to starting any new venture is coming up with a viable plan. Who do I write it for? Where do I get solid information to use in my forecasts? How do I conduct a focus group? Where do I get accurate traffic counts? Should I be worried about merchant groups and neighborhood associations? So many questions, so little time.

In my experience, although limited, I have found that the best way to approach the business plan is to come up with a plan for the plan. Tackle one section at a time and realize that more than likely all of it will change - a lot. Evan Smith, CEO of The Texas Tribune, addressed a group of aspiring young business men, "its ok to have a bad plan - it is just not ok to not have a plan at all." Words to live by.

I have also found it helpful to surround myself with people that have different skill sets than my own. Since I consider myself to be a very extroverted big picture person I needed to find a more introverted detail person. Since I knew that I needed a partner I wanted to make sure that our skill sets complemented each other and that both of us would add value to the business in different ways.

The most fun and least productive partnership I ever had was with one of my best friends right after graduating from USC. We had a great time dreaming of all of the ways that we were going to spend the inevitable wealth that our new venture would bring - girls, cars, boats, vacation homes. However, since we both had similar skill sets neither of us wanted to do the "hard" work. The "hard" work being defined as anything outside of our comfort zones. The problem is that "hard" work also defined half of the necessary business functions (sadly, the profitable half).

I guess you can tell that as it turns out creating wealth is never inevitable. This time around however I am armed with the right team and I have done the "hard" work putting together a well-researched business plan. People say that it is possible to start a business without going through the planning process. Take it from me; these are the people who make up the 90% of businesses that fail in the first five years. My goal is to not be one of them.