Why You Need a Business Plan – WSJ.com

What a great article on Planning for Business in the Wall Street Journal! And no, I didn’t commission it.

Planning – note the active voice – is at the heart of my practice and my life. Is it because my dad had me sitting at the kitchen table writing my goals for the week every Saturday starting at age 5? Perhaps, but it sure has served me well.

Planning – not just “plans” – is critical to the success of any organization. Smaller or newer businesses have a more acute need, as they have less ballast to weather such economic events as we have just been going through the past year.

Next month, I’m presenting a webinar called “Plan” is NOT a 4-Letter Word. In it, I suggest that the Top 5 Reasons for Business Planning include:

• Forestalling problems – if you can anticipate and avoid a problem, isn’t that better than having to solve a problem or crisis?
• Securing funding – whether you’re seeking venture capital or a loan from your community bank, a clear plan will help convince your investor or lender that you have anticipated eventualities, and that their investment is a good one.
• Management – planning can be your best friend for managing products and services as well as employees. It can be the road map for all to follow in concert.
• Profitability – recent research about small businesses found those that plan actively have profits 50-100% higher than those that don’t Nuf sed.
• Reduce anxiety – stress and overwhelm are common conditions of business owners. Why waste energy with worry when a plan can help you FOCUS and improve productivity.

If you’re interested in attending this webinar, send me an email and I’ll get you invited.

Practically Speaking – Small Businesses Critical of Stimulus Bills – NYTimes.com

If you’re a small business owner, chances are this headline resonates. The author of this NYTimes article quantifies the sense that many of us have had about the stimuli under discussion: “only 0.05 percent of the House bill is dedicated to small-business lending programs, and the Senate version is only slightly better.”

Yikes.

Our (C-Suite Advisors) clients most certainly exemplify the engine small businesses are to the economy. They are hiring people, and spending to develop their business and be ready to take advantage of opportunities that are the other side of this recession. But are they getting the same kind of help as Wall Street, Detroit, and Washington? Not on your life. They are working smarter and staying hopeful to be sure.

Now may be the time to write your Congressional representatives!