Forget about the status quo! Get a plan that can help YOU move forward. A great way to business planning is starting small and then figuring out what you really need as you go along.
Don't let someone put you through an excruciating class where they try to test your ability to create financial statements when they themselves can't even complete a business plan. I sat in a class like that as a test once, and it was a joke. Here was someone who was an employee, had never written a business plan or owned a business, trying to make other people miserable. Truth is, not everyone can be an editor of a book or magazine. Yet, almost anyone can write a book. Same goes here, not everyone can write a professional business plan--but everyone can plan in a way that suits them.
I don't know about you but I'm sick of the formalities. If you need some money, then yes, perhaps you should conform your business plan to what your funder asks (although I wish more funders would stop having people concentrate so much on the formalities that they forget to present or focus on the business). A banker, investor or venture capitalist will ask for specific business planning materials. You need to give it to them and learn about what they require.
However, don't just assume that everyone wants to view a COMPLICATED plan. In fact, most people pretend like they understand it, but they don't. I had someone once consult with me because he wanted to invest some money into a business and he had asked the startup entrepreneur for a business plan. He had gotten the specifics, but didn't understand the plan. Now he wanted to meet with me so I could walk him through each page. The answers he wanted from this service-based business, could have been presented to him in a much simpler fashion. Yet, he made this entrepreneur fret over this business plan so much, that it seemed as if a robot wrote the 35-page plan.
I feel so strongly about this topic, that I'm writing an Ebook on it. I'll keep you updated.
Don't let someone put you through an excruciating class where they try to test your ability to create financial statements when they themselves can't even complete a business plan. I sat in a class like that as a test once, and it was a joke. Here was someone who was an employee, had never written a business plan or owned a business, trying to make other people miserable. Truth is, not everyone can be an editor of a book or magazine. Yet, almost anyone can write a book. Same goes here, not everyone can write a professional business plan--but everyone can plan in a way that suits them.
I don't know about you but I'm sick of the formalities. If you need some money, then yes, perhaps you should conform your business plan to what your funder asks (although I wish more funders would stop having people concentrate so much on the formalities that they forget to present or focus on the business). A banker, investor or venture capitalist will ask for specific business planning materials. You need to give it to them and learn about what they require.
However, don't just assume that everyone wants to view a COMPLICATED plan. In fact, most people pretend like they understand it, but they don't. I had someone once consult with me because he wanted to invest some money into a business and he had asked the startup entrepreneur for a business plan. He had gotten the specifics, but didn't understand the plan. Now he wanted to meet with me so I could walk him through each page. The answers he wanted from this service-based business, could have been presented to him in a much simpler fashion. Yet, he made this entrepreneur fret over this business plan so much, that it seemed as if a robot wrote the 35-page plan.
I feel so strongly about this topic, that I'm writing an Ebook on it. I'll keep you updated.
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