No excuse anymore to forgo a business plan

My original and only business plan for my company was based on a Dr. Suess book.  I wish I were kidding.

Owning up to my liberal arts major and rebellious roots, I didn't
think I needed a "real" plan.  And, for the most part, I did fine for a
decade, securing lots of clients and making a good living.

But honestly, I think that I was just not thinking about business
planning the right way.  I imagined reams of paper, onerous
spreadsheets and carefully crafted mission statements.  Yuck.

Now, Tim Berry, founder of Palo Alto Software and prolific blogger about all things startup, has come out with a new book called the Plan as You Go Business Plan. 
Even though his company makes business planning software, Tim felt a
bit frustrated by the perceived hurdle new entrepreneurs attributed to
business plans.  When I asked him why most people didn't write them, he
said:

"What people normally give me, Pam, is “Yes,
I’m going to tomorrow,” or “next month,” or “six months from now.”  And
then there’s the variant on that: “Yes, I really agree it’s stupid that
we don’t have a plan in this business and so-and-so has been promising
to write it for years.”  So they the pass the buck.  It’s funny because
the drag, what we’re fighting is they have in their mind this huge
marathon-like PhD thesis-like thing. I don’t blame them sometimes for
thinking, “No, I’m too busy.  I don’t have time for that. I’ve got to
run my business.” 

Instead of this perspective,
Tim encourages you to think of business planning as a fun and critical
part of your entrepreneurial journey.  He says:

“Planning
isn’t about writing some ponderous homework assignment or dull business
memo; it’s about envisioning the business that you want to create.  It
should be fascinating to you.  What do people want, how are you going
to get it to them, how are you different and what do you do better than
anyone else?”

I interviewed Tim on this topic for my
book, but he was generous enough to let me share the conversation as a
podcast.  It is about 37 minutes long.

I truly am motivated to finally create a plan after twelve years in business.  I hope you are too!