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Posted by BizNetCentral under Strategy
From http://biznetcentral.com 4912 days ago

Practical Business Planing

I used to be the Controller/CFO of a corporation that had 31 different LLC’s. Which meant that I had 31 different Business Plans that had to be updated and reviewed on an annual basis. When we finished these business plans I would have to take them and share them with the business owner(s), Boards of Directors, bankers, CPA’s, attorneys, insurance agents, bonding companies, and potential investors.

For most corporations,Business Plans tend to be impractical management tools the way they are written. When I finished sharing the Business Plans with all the stakeholders, I took the remaining copies and locked them in the safe until I was ready to start the planning process again next year. For most SMB’s (Small to Medium Businesses), I don’t recommend that you spend the time or money to create a formal 35 page business plan.

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Comments

Written by ShawnHessinger
4911 days ago

Tremendously important post, John. Thanks so much for sharing this with the BizSugar community. When I was running a blog on bootstrapping startups, the clarion call was that business plans had become unworkable, impractical things you created to gain funding for your idea. Hence, if, in bootstrapping, you eliminate the need for outside investment, you eliminate the need for a formal business plan. In retrospect, however, I think that this concept perhaps created too much negativity towards business planning in general as a valuable tool to get you where you want to go. In the end, I'd suggest the emphasis should be less on whether you need a plan and more on simply having the right kind.

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