Planning on Success

According to a recent study, 40% of all new small businesses crash and burn in the U. S. every year. Within 5 years, over 80% of what’s left fail. And as staggering as these statistics are, what would they be if they lumped in the huge number of small business owners, salespeople and solopreneurs who, while they are still in business, are just hanging on, never approaching their once-lofty expectations?

A primary reason for this sad state of affairs is failure to plan. Based on my experiences as a coach, if you are one who doesn’t put together a solid, realistic, workable annual plan, it is nearly always for one or more of the following 3 reasons:

(1) You don’t know how.
(2) You don’t feel you have the time, if you did know how.
(3) You lack the required discipline.

It is not really surprising that so many people in business don’t know how to plan. Much is written and taught about goal setting, but surprisingly little about how to plan. Goals are certainly an important part of planning, but goal setting without a plan is somewhat the equivalent of one in Seattle saying his goal is to be in New York next Wednesday but not having the foggiest about the best route, the vehicle, the cost, the required time to get there. Pie in the sky.

Planning is building a solid foundation for growth by getting real, asking hard questions, and make projections based on the answers to those questions. Planning by hoping, wishing or guessing is like trying to build that foundation on mud. Sure as anything, success will slip away.

You may be up to your neck in the day to day business struggles...in fact, you may be in that Panic Zone we wrote about awhile back. Often I have heard business owners and salespeople lament, “I am just so busy doing what I am doing, I don’t have time...” But as Covey points out so well in “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” you sacrifice growth and invite failure when you continually respond to the Urgent and Important without taking time for the Not Urgent but Important matters. The only answer is to make the time.

Finally, discipline, a subject we wrote about in the last issue is always an underlying culprit. Let’s face it, developing a meaningful business plan is hard work, often requiring burning of the midnight oil. It is digging into past records. It is crunching numbers. It is projecting based on the digging you have done. It is HARD WORK. The kind of work many don’t like.(After all, you didn’t get into sales, or whatever your business, to do this kind of work!)

But, again, as we wrote last week about discipline, if you care enough for the long range results you will do the hard thing now. If you need help, you will consult a business coach or sign up for a class. You will find the time. And you will do it.

I promise you this: what you will learn about your business in the process will surprise you. What you will learn about yourself will enlighten you. You will come out of it feeling like you are in control of your business rather than it being in control of you. And the sweetest result of all, will be your results in the year ahead.
*********************************************************************************** “...the guy says, ‘when you work where I work, by the time you get home, it’s late. You’ve got to have a bite to eat, watch a little TV, relax, and get to bed. You can’t sit up half the night planning, planning, planning.’ And he’s the same guy who is behind in his car payment!” Jim Rohn
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