To plan or not to plan



Do you have the future in your sights?

 I am one of those entrepreneurs who fell into my company – if there ever is such a one. I never thought about owning a business. I did not search for business opportunities and yet, here I am. My first client referred me to another, then someone else called me about a thing, then that thing was noticed by another and so on.


I did not have any start up capital. I did not have a business plan. Though I was certified in business planning nearly a decade ago, everything I am learning I am learning on the job. I have my successes and my slips and I have the plaques and bruises to prove it. However, talking to others about how they got their business ventures going got me thinking about planning. How effective is it? How do you weigh short-term and long-term goals?

Planning is crucial to executing a great idea. That is a no-brainer. Yes, I am one of THOSE people. I admit it. I have a vision board – two to be exact. I have a short term one (present to one year) and a long-term one (ten to fifteen years from now). I set long-term goals, but I complete them in stages. I see where I want to be in three months, nine months and two years from now. I then decide what I need to do every day in order to be where I need to be in three months. I look at my week in units. The last day of the week, Saturday, I briefly reflect on whether or not I completed any tasks that make my three-month goal a reality. Trust me, there are off weeks. Working in short-term bursts keeps me from looking too far ahead and wondering how long I still have to go.

Everyone is different. I honestly think if I had started off by writing a business plan, I would have quit this business owner gig a long time ago. Taking my time and learning and growing at my own pace has allowed me to shape The Lioness Group into its unique niche. If I had sat down and typed out what I thought a writing and media services firm should look like, it would not have been what I currently have. Being different means doing what others have not done and stepping out is frightening. I wouldn’t have been able to write down what I wanted to do, because I didn’t know what I wanted to do until I started to do it. (Whew! Did you catch that?) Slow, steady growth has enabled me to find my strengths and what makes my brand what it is. Take the time to work in the field you are attempting to become a leader in. Know what it feels like to be in the shoes of the worker bee, the queen bee’s assistant and, ultimately, the queen herself. Be a consumer of the same services you hope to provide. Being on the other side of the glass can do remarkable things when it comes to determining how you want to treat your clients.

I am not encouraging anyone to not have a business plan. It is a necessity. I am in the throws of working with Williams Business Consulting to finally complete my business plan. I must say, it’s a lot easier to write after being in business for more than a year. I don’t have to use estimates. I can use facts. The bonus of having a plan is when you are having those off days; the ones where you are wondering why you started this in the first place. You can open up that plan, refocus on your mission and get right back on track. But don’t be afraid to wander out of the guidelines every now and then. Leave room for the unexpected. Fore it is the only thing that has catapulted me on my path. The irony is what we think is unexpected is often a result of choices we have made, both good and bad.