Writing a Business Plan
 
"So how long should the plan be?"
 
I have been writing business plans for thirty years and I have never met a business owner who did not need to plan; and rarely met one who does!
 
The fact that the question of business plan length is usually the first question they ask suggests that maybe writing a business plan is not something they are coming to with a happy heart.
 
The truth is that if you are writing a business plan for yourself and for no-one else then the shorter the better. The first thing I always tell any business owner is that you should write a business plan to create a business that makes you happy; makes you look at your spouse and smile and not spoil every moment with them groaning about some terrible employee and how it is everyone's fault but yours.
 
A business plan is not about trying to put together mythical numbers that make you think you will be rich.
 
Let me say that again …
 
A business plan is not about trying to put together mythical numbers that make you think you will be rich.
 
Writing a business plan is about writing down the things your business (it is your business by the way – not your employees. Not your suppliers or customers, not the banks and most of all not your families) needs to do to make you happy.
 
"Well it will make me happy if it makes me rich"
 
You know, well we both know, that is not true.
 
I have worked with over 20,000 businesses and have sold business plans to nearly 30,000 more and the only happy business owners I have ever met understood one thing and one thing above all else.
 
If you create a business that you want to be part of, doing the things you want it to do then you will be happy.
 
And, and here is the most important thing I have ever learned, your business will make considerably more money when you are happy than when you are not.
 
© Business Plan Database