Why You Don't Need a Business Plan

For a truly micro-business, or being self-employed, a business plan is a recipe for disaster.

A formal business plan can be over 100 pages, full of all kinds of strange things like ‘competitive market analysis’ and ‘financial forecasting.’ Ugh.

You know who reads business plans? Banks and funders. You know who writes business plans? Businesses who are looking for significant capital funding.

Not you. So, relax, forget about the business plan.

A new business is like a baby.

A baby doesn’t go to school. It doesn’t even go to pre-school. No lesson plans. No syllabus. No homework.

The best way for a baby to grow and learn is to play, and explore its environment.

A baby does need boundaries.

Instead of lesson plans, parents set up boundaries for a baby. There are baby gates to close off the kitchen and the stairs. Handle caps to keep knives out of reach and doors closed. Socket protectors to keep inquiring fingers away from electricity.

If you have a new business, or even if your business has been around a while but its not growing up and maturing, I have one piece of advice. Stop planning in even moderate detail what you are going to do for your business, and create boundaries instead.

The three things a new business needs.

For a brand-new micro business, it needs essentially three things in the very beginning:

(1) Those boundaries: a rough idea of a target market.

You don’t need hundreds of clients to be successful, so don’t try to get just anyone. Get as clear as you can about Who you are helping and What you are helping them with. Having boundaries will be a lot more fun and safe than sticking your finger in an electrical socket. 😮

(2) Brightly colored toys: your products and services.

A baby plays with toys that are appropriate for age, and a good old-fashioned colored wooden block can be a lot more fun than some complicated electrical gizmo.

Don’t get too complicated and fancy with your products and services at first. Simple, straightforward, and, by putting boundaries around your market, you can present them in ways that really meet people’s needs.

(3) Food, care, love.

Without nutritious food, a baby will have stunted growth and health problems. Without enough hugs, the same thing happens.

It’s unfair to expect your new business to pay the rent immediately. It can grow up much faster than a baby, but it does need a little time. You will need to have funding of some sort: savings, debt or a loan, a part-time job, while things are getting started.

Now you have a ‘market-exploration’ plan.

That’s enough to get your business moving and growing, without too much stress, and while having fun. Your life started out with playtime, and your business needs that, too. It’s actually an important part of growing up.

But is it enough?

There is a time for planning, and taking care of a baby is no picnic, as every parent knows. Read below:

Keys to the Care and Feeding of Your Business

• Commit to learning how to parent.

You know how parents, during the nine months before birth, devour books on parenting? Books and books and books, parenting classes, learning from everyone they can, to try and be ready for the awesome reality.

Yet, most people going into business don’t learn how to parent. Instead, they study how to play. They want to learn more and better how to deliver the service or product they are offering, which is playing with the customers.

Doesn’t make sense, does it? If you are launching a business, you’ve probably already learned a great deal about how to play with your clients doing what you do. Lay aside that learning for the time being, and instead commit to learning how to parent your new-born business. Read, take classes, talk to people who have already done it successfully.

• Make small, doable plans.

Based on what you learn as you study parenting, focus on just three projects at a time. For example, one project about marketing, another for systems and organization, and a third to do with delivering your offers to your customers (yes, you will have them.)

No more than three at a time. Otherwise, you’ll get overwhelmed, and get nothing done.

• Don’t forget play time.

Your business is going to grow because it gets to play. And, you get to play with it.

Be creative and playful in your exploration of the market place. Don’t let it be such a life and death struggle. Bring out your sense of fun and play in how you parent your business, and not just when you are in front of a client.

Boundaries, three projects at a time, and play time. You are on your way to having a bouncing baby business.

Have a cigar!