If You Fail to Plan, Plan To Fail

In order to succeed at anything you’ve got to have a plan. Business is no different. Yet, depending on the type of business you’re operating, the plan will vary.

For example, if you are raising money from investors or bringing a company public, you need a lengthy and comprehensive plan. It must not only provide a realistic strategy for running the business successfully, but it must also demonstrate to potential investors your knowledge of the business and your ability to foresee problems and solve them. A good plan will also include comprehensive market research and your response to it, and a detailed proforma that shows worst case, best case and most likely financial projections over a three to five year period. It takes three to five months to put a comprehensive business plan together.

These days it’s much easier to put together a “canned” business plan. Just buy one of a hundred “fill in the blanks” software applications or download the forms from the web and tailor it to your needs. In an hour or so you’ll have a 40 or 50 page professional looking business plan with financial projections and color coded diagrams. The problem is that your professional looking plan will be almost useless.

It's a Road Map

A business plan is no different than any other plan. Things happen along the way that may take you off course. The question is how should you respond to the distractions?

Years ago I decided to make a vacation of seeing the beauty of this country by going from national park to national park camping in a tent. Because I was beginning my journey in Long Island, New York, I had little choice other than to head west. I plotted a course that included the most interesting and beautiful places I knew of and laid it all out on a map.

I became a member of AAA (mentors), both for their road side assistance program and for their incredible flip-chart style maps. I bought the needed supplies, got my car checked out by a mechanic, and planned my departure date. Everything was ready.

I figured I’d get a good night’s sleep that night and get on the road early to beat the traffic. I got to bed early and laid there waiting to fall asleep. I was too excited – there was no way I could get myself to sleep. So I got up at 11 p.m., took a quick shower and hit the road 4 and a half hours early. My trip had barely begun and I was already off plan.

By six a.m. I was very sleepy, so I took a nap in the car at a truck stop. I arrived in St. Louis a little earlier than originally anticipated, but fairly close to the plan I had put together. And so it went for the rest of the trip – my carefully crafted plan was more of a road map (literally) than a set of hard and fast rules.

And so it will be with your business plan. There will be detours; some positive, some negative. The key to success is distinguishing between the two types of detours and working through them appropriately.

There's More Than One Right Way

One hint is to be concerned more with the outcome (results) than with the path (method). In other words, if the deviation is simply a different way of producing the same or a better outcome, it’s a positive deviation. If the deviation results in missing an important goal or deadline, it’s a negative deviation.

This is why building a successful business is more of an art than a science.

Dishonest Partner(s), inconsistent employees and unreliable vendors are all negative deviations. If you find yourself in business with these types of people, you need to make big changes. You cannot build a successful business surrounded with these kinds of people.

Missed goals, surges in orders, running slightly behind schedule, an ad campaign that under-produces. These are all deviations that can be worked around, and overcome. You need to evaluate them as part of the “big picture” and decide whether they are heading you down a dead end, or pointing to another path that will get you to a better result.

Here’s a technique that will help you to evaluate deviations and help you overcome them:

Have ten backups for each major part of your plan and five backups for the minor parts of the plan!

As a kid, I was enthralled with the Apollo space program. I watched every launch, every moon landing and every moon walk on T.V. During one of the press conferences after the Apollo 11 mission, a reporter asked Neil Armstrong, “Sir, suppose you were sitting there in the Lunar Module about to blast off from the moon and the rocket didn’t fire. You’ve only got 2 hours of oxygen left at that point. What would you do? Would you pray, would you ask to speak to your wife on the radio? How would you spend your last two hours?”

Armstrong answered without hesitation. He said, “I’d spend the two hours fixing the problem.” That’s the difference between success and failure. Successful people solve problems; unsuccessful people get stopped by them.

Many people now realize that a big part of an astronaut’s training is working in flight simulators responding to problems. In fact, those simulators are programmed with every imaginable problem they can encounter and the astronauts are trained to “work the solutions” one at a time until the problem is solved.

Business is no different. You will be faced with problems. A big part of handling them effectively is thinking them through ahead of time and preparing your responses in advance. The more alternative solutions you can develop, the better prepared for setbacks you will be.

If you want more confidence and certainty, you can do this process with every area of your business plan. Sit down by yourself or with your partner (or mentor) and brainstorm each issue. The more alternative solutions you have, the better prepared you’ll be.

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Fast Track Your Life by Working with Mentors and Coaches

The Biggest mistake I made as a young entrepreneur was to try to do it all and figure it all out on my own. It was my nature, back then, to be something of a rebel. I was competitive, so my rebellious nature served me well, especially in sports. Perseverance, determination and a good measure of toughness allowed me to excel as a young athlete. However, as one of my mentors later observed – for most people, their greatest strength can turn into their biggest weakness. In many ways, that was true for me.

In law school, my colleagues were trying to get the attention of the big law firms and to land a “great job”. I was committed to starting my own firm – which I did immediately upon graduating and passing the bar exam. I was bold and that is a definite asset in business. But at times, I think I had more guts than smarts and my boldness could get me into trouble.

What happened for me is that even with my early mentors, I was brazen and impatient. If I didn’t like what they suggested, I’d storm off and do things my own way. I felt like they just didn’t understand. Before long, I found myself without any mentors. That’s what happens if you think you know it all.

I began to read books and listen to audio programs. I was searching. I knew that something was amiss, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was.

Then one morning it all came together. As I took the long walk from the front door of my office to the mail box it hit me. I stood there on Main Street and looked west. As I did I recalled the earlier conversations with my colleagues about how proud they were for how long and hard they had worked. Then, I looked east and recalled similar conversations I had had with the attorneys whose offices were in that direction.

I had a realization.

If I continued on the path I was on, I’d wind up in the same shape they were in. Older, overworked, tired, spending more time telling war stories than planning an exciting future. And it was in that moment that I vowed to find a better way.

I realized that I needed help. If I continued to do it on my own, I would continue to get the same, now unacceptable, results. I had to find others who had found a better way – one that was perhaps similar to what I had in mind, and ask them for direction.

In short, the remedy was to become coachable.

I spent the next five years re-tooling. I went to every seminar I could and I listened intently to the successful people that spoke at them. And I started to see a pattern. Many of their stories were similar in that they too had coaches and mentors. The lesson I was learning is that no matter how bright or gifted you are there are areas where you can learn more and where you can improve.

The single most important thing you can do is to seek out Mentors and Coaches and follow their advice. I am always working with at least one coach and one mentor.

Put the Pedal to the Metal and Drive Yourself from Zero to Success: Get two FREE Chapters of my new book, which compels you to rev up your engines and shift into high gear.

Pump Up the Volume with Power Days

I'm all for being organized and planning my days. It's essential, and most of the time things work out fine. But sometimes, as the song says, life is what happens while you're making other plans.

Sometimes there are days where, for one reason or another, my plate is overflowing and I absolutely must squeeze the most out of every minute. While I don’t like working like this all the time, I go into power day mode when necessary.

As a kid growing up on Long Island in the ‘70’s, I was naturally a big fan of the New York Islanders. During their “dynasty years” they raised themselves from the worst team in the league to four consecutive world championships. Several times during this incredible run, they found themselves facing elimination from the playoffs. The first time they went down 0-3 in a series, it came out that no team had overcome such a deficit since 1942. They had to win 4 straight games against the very team that had just beaten them three games in a row. The odds were against them.

Sure enough, they pulled it off and won the series. Then they went on to win two more seven game series and another championship.

During one of the post-game interviews the coach was asked how he rallied his team in the face of almost certain elimination. He explained, “I told them that from that (4th) game on, we were going to play the game one line shift at a time. Our goal is to win every single line shift (for those readers who are not hockey fans, the team puts five new players on the ice at a time – each group is called a line. Each line plays for about one and a half minutes before being replaced by the next line so they can rest and catch their breath).

In other words, he divided the 60 minute game into one and a half minute increments. He told his team we must win each one of these mini (minute and a half) games. By doing so, we’ll win the real game. And sure enough, they did.

How does that apply to you? You can divide your day into fifteen minute increments? Then, endeavor to accomplish as much as possible in each fifteen minute section of your day. Don’t take unnecessary phone calls, don’t allow any interruptions. During each fifteen minute section, stay focused and on track. You will accomplish a great deal.

Here's an example. Let's say you feel like the odometer is running, but your car is up on the block, so you're getting nowhere. That's when you need to call a power day. Choose a day and warn anyone around you that you aren't taking any calls or interruptions on that day. Set up a calendar that is divided into fifteen minute segments. Make a list of all the things you need to power through on that day and place them on the calendar. Don't stop until you reach the end. Have plenty of water and "power foods" around so you don't need a lot of breaks. Yes, this will be an intense day, so plan ahead to make it successful.

As I said, I like to limit the number of power days I engage in because they can be pretty intense. Doing them too often leads me to burnout and with my travel schedule I have enough to combat. So be discriminating in your use of Power Days and make the most out of them.

Put the Pedal to the Metal and Drive Yourself from Zero to Success: Two FREE Chapters of my new book compel you to rev up your engines and shift into high gear

Financial Immortality Can Be Yours

Ignorance is bliss?

You've heard the expression "Ignorance is Bliss". It refers to the idea that it's easier to stay happy when we aren't aware of the obstacles that face us. The problem is that ignorance will also get you and keep you broke.

Perhaps you find yourself having less income than you would like. You probably work hard for 40, 50 maybe 60 hours a week. Whether you are employed by another or self employed, I'll bet you give it all you've got. Yet, if you can be honest for a moment, I also bet that you're not getting ahead financially as quickly as you'd like. Maybe you're even backsliding.

That's because you've been sold a myth, a bag of goods. The myth is that the way to financial success is through hard work. Haven't you been taught from the time you were a kid that the only way to success is through hard work? How is that working out for you? Not so great, right?

Or maybe you're one of the lucky people that generate a high income. You may make $250,000, $500,000 or a million dollars a year. By most people's standards, you are very successful. But you know the ugly truth. You've leveraged a lifestyle. Your monthly home payment would gag most people. Your car payments are through the roof. And your savings and investment portfolio is anemic, at best. As the guy on T.V says, "I've got everything I want and I'm drowning in a sea of debt"

You see, the key to building wealth is not simply to work hard or have a high income. The key to building wealth is in what you do with your income you've earned. If you're interested in learning how to build lasting wealth, you've got to get a copy of my Wealth Accumulation program. Its jam packed with 37 ways to build and protect your wealth for generations to come.Decide today that you've waited long enough and get on the fast track to wealth.

Financial Immortality can be yours- starting NOW!

I've been thinking about this whole idea of financial immortality, what it is, how I can help people achieve it. Of course, it starts with a basic mind - shift (or paradigm shift for you champagne drinkers). This shift is subtle, yet it can make a HUGE difference to you financially. The whole idea starts when you spend less than you make and you save the difference. This key habit can turn you from a financial train wreck to a lasting wealth builder.

Think about it, if you never put something away for a rainy day, what happens when it finally rains? You lose your job, you face a business reversal. If you haven't taken a clue from the squirrels and stored up a few nuts for the winter, you can pay a devastating price. Liquidation. Fire Sale. Motivated Seller. Everything Must Go! These are the words of poor planning and financial disaster.

If you want to learn how to avoid these things in your life, pick up a copy of my Wealth Accumulation Program. It contains 2 hours of powerful, yet practical information that can help you get on top financially, and the forms and financial logs that you need to track your progress.

Start today by opening up a "Financial Freedom" account at your local bank. Its nothing fancy - just a simple bank account that you can start to build into a powerful wealth tool. And here's a secret that will make the whole process of saving easy. Have the bank automatically transfer money into your financial freedom account every week. You won't even feel it, because it never passed through your hands.

Start with $500 or $100 if you need to. Heck start with $10 if that's all you've got. But as you begin to build your income and your asset column, consistently and incrementally increase your weekly deposit amount. Before long, you'll have a small nest egg, then a larger one and before you know it, you'll have the whole nest! Sign up now.

All the best,
Drew Miles, The Wealth Building Attorney