A number of research studies have shown that successful small business operators set realistic goals and plan how they are going to achieve them.
If you are an effective planner, you will be at ease with formulating and implementing an overall plan for your business. If you are ineffective planner, you may have a problem not only with establishment of your business, but also with its ongoing operation.
Katrena recommends that you have a healthy respect for planning, while at the same time be able to change plans if you need to in response to the market.
Refresh Your Business: planning
Some of my clients are very creative and are often not great at planning things out. They like to fly by the seat of their pants, which sounds fun. However we all know the saying, “Fail to plan, plan to fail”.
While Katrena believes in a good business plan, strategic plan, operational plan, project plans, action plans and to do lists, she also believes in remaining flexible and creative around problem solving, decision making and building flexibility into plans.
Planning is a very obvious secret to business success. Katrena calls her planning documents, “liquid documents”, meaning they can be changed at anytime. They are not printed out, put in a folder and left on the shelf to gather dust. They are something you travel with, read regularly, amend, update and are your templates for success in your field of excellence.
Planning is so creative and allows you the opportunity to put things to paper, which costs nothings. Planning saves time, money and enables you to avoid obvious mistakes. Make planning your friend and respect it as the great business tool it is.
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