Fail to Plan....or Plan to Fail?

Fail to Plan....or Plan to Fail?
By Gary Durkin
© Copyright 2003 - All Rights Reserved

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Running a business, whether it be an offline multi-billion
dollar company or an online part time home business, they
share many similar traits.

One of the biggest obstacles I have endeavoured to
translate to many, many small business / home business
people, is a very simple phrase......' Treat It Like a REAL
business, Because It IS a REAL Business'.

The fundemental reasoning behind so many failures in small
business, is the clear lack of willingness to act like a
real business. Many people may ' have a go ', they could '
give it a try ', or ' let's see what happens ' - all with
the.. ' what have I got to lose? ' attitude. THAT, my
friends, is one of the biggest secrets to FAILURE.

OK - s let's assume that your small business / home
business / BizOp etc., is NOT you main source of income. It
is NOT responsible for putting food in you family's
stomachs, it is NOT what keeps a roof over your head.....
it is NOT the sole form of income that you, your family and
your Bank Manager rely upon.

So look at it like this. If it WAS, would you put as much
effort into it as you do now? I can pretty much guarantee
that your efforts would be substantially more, because
everything relies on the success of your business,
via-a-vis the money your business generates.

Well, now we have ascertained that you should be running it
like a real business.......Are you?

> Do you have a business plan?

> Do you know each step that your business will take over
the next week, month, year, three years....?

> Have you prepared your agenda for acquiring new
customers, products, joint venture partners?

> Do you have a time-table of events?

> How often do you research, analyse, read-up and check out
your competitors?

> When was the last time you contacted your client base?

> Do you offer them special offers, free resources and
reports? What about surverying them and asking for their
opinions?

> How often do you do all this?

> Does your business have a 'company objective'?

> Has your 'company' it's own 'customer mission statement'?

> Have you set yourself / your business targets....use my
S.M.A.R.T. Principle...... .......targets which must be

= Specific.............. each item / area of business must be
targeted spcifically.

= Measurable........ be able to measure your targets,
how much, how often etc.

= Achievable........don't think that you can sell 2 million
units if your competitors only sell 50 units.

= Realisitc.............. behonest with yourself. Can it be
done?

= Time-bound.......give limitations and deadlines to
whatever you are planning. Open-ended is no good.

If you want to run your BUSINESS 'willy-nilly', or 'Gun Ho'
- then expect eventual failure. However, with some applied
thought, planning and foresight, you can develop your
little, part-time home business into something which
definitely has increased chances for success.

Apply time-management techniques, stick to time-tables and
deadlines. Look out for 'Time Thieves'........ These are
people or events which steal time from you, time which
could be more effectively used elsewhere.

Example: Someone calls and asks when you can deliver a
certain item, you reply "within two days", they are happy
with your response BUT instead of the conversation
finishing, they go on to talk about weather, sports,
families etc...

.....before you know it, a one minute call has turned into
a 30 minute episode of everything except business. Not
Good. This is time you could have efficiently used
elsewhere.........they have stolen your time from you. Look
out for the 'Time Thieves' - they are everywhere. Spot them
- deal with them.

Time Management is KEY to business planning. If your plan
has a tight schedule to work to, then your management of
ever-so valuable time will be very important. Plan your
time carefully, effectively and efficiently......but do
allow for some overspill and overlap.......it happens in
any business!

One KEY findamental of business planning is the ability to
be flexible and adaptible. Never assume that once you
create your plan, that you must stick to it rigidly, but
flexible when necessary, but not to the detriment of the
your success. Remember, overspill and overlap work both
sides of the same coin.

PLAN. Plan carefully, plan honestly, plan realistically.
But you must plan.

Final thought. Think long and hard about the 'company /
business objective' and the 'Customer Mission Statement'.
Put toghether a short (two - three sentences) paragraph for
each, which clearly defines..... A). What your business is
all about. B). What your customers can expect from your
business.

Chose the words carefully, put into 2-3 sentences
everything that encapsulates both statements totally and
work to these statements closely.

Plan for success, because without planning, you will fail.

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Copyright © 2004 Gary Durkin
All rights reserved worldwide.
Gary Durkin is the owner of http://www.247-Profit.com
And the creator of the Serling Combination® package.
Gary has enjoyed more than a decade of international business success,
And been doing business online for over 5 years.
You are free to distribute this article,
providing it remains unchanged and with this box attached
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