Putting a business plan on paper helps make things happen

The problem with business plans is that you have to write them. Then there's the implementation thing, although that's something you won't have to worry about until Step 13 in Michelle Coussens' 13-step business planning process.

Coussens, owner of Plan B Consulting in Batavia, is a facilitator who helps steer small businesses and nonprofit groups through the planning maze.

There's much she wants done before implementation. For starters, there's a SWOT analysis -- the old Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats review; an assessment of human capital needs and resources; development of an operational strategy; and financial assessments.

Then there's marketing and sales, where Coussens says small businesses "absolutely fall down" in the planning process; risk assessments, where "plans fall pretty hard;" several "what-if" scenarios; and, well, the plan often just doesn't get written.

That's a mistake. Whether you're looking to expand an existing business or starting up, a plan helps.

So does Coussens. She's certainly not the only option -- most Small Business Development Centers provide free planning guidance, and the Fox Valley SCORE chapter has a business plan workbook, also free -- but Coussens is more hands-on than many advisers. She won't write your business plan, but she will do much of the research, which, it turns out, may not be so difficult.

"It's easy to get into library resources," Coussens says. The Internet helps, too; other information is as close as your phone.

Coussens, for example, tells of a restaurant owner who marveled that she discovered what hours competing restaurants were open. "I called them and asked," Coussens explains.

Most business plans are written to attract financing, but Coussens says there are other reasons to undertake the task. "Maybe you're looking at a new product or service," she says. "Maybe it's expansion into a new market."

In any case, "There's a lot to be said for writing things down. Things are more likely to happen when you write them down."

Most small business owners "don't know how to (create) a business plan," Coussens says. More importantly, she continues, "They don't recognize the intrinsic value of planning. Most business owners have an anecdotal sense of the marketplace and certain things they want to believe.

"But the business plan process is to help you make certain. You don't write a business plan to satisfy someone else." Instead, Coussens says, you write a plan to put some structure into your business.

It's implementation where businesses tend to stutter. Ann Mehrman, owner of Dream-Streams, a West Chicago graphic design firm, says the Plan B process "focused my vision and put a structure on my dreams." The plan, however, "has been sitting on a table."

Mehrman's plan likely will come to life. In conversation, Mehrman seems ready; and she realizes she must "get out there and do it."

© 2008, 121 Marketing Resources Inc.