| A client recently recounted his experience searching | | | | offer he received. |
| for a consultant to help him plan and launch his small | | | | |
| business. He's a former high tech executive with a | | | | 1. Pre-done business plans are basically worthless. |
| masters degree in business administration, who is | | | | These days, it take more than just a pretty plan to |
| developing a small ethnic restaurant concept. | | | | secure financing and investment in your idea. |
| He started his search by calling several large | | | | Understanding the business that you are entering into is |
| restaurant consulting firms. Unfortunately, most either | | | | important to instill confidence. You won't get in depth |
| had little expertise with start-ups or little interest in | | | | understanding from a recycled business plan. |
| working with one. The one firm that was interested | | | | 2. Purchasing such a plan is simply self-defeating. |
| offered to sale him a business plan for $10,000. | | | | Having someone else do your homework when it |
| Although he could have easily afforded the fee, he | | | | come to launching a small business is reckless. A |
| knew instinctively that purchasing an off-the-shelf | | | | business plan is merely evidence of the business |
| business plan was a bad idea. Eventually, he was | | | | planning process. It is the planning process that gives |
| referred to me by a mutual business contact. | | | | entrepreneur insight into the industry, market, and |
| Working together over the past several weeks, we | | | | company they want to create. Skipping the process |
| have developed and refined his business plan, created | | | | can leave an entrepreneur unprepared to succeed. |
| a high impact investor proposal, and spent considerable | | | | Such shortcuts remind me of a recent NPR report on |
| time reviewing the details of his business assumptions | | | | the extremely high automobile fatality rates in Russia. It |
| and resulting projections - all for substantially less than | | | | seems that Russians, who don't want to take driving |
| $10,000. He has literally experienced an immersion into | | | | lessons or study for exams, can easily purchase |
| the restaurant business through our relationship, | | | | driver's licenses on their local black-market. As a result, |
| including time spent in local restaurants learning about | | | | it has been noted that cities like Moscow have large |
| common management challenges. | | | | numbers of drivers unfamiliar with basic driving rules; |
| Coincidentally, I recently wrote an article on the 5 | | | | which helps to explain why they have twice the |
| Pitfalls of launching a small business, which listed failing | | | | number of fatal accidents as comparable American |
| to properly plan as the #1 pitfall. With this in mind, I am | | | | cities. In the end, whether it's operating a vehicle or a |
| deeply concerned to hear stories like the one from this | | | | business, proper preparation matters. |
| client. Here are two fundamental problems with the | | | | |