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I have talked about planning here before, but I continue to run into small business owners who seemingly just don\u2019t get it.\u00a0 <\/span>They don\u2019t plan because they don\u2019t see the value in it.\u00a0 <\/span>So I continue to hammer away at it in hopes that the lights will come on and they will finally \u201cget it.\u201d<\/p>\n Think of a driving vacation.\u00a0 <\/span>You can get in the car and start driving, hoping you end up someplace you\u2019ll enjoy.\u00a0 <\/span>Or, you can plan your trip, deciding where you want to be at the end of each day, what you want to see and do, and what your ultimate destination will be.\u00a0 <\/span>If your goal is to have a fun vacation, which method is more likely get that result?\u00a0 <\/span>Jump in the car and hope for the best, or plan it out?<\/p>\n Does a plan guarantee you\u2019ll hit your goal?\u00a0 <\/span>Of course not.\u00a0 <\/span>But it does guarantee you\u2019ll come a lot closer to your goal than you will if you just try to wing it.<\/p>\n We used to talk about 3-year and 5-year plans, but business conditions are changing so fast that it\u2019s questionable how useful those longer term plans are.\u00a0 <\/span>However, you should have some over-arching goal (i.e., we\u2019re a $5 million company and we want to become a $20 million company).\u00a0 <\/span>Then each annual plan should move you down that growth path at a pace that gets you there within an acceptable time frame.<\/p>\n Many companies refer to their annual plan as a budget.\u00a0 <\/span>I suggest you lose that term in your corporate culture and substitute \u201cprofit plan.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cBudget\u201d sounds confining, restrictive, and it\u2019s there to restrain our spending.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cProfit plan\u201d is more positive, and it\u2019s more descriptive of what we\u2019re doing.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s saying, \u201cHere is the profit we expect to make this year, and here is how we intend to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not already doing it, start building annual profit plans that move you toward your long-term goal(s).\u00a0 <\/span>If you embrace each year\u2019s plan and really work it as a management tool, your company will move more sure-footedly and more profitably down the road you have chosen for it.\u00a0 <\/span>Guaranteed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have talked about planning here before, but I continue to run into small business owners who seemingly just don\u2019t get it.\u00a0 They don\u2019t plan because they don\u2019t see the value in it.\u00a0 So I continue to hammer away at it in hopes that the lights will come on and they will finally \u201cget it.\u201d<\/p>\n