Hate business plans? I have alternatives

I’m weird. I love planning. I even like business planning, figuring out how to best present my business and fit it into the requirements and structure. Not everyone likes doing this. You, for example. You probably don’t like planning. You aren’t alone.

I do love planning. I’m weird.

And, I planned for this possibility, so I have some alternatives to planning that might help you. Maybe you’ll find the right one that works for you.

First, why do we plan?
Lots of small businesses only prepare a business plan so they can get a loan. They run into standard outlines and weighty requirements, like “a good business plan weighs at least five pounds.” That puts lots of people off, and keeps them from reaching the real reason we plan:

We plan to be better prepared to meet the future, or to create the future we want.

The fact that you don’t like to plan does not exempt you from meeting the future. So it’s up to you to find the alternative that works for you.

Alternative one: Simplified plans.
I love these. Maybe that’s because I made them up. They’re designed for real businesses in real towns, and real people who have better things to do than prepare five-pound business plans.

So if you hate planning, try these simplified plans instead.

Alternative two: Prepare.
Maybe you’re like my friend Jon Swanson. He doesn’t like planning. It seems too much like putting requirements on the future to him. But he is very good at preparing. He can look ahead and figure out what may happen, what the possibilities are. Then he can prepare, get himself and his organization (which happens to be a church) ready to meet those possible futures.

So if you hate planning, spend time preparing instead.

Alternative three: Just imagine.
Maybe you’re like Teresa @stargardener Robinson. She doesn’t like writing long, boring blocks of text or figuring complex financial projections. She likes pictures and colors and creative things. She is very good at drawing out where she wants to be and imagining how to get there. She’s raised it to high art at Right Brain Planner.

So if you hate planning, spend time drawing and imagining instead.

Whether your business plan follows the prescribed outline and weighs in at five pounds, is a collection of preparations, or is drawn in bright colors and pictures, it still has to fulfill the same purpose: preparing you to meet the future or create the future you want. So feel free to make it your own.

Even more alternatives:

Your calendar can be a powerful business planning alternative.

Instead of planning, you can experiment, as long as you do it the right way.

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About the Author
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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.