| Small Business Planning -- Three Myths | | | | strategicplan. A strategic plan can help you make |
| Copyright 2005 Denise OBerry | | | | decisions abouttime management and budget. You |
| Are you -- like 70 percent of small business owners | | | | can use your strategic planto help you determine |
| --working without a plan? Here are three myths that | | | | whether to attend an event oradvertise in a |
| need tobe dispelled about strategic planning for small | | | | publication. It's a check and balance tool. |
| business. | | | | 3. A strategic plan is like a ball and chain -- Not so. |
| 1. It has to be formal -- Not so. | | | | It's your plan. Too many small business owners feel |
| The value of a strategic plan for your small business | | | | likeonce it's on paper, it can't be changed. Wrong! |
| is in putting the ideas on paper, creating action steps | | | | Your plan should be an active document that gets |
| that will get you where you want to go and | | | | reviewed and updated at least monthly, if not |
| implementing those action steps. | | | | weekly. You're the business owner, you wrote it, you |
| 2. I'm too small -- Not so. | | | | know what's happening in your market -- adjust as |
| Even a one-person business can benefit from a | | | | necessary. |