Northstar Consulting

One of the things I hear a lot is talk about how busy we are.  But are we really accomplishing anything important?

The purpose of this post is to motivate you to create a simple but powerful business plan. The same techniques that you use to create a business plan can be applied to your personal life. At the end of the article I will give you two resources that will allow you to begin a business plan without any special knowledge or experience.

Planning is essential because failure is common! Did you know that even prior to this recession that only seven out of ten small businesses survived two years and that only about half survived after five years? Individuals do worse than businesses. Only 46% of people who make New Year’s resolutions keep them after six months. What is the difference between those who achieve success and the majority that fail?

What you can do to achieve success. One common predictor of success is planning with written goals. The 1962 graudating class at Yale was asked if they had taken the time to plan their life with written goals. Only 3% of the class had taken the time to create written goals. Twenty years later the class was surveyed and the 3% with written goals had accumulated more wealth than the other 97% of the class combined.

Why planning works. There are at least three important reasons a written plan will cause you to be more successful.

• You will discover what you really want during this process and commit to it by writing your goals and making a plan.
• You will become more aware of opportunities that will help your goals. Have you ever bought a new car and then noticed your new car was everywhere? In the same way you will become aware of opportunities that will help you to meet your goals that you would have missed.
• Your written goals and plans can shared with others. Without support from others it is nearly impossible to succeed. Written goals and plans allow others to support you and hold you accountable.

How planning changes what you do. Every day we spend our time doing activities. The main difference a written plan makes is that more of our daily activity contributes to our goals. The two pyramids below show how activities can either be aimless or contribute to a purpose. When our actions are built on a foundation of Vision, Mission, Objectives, and Strategies then activities are at a high level – at the top of the pyramid. Without this foundation – when our actions are not linked to a Vision, Mission, Objectives, and Strategies – we find ourselves busy but not really accomplishing anything significant.

Get started on a plan today. Business plans do not need to be complicated. Here are two inexpensive resources that are you can use without special training or schooling.

• The One Page Business Plan. Jim Horan has created the concept of a “One Page Business Plan” that has been successfully used by thousands of people. It is a simple process that you can use to create a business plan that comes in a workbook format. If you don’t want to use a computer all the major bookstores carry this book and use the workbook to create a plan – all without a computer. If you do have a computer I highly recommend that you go to www.onepagebusinessplan.com and look at the sample plans, download the free template, and try it out. If you like the format then you can buy the book online. The book comes with a CD that has templates for the business plan and a lot of other useful tools. The cost is about $25 and it is an incredible value.
• I will send you my Five Sheet Plan template. If you contact me at jthornton@northstarconsultingonline.com I will send you a free plan template and instructions for a five sheet business plan. My template has some of the same features of the One Page Plan but is for those who like to change their plans frequently.

Do what it takes to get it done! Now is a critical time. If you take action now – your chance of success is very high. If you don’t take action now – your actions will take control of your life and you will probably not take this important step. Take action and write this (yes write it down!) now:

Which plan template will I use?                                                       ______________________

When will I schedule my first business plan meeting?               ______________________

I would love to hear your success stories, comments, and questions. I am easiest to contact by email – jthornton@northstarconsultingonline.com.

Wishing you the best!

Jim

OR

When it comes to facing a crisis – are you a frog or a starfish?

When we are faced with a crisis we have a tendency to react either like a the frog that we have heard about or a starfish.

You’ve heard the story that motivational speakers tell about the frog, right?  The one in which a frog is placed in a pot of water that is gradually brought to a boil.  The frog never notices the crisis going on around it until it is frog soup.  Some of us are like that frog – we don’t notice that a serious situation is developing and it’s just easy to ignore it.

Some react completely differently to a developing crisis.  The starfish has been studied by marine biologists and they have noted that when the water temperature goes down by 5 degrees F that the starfish will stop eating.  When that happens the mollusk population explodes!  However, when the temperature goes up 5 degrees F the starfish will go on an eating binge.  The starfish is completely reactionary and it’s actions are based on what it feels like.  If the temperature stays low it won’t eat.

Which one of these is better?  Well, neither.  In one case we have a dead, boiled frog and in the other case we have a starving starfish.

If you have a tendency to wait out a problem – think of the frog.  If it doesn’t move it dies.

If you have a tendency to react to your environment without a plan – think of the starfish.  If may be in tune with the environment but actions without a plan can lead to death, too.

We all have a basic tendency to want to avoid problems.  I would encourage you to have a friend, mentor, or coach to let you know when you are in touch with your inner frog or starfish.

Wishing you the best.

Jim

Dear all,

I will be posting content periodically to start a dialogue between us and to share some ideas with the readers.  You don’t have to participate in the blog but I would recommend it!  This week I will be posting some thoughts about setting goals and why that process is so important.

If you comment I will do my best to review it as soon  as possible and get it on the blog.  I will try to allow a wide range of opinion on the blog but this will be a blog in which we learn from each other so respect is really important.

A teaser question for tomorrow’s post:  “When it comes to facing a crisis – are you a frog or a starfish?”  I’ll explain what I mean soon.

Wishing you all the best,

Jim Thornton