Page 34 - Business Plans that Work A Guide for Small Business

2 START PLANNING,

BEFORE YOU

ASK THE RIGHT

QUESTIONS

here are a number of activities that need work before you start
planning. First, you do not want to expend lots of time on every
Tidea that you might be considering. Your time will be best spent on
the ideas that have the biggest potential and the greatest chance for suc-
cess. This chapter presents you with the Quick Screen tool. This method
can help you quickly evaluate several ideas and decide which one is the
most attractive opportunity. Once you’ve identified that opportunity, the
next step is to start detailing action items that you need to complete in
preparation for the planning. We provide you with a business planning
guide that will help you schedule the tasks at hand. The chapter con-
cludes with an overview of the business planning process and the three
different types of plans that entrepreneurs commonly use.

The Quick Screen

Time is the ultimate ally and enemy of the entrepreneur. The harsh
reality is that you will not have enough time in a quarter, a year, or
a decade to pursue all the ideas for businesses you and your team can
think of. Perhaps the cruelest part of the paradox is that you have to find
and make the time for the good ones. To complicate the paradox, we
argue that you do not have a strategy until you are saying no to lots of

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