Searching for business plan books on Amazon.com provides more than 36,000 results. Few other areas of the commercial section in Borders are as busy. Why is this? I think it’s because somehow business owners think that if they have a good enough business plan, they can convince investors to give them money and make their business successful.
Entrepreneurs like you are constantly searching for the silver bullet of the “perfect business plan” that will get them financing and lead them to the promised land of entrepreneurial fortune. I have bad news for you if that is what you are looking for. A plan, no matter how good it is, will not make you rich or successful.
If running a successful business were as easy as writing a plan, very few businesses would fail. Current statistics show that more than half of all new businesses fail in their first two to three years. This is not news. Most businesses have gone bankrupt since the first owner put up a shingle. Why? Bad ideas? Bad execution? Something of both? We don’t always know.
What we do know is that no business has ever failed because it did not have a business plan. A plan by itself is of little value. However, what is valuable is the process of writing a business plan. Writing a business plan forces you to put into words all the ideas and concepts of your business. It takes you to examine your financing, marketing, competition, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). This excellent process will increase your chances of having a successful business in the long run. That is what you are really looking for. If you have that, investors are easy to find.
