The 'Entrepreneurial Business Plan', A Perspective by Peter Christo 2007.


There is an old quote..”Give me an A class team implementing a B class plan rather than the other way around”

Business planning has little to do with the document at the end, and much to do with the person undergoing the process. Their ability, tenacity and commitment to the venture is what is required. The business planning process is the first step required to reduce the risk of failure in the future.

The assumptions, economics, the objectives of the business/idea owner is what need scrutiny to establish, with little ambiguity, what space we are in and what this business opportunity is about.

Committing to a program (eg: The Arion Program) of activities forces an outcome one way or another that is measurable. Like anyone else, small business/venture owners struggle with various life problems, cash-flow, family issues and even health issues and their own personal development.

Committing to a venture is about committing to a journey, and that means, stopping only when milestones are completed. It means having the tenacity to endure though the hard times.

I offer three basic principles:

Have a destination in mind - Journeys need a destination. This is an important principle, even if where you end up is not where you intended That needs to be crystal clear in the mind of the person undertaking that journey to ensure success.

Seek to change your perspective - Buddhism espouses,” I change my life by changing my thoughts!” Successful people in all fields know this. This will happen as you undertake the journey and it may affect what you finally decide you want as the dividend from that journey.

Be the student – Seek knowledge and wisdom during the journey. Even if you teach, seek to learn. Learning means that you avail yourself of a range of weapons and tools to use in your journey.

Why make it hard for yourself?

Happy Trails!

Entrepreneurial Spirit!

We have a product in the business called the Arion Program. It’s a 12-session DIY/Coaching program that results in our clients developing their own business plan and pitch. Inquiries usually come from start-ups, or small businesses looking for away to develop a solid roadmap forward for their business.

I genuinely believe that it’s a great program that forces the thinking that needs to happen in order truly quantify the opportunity, the right business model, and a harvest strategy that will afford them the best chance of actually pit some money in their pocket one day! (Advertisement over).

There is a fundamental issue we face, as do aspiring entrepreneurs. Convincing the spouse! Of what? I hear you ask.

Well at the very least:

1. I should continue this journey, even though I could be bringing in double the income in a job working for ‘the man’. Including fewer headaches?

2. I want to invest in help to improve my chances of success (eg: Arion program, marketing, staff, new premises).

If you are in a relationship that you want to keep for all the right reasons, whether you like it or not you have a fundamental sales objective that is as follows:

Convince your spouse that this entrepreneurial adventure is of the utmost importance and that it needs his/her unwavering support. That incudes financially, emotionally, and in any other capacity they are able to offer.

Why?

You can’t leave the house each morning with anything less than passion, commitment and enthusiasm in what you are doing. A screaming match at 8am followed by a 9am sales meeting is a ‘lose lose’ situation. There is also a ‘negative multiplier effect’ on the business. If that meeting was to result in a client, it may have resulted in 4 ‘word of mouths’ and a host of other opportunities.

It goes much deeper than that though. For many entrepreneurs, this is as much a personal or even spiritual quest to understand their own nature and developing as a person. They are taking a dream, the most intangible of objects and manifesting it into reality.

So when you are arguing with your spouse about the direction of the business, it’s as much an argument about the right to your life’s journey in my humble opinion. The reality is that you need to manage the risk of the venture as it pertains to your partner’s own risk tolerances.

Tricky but not impossible!

Ethics and Entrepreneurship

Is this an oxymoron I hear you ask? Can you be an honest entrepreneur? I recently gave a lecture on entrepreneurship and a portfolio management approach to evaluating ideas then bringing them in as ventures into a number you may be managing at any one time. I disclosed my ‘dance card’ to a point, and then included a couple of question marks to indicate ‘other activities’ that I couldn’t talk about.

The impression from the class was that they were dealings that were perhaps less than palatable, or ‘clean’.

It’s interesting because the simple reality was that I wasn’t at liberty to discuss them at all due to confidentiality agreements, verbal, implied or otherwise. I explained that was all it was, but I think I had some non-believers in my class which got me thinking about this topic.

I think we can all agree that we’ve horse whipped all our bad old entrepreneurial types, including Bondy (who did his time) Skasey and even a hiding for goodol’e John Elliot. For those non-Australians reading this, they are just some of the notable ‘players’ in our country. They were simply were high profile entrepreneurs and were in the media limelight regularly.

Is it possible to be a player and be ethical, moral and clean of heart?

For me its simple, I know that I will be held accountable by my kids when they grow up, not only what we did as a family in our commercial dealings, but as citizens in this country and our world. I don’t want to be seen as a hypocrite by my kids given my fife and I espouse transparency and honesty in all our dealings. I do make sure my interests are clear and protected, but when it comes to border line activities, it’s not so easy.

However there are circumstances that beg discretion. I read recently an example where a company received a prepayment for a software they knew they couldn’t delver. The significant sum came in at a time where without it they would not have made payroll. They chose to engage the ‘client’ for a period of weeks to until the situation was rectified then advised the client that they could have their money back and that they wouldn’t be bale to help in this case.

The important thing is that there is a genuine opportunity or vision you are heading to that will result in profits for your business and the subsequent taxes and salaries for other parties involved. While some level of discretion needs to be present, it’s the risk takers and the pushers of the boundaries that, create value where there was nothing before.

So, what does the moral zealot entrepreneur look like?

In my experience the MZE has some or all of the following traits:

o The talk about their high level of commercial morality and honesty just that little bit too often.

o They overdo the “I’m commercially moral” bit, with zero benefit to anyone, and in fact it generally costs them and the people who rely on their business. Eg: give away what they should charge for, and they make ‘morality’ based judgments that don’t align with any consistent business rules or a strategy.

o Businesses are less than 10 people in size or sub $2M have been for a long time.

o Much talk about action followed by no action at all. So risk averse (Makes you wonder what compelled them into business anyway).

So on one scale you have the risk taker --- no risk taker, and on the other is being astute through to being wantonly deceitful and criminal.

Just my two bits worth!