{"id":16168,"date":"2015-01-15T11:27:07","date_gmt":"2015-01-15T16:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2015\/01\/steps-to-solid-planning.html"},"modified":"2015-01-15T11:27:07","modified_gmt":"2015-01-15T16:27:07","slug":"steps-to-solid-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2015\/01\/steps-to-solid-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Report: Steps To Solid Planning"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\"michael\n<\/div>\n
Michael Cruz, president of Lighthouse Advisors LLC, Queensbury\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

BY MICHAEL CRUZ<\/p>\n

A plan is like a map, and you don’t need a
\nmap if you’re going somewhere you already
\nhave been before or if you don’t care where
\nyou are going. Business planning is not just
\nfor new business owners. It helps everybody
\nset their sights on where they want to be.<\/p>\n

Often when I ask people about their business
\nplan, they tell me they have one. When I
\nask to see it they simply tap their head. Most
\nof us find that we plan better – and more
\nconsistently – when we write it down. I used
\nto be able to keep everything together in my
\nhead. I wrote it on that invisible piece of paper
\nin my brain. And it worked! I remembered
\neverything that I wrote there. <\/em>
\nAs I age, I have found that that invisible
\npiece of paper has turned into an Etch A
\nSketch. I still write things on my Etch A
\nSketch, but as I move around my head wobbles
\nand everything disappears! I believe that
\nall business planning must be done on paper.<\/p>\n

You’ll absolutely need a beautifully written
\nplan if you’re seeking investment, and you’ll
\nprobably need a written plan if you’re applying
\nfor a business loan. Those events force us
\nto a perfunctory review of our business. The
\nreal objective of a good plan is to set a vision
\nthat looks at what you want your business to
\nbe in 12, 24 or 36 months from now. Having
\nit in writing also allows you to share with
\nyour staff, your coworkers and your family
\nexactly what needs to happen to bring business
\nsuccess.<\/p>\n

The typical obstacle to business planning
\nis the belief that it takes too much time. Or,
\nwho needs that complex document that I’ll
\nnever look at again. You can do this in a lot
\nless time than you probably believe.<\/p>\n

A good business plan starts with a strong
\nmission statement and a vision of what success
\nlooks like. The key point of this is to
\ndetermine why your business exists, what
\nyour customers value.<\/p>\n

The second key element is to define goals
\nfor your business. These are measurable goals. They often involve specific revenue
\ntargets, number of customers, new products
\nthat you want to introduce or savings and
\nefficiencies you would like to pursue. The
\nkey is, to make this absolutely documentable
\nand verifiable. I frequently work with clients
\nwho downplay the growth rate that they can
\nachieve. They often throw roadblocks directly
\ninto their own pathway.<\/p>\n

It is important to de-clutter and to attack
\nissues that prevent you from achieving your
\nintended success. This is not to say that we
\nespouse Pollyanna behavior. But it does say
\nthat we must focus on achieving all that we
\nare capable of. I worked with a business that
\nwas experiencing rapid growth. Their growth
\nhad been in high double digits for several
\nyears. The owner of the business decided that
\nhigh growth was not sustainable and thus he
\nwould expect only 35 percent growth that
\nyear. My question was a simple “why”? After
\nsome introspection he settled on 65 percent
\ngrowth. At the end of the year the growth rate
\nwas closer to 70 percent. The key was to remove
\nthe mental barrier he had constructed against himself.<\/p>\n

There are other places to find ideas to
\nfuel your goals. Look at other players in your
\nindustry. How do they measure their impact
\non their customer base? Which of those do
\nyou most admire? Which competitors do you
\nnever want to be compared to? This begins
\nthe frame the questions of how big you want
\nto be and what number of customers you
\nwant to have.<\/p>\n

Another key element – our third step – is
\nto perform a SWOT analysis. Many of you have
\ndone this before, but it’s good to revisit frequently.
\nIt stands for Strengths, Weaknesses,
\nOpportunities and Threats. The easiest way is
\nto fold a sheet of paper in four. Each quarter
\nof the page represents one of the key elements.
\nStrengths are obvious. Weaknesses
\nare not always as obvious.<\/p>\n

Ask other people about their perception
\nof your company. From this you will glean
\nyour strengths and your weaknesses. Opportunities
\nare those areas where you finish the
\nquestion “What if?” Threats are things that
\nyou have no control over, but if they were to
\noccur would have a major impact on your
\nbusiness. Threats typically include things like
\nnew competitors, key employees leaving and
\nmajor customers defecting.<\/p>\n

The SWOT analysis allows us to work from our strengths, improve our weaknesses,
\npursue opportunities and mitigate threats.<\/p>\n

Finally, the easy part. This is where we
\nlook at our goals and assign, by quarter, key
\nactivities that will help us achieve our goals.
\nThis is not as much a task list, as a focus on
\nmajor activities. If for example, you plan on
\nintroducing a new product in the third quarter,
\nthat is key. Were not trying to figure out all
\nof the subtasks that lead up to a new product.
\nWe simply want to make sure that
\nthroughout the year we are focused on
\nwhat the proper timing is. If you have key
\nnew employee positions you want to create,
\nagain, we slot that in the appropriate
\nquarter.<\/p>\n

The key to all of this is that it must fit
\non one single 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. It
\nmust be simple enough that you can tack
\nit up over your desk, you can fold it in
\nplace of your daily planner, you can share
\nit easily with those whose help you need
\nto achieve your goals. Whatever your goal
\na well-documented plan will help you get
\nthere. Shouldn’t you spend a few hours to
\nput more money in your pocket?
\nThink of it as your roadmap to success.<\/p>\n

Cruz is president of Lighthouse Advisors,
\nLLC, a business advisory service based in
\nQueensbury.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy Lighthouse Advisors LLC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Cruz, president of Lighthouse Advisors LLC, Queensbury BY MICHAEL CRUZ A plan is like a map, and you don’t need a map if you’re going somewhere you already have been before or if you don’t care where you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[67],"yoast_head":"\r\nBusiness Report: Steps To Solid Planning - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2015\/01\/steps-to-solid-planning\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Report: Steps To Solid Planning - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michael Cruz, president of Lighthouse Advisors LLC, Queensbury BY MICHAEL CRUZ A plan is like a map, and you don't need a map if you're going somewhere you already have been before or if you don't care where you...\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2015\/01\/steps-to-solid-planning\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-15T16:27:07+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2016\/02\/michael20cruz20c.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amanda Delyser\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amanda Delyser\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2015\/01\/steps-to-solid-planning\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2015\/01\/steps-to-solid-planning\/\",\"name\":\"Business Report: Steps To Solid Planning - 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