Management

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Business Planning – Seven Golden Rules

 

Michael Gerber, chairman and creator of the E-Myth (www.e-myth.com) advocates when writing a business plan, “the longer the better”. Each year he recommends you “re-write your plan so as to refresh your memory about what you have done with your life and what you are intending to do with it.”

 

Michael Gerber’s seven golden rules for the Business Plan That Always Works:

 

1. It should be heart centered, that is dominated by your feelings, not by your thoughts.
2. It must be your plan and no-one else’s. It must begin and end with you.
3. To discover your plan – to know what your heart wants – you must stop thinking about it.
4. Highlight your inner motivation, not just a series of benchmarks or objectives.
5. Stick to continuous frames of reference to achieve within a certain amount of time.
6. It must reflect the life you live, not the life you want to live because you can’t plan to be someone you are not.
7. Follow your heart, not your head. The most productive business planning involves not thinking about ends, but experiencing the means. This will help differentiate you from your competitors in the hearts of your customers/clients.