Let me begin by saying that I never thought I’d be quoting Tyra Banks. On anything. But she recently wrote a piece in Newsweek about her life and her thoughts on, of all things, entrepreneurship. She compared starting a new business to having a new baby – you lose sleep, work 24/7, and look for only the best people to take care of your wonderful creation.
It’s a good analogy. No matter your child’s, or your business’s, stage in life, you have to have a plan. As a new father, I can attest to that. From the time you find out you’re going to be a parent (maybe even before!), you start planning for the future. How we will divide childcare duties? What’s the nursery going to look like? How will we afford to send him to college? Then the baby arrives, and there’s even more planning – you can’t leave the house for the afternoon without a plan!
A business is no different. Every business starts with a plan, maybe not a formal bank-approved business plan, but a plan to make your idea reality. But being up and running doesn’t mean you can stop planning. What are you sales goals in five years? How will you achieve them? How will you market your company to take it to the next level? Once you’re there, what’s the next step?
What would happen to your child if you didn’t take the time to plan ahead? What do you think would happen to your business?
Jay Snider
Palo Alto Software
Tags: business plans, entrepreneurship, planning, Tyra
Posted on October 13th, 2008 | No Comments »
The 2008 Forbes.com Boost Your Business competition is nearing it’s final deliberations. Next week in New York City the final five finalists will present their business plans–including how they intend to invest the prize money to boost their prospects–to an expert panel of judges. One of those expert judges is Palo Alto Software’s own Tim Berry.
According to the Forbes.com Boost your Business blog: In addition to next week’s presentations, each finalist also must submit two written business plans: a full-length plan (20 pages max), that only the judging panel can see, and a condensed 3-page version which will be posted–along with videos of the presentations–on Forbes.com during the final voting period in November.
Palo Alto Software sends their good wishes and congratulations to all the finalists of the Boost your Business competition.
‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software
Tags: business plan competition, business planning, business plans, palo alto software, Tim Berry
Posted on October 10th, 2008 | No Comments »
Regardless of whether you are based in San Francisco, California or London, England, we all agree that recent months have been pretty unstable from an economic perspective. What should one do with all of the business uncertainty we now face? As these two articles by Alan Gleeson of Palo Alto Software Ltd, U.K. describe, it is not a time to “batten down the hatches”. Instead Alan describes a number of solutions to help you manage your business through these times of unprecedented business uncertainty.
In Planning in times of Extreme Turbulence he suggests that managers revisit their business plans, undertake some scenario planning and also that they look for new opportunities as competitors scale back!
In his article, Steps to Recession-Proof your business plan he describes how it is important to assess your own businesses vulnerabilities as well as ensuring that all aspects of your credit control system are functioning effectively.
As he concludes:
“The increased uncertainty in our environment means that planning for the future has become more difficult. However, it is how we deal with this extra risk that will determine how our businesses fare over the coming months and years.”
Tim Berry
Founder and President
Palo Alto Software
Tags: business planning, business plans, economic upheaval, recession, turbulence
Posted on September 25th, 2008 | No Comments »
What a great title, right? “I hate business plans.” That’s the title from John Jantsch’s newest blog post on his Duct Tape Marketing blog.
He talks about business and marketing plans being different than the actual planning, and about Tim Berry’s new book, Plan-As-You-Go, The book on Business Planning.
He’s also running a giveaway for 10 of Tim’s books (which I think he’s already ended) where people comment and finish the phrase: “I hate business plans but I love business planning because . . .”
So make a point to check out the post and don’t forget to read the great comments!
‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software
Tags: business planning, business plans
Posted on July 15th, 2008 | No Comments »
