the internet seems to keep loving my ideas about business plans!

I've always been open about encouraging people NOT to write business plans - mainly because all too often I meet entrepreneurs who've spent hours and days creating them, not enjoying the process, and crucially not really understanding why they were doing it... (it seems many 'professional' business advisers don't take the time to check that what they're telling you to do is actually the best thing for you to do...https://youtu.be/ZpPYqBlt1Ek).

In my experience, most people don't enjoy the process of writing them, and those that have then never actually ever go back to them (they languish in a drawer or a forgotten folder on their laptop).

And there are various research studies that have been published which also find that in most cases, the difference that having a formally written up business plan has on the success of a business is as good as negligible (i.e. no proven benefit). Although interestingly, these studies also find that those who do write plans usually only do so because someone else (a lecturer at College, or business adviser) told them to... What makes the difference on a businesses' success is that they go through some from of planning process (so using a canvas, or set of prompts to think things through, rather than just rush headlong into it all).

Which means that whenever I'm asked to lead workshops, masterclasses, or other sessions aimed at supporting people to develop their business plan, I always open with the critical question "why are you wasting your time writing a business plan, rather than going out and talking to customers or suppliers?".

And I'm encouraged, that when I originally wrote up these ideas on my blog back in 2010, this piece seems to be my most 'evergreen' post: it's not only one of my most popular ever posts by number of views, but also keeps being found and read by people - 

https://thirdsectorexpert.blogspot.com/2010/01/secret-truth-about-business-plans.html   

Of interest is that these 'spikes' in interest usually align with the start of a calendar year - the time people are apparently most likely to be thinking about starting their own business, and so searching for inspiration and support for how they might best achieve that dream.

And what this also suggests to me, is that I'm starting to get more interested in the analytics about my blog that I once decried...

https://thirdsectorexpert.blogspot.com/2016/04/why-i-dont-bother-with-social-media.html

Which means that having already started to consider how analytics from my social media channels can offer benefit in helping me understand how I'm creating benefit (as reported in my social impact report on myself), I'm now also starting to look at how the analytics on my blog over time can also offer further insights into my reach and support to other people that I'm not otherwise aware of...  

too prudish or too offensive?

As a freelancer, I have a lot more freedom than my employed counterparts (something that I've used over the years to challenge and change national policy and legislation, openly argue with some of the direction that sector bodies suggest their members should be taking, and so on - in effect, being a 'modern day prophet').

But while this may sound quite exciting and glamorous, there is also an associated risk - in not being part of an ongoing team, having a line manager, and such like, there's a risk that I may start to believe my own hype, and end up 'going off on one'... which is something I've always sought to avoid through how I've designed part of my business model.

And this usually plays out ok - but sometimes it may mean that I go a step 'too far'.

I recently tweeted whilst on my way to deliver a workshop for a client that would be being attended by a range of people thinking about starting up their own business in the future. I glibly referred to the fact that I was looking forward to busting some of the myths and hype that surround business plans and included a picture of some of my 'learning aides' that any who's ever been in one of my courses will recognise.

For 14 years no-one has ever had an issue with any of these types of toys/gimmicks/props (with the exception of one person who suffered from the diagnosed medical condition pediophobia), but on this occasion, my client phoned me within minutes to ask me to delete it as they felt some people may find some of the content offensive.

Now - I'm not their employee, and neither did our contracted terms relate to anything which said they could direct what I could or couldn't say in my own right, so I could easily have said 'no'. 

But I've always had the approach that if someone's not happy with something that's happened, my first response isn't to find excuses or dodge potential blame, but rather find the quickest way to fix things so everyone can keep on getting along.

So I deleted it.

But, being me, I surreptitiously sought a view from the people attending the workshop about the items in the picture - asking if any of them were offended by any of them (some of which have also featured in national prime-time tv shows). They all said that they couldn't see any problem with any of them.

Which leaves me wondering - are clients sometimes too prudish in what they think others might think, rather than asking those same people, before acting on imagined fears; or am I starting to push the boundaries a little too far...?

(...and even though I've anonymised details so no-one will know who I'm referring to, will the client recognise themselves, and get even more upset with me?)

Why pubs are the best place to grow your business

Most of you will already know that I offer support to enterprises, charities and individuals through a range of services and programmes (- my favourite of which is probably ‘beer mentoring’).

What many probably won’t  know is that I used to manage a loan fund for local co-operative enterprises, and am regularly invited to sit on panels to assess applications from start-up and growth businesses to decide whether they should be invested in.

As such I have a perhaps uncommon insight into financing issues as a business advisor, and find myself being asked to speak at various events on alternative sources of finance to the traditional high street bank for business start-up and growth. And it struck me recently that most of these alternatives might be best pursued not in an office, or over the internet, but in the pub as they’re all based around relationships and local knowledge, rather than institutions and ‘risk ratios‘:

• Angel Investors (think dragon’s den but without the scathing comments): people who are going to invest their money into you and your idea. They want to be assured that its not only your idea that’s a great one, but that you’re the best person to be leading on it - they want to get to know you. And what better why  to do that than over a drink?

• Loan stock (think interest only mortgages): this is where other people and businesses lend you their money with the expectation that you’ll pay them back at an agreed future date. These are effectively ‘private loans’ so you can choose where you discuss and agree them - and what more conducive environment could there be to negotiate terms than in a friendly pub?

• Community shares: where local people in a town or village all invest their own money in a common cause (usually buying the post office to keep it open, or installing a wind turbine to create free/cheap electricity for everyone). It can take a long time to knock on everyone’s door to make your pitch to them, so far better if there were a communal place where most of them are regularly assembled…pub?

All these ‘alternative’ forms of finance are based on people investing their own money (not someone elses') and as such there’s a different criteria that these investors are using: they’re interested in you, in building a relationship with you. And that’s something that’s hard to do in a posh office, but far easier over a drink… but they’ll still want to know about your business and be assured that they’re not going to be wasting their money, so you still need to know your numbers - however in a pub setting, you need to know them even more intimately than for a bank: a bank manager will expect you to have lots of notes with you, spreadsheets, etc. But in a pub, if you can’t give people an answer straight away off the top of your head, you’re sunk.

So, pub finance - perhaps a better alternative to the traditional high street bank? but it’ll demand that you know your businesses figures and detail inside out, and able to cite them more instantly than a bank manager would expect… On the up side, all your investors will be rooting for you and doing whatever they can to ensure your success (as its their money at stake!) and the interest you’re paying on the money is going back to other local people and fellow businesses, rather than in bonuses to  bankers…


UPDATE - 04.01.2013
my local paper, the Todmorden News has also just written an article based on this idea  - and in any of you are wondering, yes: I did buy my own pint!
http://www.todmordennews.co.uk/news/local/looking-to-grow-your-business-go-to-t-pub-1-5364076  

why mission statements are a waste of time

Any time you get involved with reviewing or creating a new organisation, someone inevitably asks (and probably rightly so), “but what’s our mission statement..?” – without such a focus, it’s very difficult to be able to get everyone working together, motivated and generally able to be better at what it is that’s being done.

But trying to define that elusive vision which provides the magic answer to unifying everyone, resolving disagreements over purpose, and enable you to easily tell the world what it is you’re about is rarely easy going.

You’ll find that you can easily spend hours (and even days) in consultations involving words, values, images, and so on, just to get to a collective agreement about the general focus of it. And then just as much time again trying to get the exact right words, in the right order (and with the right punctuation!)...

And all for what? Some inspirational statement that most people don’t even acknowledge the existence of, because their view of you is shaped by their experiences of interacting with you – how and what you do with them (as well as for them), and what they hear about you from other people.

What’s prompted me to embark on this seeming rant against the sacrosanct mission statement is that I’ve been invited to join a consortia, and we’ve just spent ½ day trying to agree between the 9 of us what our shared mission should be about... (and still only got it down to 3 options!). Surely we’d be better spending our energies agreeing the broad shape of what it is that’s united us in the first place, and then getting on and doing something to make the world a better place?

But what about me and my consultancy practice? I’ve often referred to having certain values that influence my approaches, so surely I have a mission statement too? Something aspirational, but also a bit vague and ‘woolly’ to make it easier for me to do the wide range of things that I do – so until the next time I review it, here it is:

“to not get caught...” 

How I (nearly) made a client faint - and why they gave me a fruit basket afterwards

As some readers of my blog will know, a lot of what I do is supporting people and communities to realise their visions by creating new co-operative, social, or private enterprises. And I do this through various means – training courses, consultancy, beer mentoring, etc...

Recently, I’ve been working with a number of south Asian women who want to use their skills to improve the well being of families in deprived communities, but also want to work in ways that ensure people’s dignity is paramount in that process as well. They were ‘awarded’ 4 days of my life through the co-operative enterprise hub to help them to pursue and realise this, and through that time I’ve helped them develop their business model, financial plan, marketing and also to incorporate themselves as a worker co-operative. And it’s this last part that caused their ‘excitement’ – they were so sure that they would have made a mistake on their submission to companies house (they structured their worker co-op in a guarantee company form, in case you’re wondering), that when their company certificate arrived in the post, they were overcome with excitement... they told me that one of their number almost fainted! (although I’m not sure I can take all the credit for that, as it turns out that the person also had a cold at the time...)

 

Anyways – they were so impressed with how I’ve supported and encouraged them over these few days, that at my last session with them this morning, they produced a fruit basket as a traditional means of expressing their thanks for all I’ve done with them over the last couple of months. And I’m very touched – normally, at the end of supporting an individual or group, there’s the awkward handshake and assurances about keeping in touch, but this felt really nice – so  thank you Access Alpha Ltd of Burnley, and may the universe reciprocate your generosity many times over.

(NB – i’m also partial to cake, beer and donughts in case any other clients I’m supporting are thinking of finding ways to thank me...)

why are we scared about asking to be paid?

Ask most employees what they grumble about most, and ask their employers about most, and it’s likely to be getting their pay cheque on time.


Yet when we create new enterprises, we suddenly seem to lose this boldness and capitulate to our customers when they’re late in paying our bills and invoices to them – to the tune of over £62 billion for small businesses!!!

So why this change in attitude between being an employee and an employer over money?
I have a suspicion it’s about FEAR. We’re frightened that if we appear pushy, our customers won’t come back, and/or even more damningly, our customers start to think “if they’re so desperate for our money, then they must be in trouble, so better take my business elsewhere”.




So what do we do?



Well, for starters, let’s be more open about talking about money and getting paid – raise it as soon as we can as part of negotiations with customers and clients, be clear about when they want to pay and when you want to be paid from the outset. Negotiate, haggle, agree compromises – after all, we do that already over the price and delivery schedule, so why not the payment terms?

Plan the cash-flow: so many businesses fail because they run out of cash before they get paid – I’ve seen it happen, including to a business that was making a £1m+ profit annually (I helped their employees subsequently buy-out the business).

Finally – don’t forget the easy stuff: there’s a lot of legislation you can use to support you with your asking to be paid. The biggest (and least well known) being the Late Payment Act which says that as a small business, you can charge interest on what you’re owed if its late in being paid. And after all, it’s not you that’s chosen to charge interest: it’s the government and their legislation... so no risk to your personal relationships. I’ve used it a number of times and on each occasion got paid more promptly AND had that client/customer book me for further work.

Simple things that with a bit of thinking and planning can make all the different to getting that overdraft reduced and staying in business.


Or maybe there’s something about ‘being British’ that means we like being owed more than £62 billion and not being able to cash it?

the secret truth about business plans...

As an enterprise/business advisor (a graduate of 2 university degrees in business, a member of various professional bodies, and published by peer review on business support), I've had a lot of time to think about business plans.

And there's a lot of stuff about them out there: courses, books, templates, on-line tools and programmes, consultants offering to write yours for you...

However, there always seems to be an underlying assumption that whenever you start to talk about trading or doing business that the universe demands you create a business plan, or else yoru venture will automatically fail, you'll be subject to horrible plagues and the world will end... (OK, maybe I exaggerated those last points a bit).

But I have a rather unusual view as a business advisor - you don't always need a business plan.

In fact, I think that there will only ever be 3 reasons why creating a business plan would be a good use of your time (and if you identify with them, they can often help you to focus your thinking and efforts to make the process a lot easier too):

1) Paranoia - you've never created an enterprise before, or run a business, so how do you know you've not forgotten or missed something? Post-mortems on most failed businesses show that they failed because of seomthing that with hindsight could have been picked up sooner and fixed.

2) Time Capsule - at the outset, you've a clear idea as to how this thing will work, what it will generate and how everything fits neatly together. But the world is messy and full of surprises - if you're not careful, you end up taking on lots of new things which start to pull you away from your original hopes and aims. As such, you can suddenly find yourself not enjoying what you do, running an enterprise you don't recognise, and generally being unhappy - all of which is avoidable if you have the opportunity for a 'reality check' every so often: compare what's happening with what you thought and hoped would in your plan; if they don't match think carefully about what you might want to do about it to get things back on track.

3) Ambassador - if you are going to ask anyone for any type of money, you'll be asked for a business plan: something that explains with no prior knowledge on the part of the money person, who you are, what you're doing and why/how its going to work.

And because you can't always guarantee that you'll be there to present it in person, it should represent your character in some way too, so get creative with using pictures, language and so on - don't let it be another boring thing someone has to read...

And that's it.

If you don't think that any of the above apply, nor ever will, then spend your time doing something more enjoyable.

But if you think that you do need to do one... well, that's another blog on the easy way to write business plans...