You can pay a little now or pay more later. Just like the Fram Filter commercial of years ago, change the filter now, it costs a little but if wait it will cost you more.

When it comes to business planning it is the same principle.

With a bit of business planning today, it will preempt bigger and likely, costlier interventions later.

Business Plans are the Swiss Army knife of Savvy Entrepreneurs

A Swiss Army knife has many useful tools and attachments. Much more than a regular pocket knife the Swiss Army knife could be just the ticket to get you out of a jam. You never know when you will need a corkscrew, bottle opener, can opener, small screwdriver, large screwdriver, wire stripper, reamer with sewing eye, corkscrew, toothpick and numerous other attachments. Plus it comes with a users manual, check it out.

Writing a business plan will not help you open a bottle or strip a wire but it will help you grow as a business professional, test your ideas in paper, and provide the opportunity to put your business under a microscope.

The Business Plan as a Accountability Tool

With a written plan you can look back on your plan and compare it to actual results, which I discovered in my research is a key factor in business success:

"In reviewing these studies I found that bankrupt and successful firms had similar business plans and financial plans.

The major difference was that 81% of successful firms would periodically take stock of where they stand with respect to their goals and followed up by making adjustments to their practices and expectations.

The sad news is that less than 33% of bankrupt firms with financial forecasts in their business plans actually compared their results with their forecasts and only 40% of those took any remedial action when their forecasts differed from their goals.

If you are like me, does that strike you as just silly or what?" Via 13 Stupid Tricks By Business Owners

In my book on writing a business plan I have devoted an entire chapter to writing a business plan in 30 days. Plus ten (10) extra chapters on the most common business types. It is available via Amazon or to learn more, you can view the detailed Table of Contents.