I spoke to a contractor last week who is considering contractor coaching for his business. His business is down like many in this challenging economy. During our conversation I asked him if he is following his business plan. He said he doesn't have one!

Prior to confessing he had no plan, he shared that he was nervous because he was going on vacation for the holiday. With this information, I asked him did he plan his vacation? He said yes we rented a condo on the beach, scheduled time off from work, booked a flight, rented a car, got travelers checks, arranged for boarding his german shepard, went shopping for clothes with his spouse and even booked his golf tee times.

Funny how some contractors and entrepreneurs make the time to plan a vacation yet fail to invest the time to make a plan for the very thing that pays for it, their business? 

Remember the saying "if you don't know where you are going how do you know when you get there". Or "if you don't know where you are going any road you take will bring you there". He surely knows where he is going for vacation but doesn't have a clue where his business is going.  

The contractor was asked why he failed to do a plan and he gave  the following reasons;

1. No time, too busy working.

2. Business planning is for corporations.

3. Everything I need to do is in my head, I don't need to write it down.

4. The conditions change so quickly that any plan I do will be outdated, so why waste the time.

This has been a tough year even for those who have created a workable business plan, tougher for those who haven't. Part of the responsibility of having a business is doing a business plan. As the leader of your business you need to articulate your vision through you plan. You need to know where you are going and how you will arrive at your destination. Seat of the pants management or shooting from the hip causes mistakes and failure.

Suggestions for getting started;

  1. Commit the time to plan to plan. Decide to set aside 1 hour per day to work on your plan and review it.
  2. Have someone in your company or family do the plan with you.
  3. Make an outline of your plan. Go online and search for business plan templates if you are stuck.
  4. Engage a professional facilitator like a contractor business      coach to help you.

I asked the contractor how much time he spent planning his ten day vacation and he said two days. That's 20% of the total 10 days on vacation. Imagine if he spent only 1% of his total hours worked in a year (50 hours per week for 50 weeks=2500 total hours times 1 % = 250 hours working on the business).

Do you think he would be nervous about going on vacation if he invested at least one percent of his work week planning?