Business Plans Kit For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 15. Putting Your Plan to Work

In This Chapter

• Using your plan to organize your company

• Inspiring and leading employees

• Reviewing and revising your plan

Ask successful entrepreneurs how they made it, and they'll usually list two reasons. No. 1: They had rock-solid business plans in place. No. 2: They stuck to them. Okay, well maybe there'a third reason: They had a process in place to recognize when their plan wasn't working and the flexibility to quickly and effectively revise it.

This chapter helps you follow their advice. We've packed it with ideas for putting your business plan to work. It shows how you can use your plan to organize your business, and it helps you choose the best organizational structure and the most effective procedures for getting the job done. It offers tips on how to use your plan to get all you can out of your most important resource: your people. Finally, it offers ideas for reviewing and revising your plan to keep it fresh and vital.

Organizing Your Company around Your Business Plan

A business plan is like a blueprint. It tells exactly what you're working to achieve, but the end result happens only if you hammer it into reality.

A blueprint guides every construction step down to a fraction of an inch, but a business plan is more of a success framework. It helps you organize your company around your mission and vision, your goals and objectives, and the strategy you've outlined to achieve success. Plus, it keeps everyone on the same page and working toward ...