Guess what? That day will come when all the planning and work, and due diligence will seem as if everything you have written about is actually happening. One thing I have heard from many an entrepreneur after about the first six to nine months is: "Everything I have written in my Business Plan has happened; or is on schedule for execution." One entrepreneur shared with me once, "Had I known that everything we discussed and planned would have come to pass like this; I would have planned with larger numbers."

Comments such as those just shared are evidence of the power of planning. It simply demonstrates, that if we take the same care in planning our business as we do with planning our next vacation excursion; we will witness the results we are working towards. One of the best kept secrets is the power of writing. When we write we are crystalizing a thought for which there may be an action to follow-through. Writing also establishes a commitment to do something. We normally only follow-through on those things that are written down; we rarely follow-through on something that is not on our To-Do List. Let's look at the process:
1. Creative Idea or Thought
2. Chronicle (Notes) of Idea of Thought
3. List (Writing) of Things To Do to Bring Idea to Pass
4. Planning (Writing) Strategy of Implemenation of Idea or Thought
5. Action and Follow-through
6. Plan (Writing) of Stewardship of Benefits (Success) from Idea or Thought

Number 6 is the one we forget sometimes; but we should also have a plan for how we handle our success or successes when they occur. There is both good success and bad success: Good success is when everything we dreamed of becomes reality and we graduate to newly planned successes from the fruit of our initial success. Bad success is when everything you've planned for becomes a reality too quickly for you to manage or adjust; and what follows are missed opportunities and a succession of quick, wrong decisions.

One example, is a woman who owns a pastry business, and made some of the best-tasting pastries known in the city. One day, a buyer of super market bought and tasted one of her pastries and decided to call her for an intial order of $30,000. She had never had one order of that size; most orders were from $800 -$1,500. However, the woman was smart enough to have a back-up plan: she had established a relationship with a local bakery and rented their kitchen for it's normal down-time to meet the order for $30,000 in pastries. One phone call had changed the scale of production of her business!

Another example, is a woman who owns a marketing consulting firm and had begun to build a great reputation throughout her industry specialty. She began to receive referrals from her satisfied clients and immediately her business multiplied exponentially. During one of our meetings, she stated, "I really love what I am doing, and I am excited about my business growing, but I have to turn business away because I can't serve them." I shared with her about how that's a good problem for a business to have because you can pick the best clientele to serve. In this case, the woman decided to keep her oldest clientele and not take on new clients because she felted overwhelmed with the success and was not ready to expand the business to the next level.

It must become a rule for entrepreneurs to plan-to-plan, so that every profitable opportunity that presents itself may become a another success along the way. One good exercise I have used in entrepreneurial training conferences is to ask the question: "What if you suddenly received in inheritance of $12 Million from an Uncle you did not know was wealthy? What would you do with it?" It's a learning experience to hear of some of the plans. I know this is a what-if scenario, but it will prepare you to begin some forward-thinking about handling sudden opportunities.

Plan for success, because it will meet you when you least expect it.

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