The “what are the top 10 best-selling books right now” is a question that can be answered by looking at Amazon’s Best Sellers Rank.
The world is once again talking about crypto. Crowds of people, including the uninitiated, are looking into what this new form of money can do for them and how they can use it to make a living.
This is the opening page of the online edition of Entrepreneur Press’s 2008 book The Plan as You Go Business Plan. With the publisher’s permission, it is reproduced in its full on this website. This is the same book that comes with Business Plan Pro, which you can get through bookshops, Amazon.com, or Palo Alto Software directly.
If you prefer, you can read it right here on our site by scrolling down and utilizing the particular book categories on the left. This is the whole book, complete with all pictures, which has been uploaded here for your convenience. You don’t have to read on a computer; your tablet may be more convenient.
It should come as no surprise that I’m writing the preface for a business planning book. After all, I’ve already written about how I launched Truemors.com without a business strategy. “Is a Business Plan Necessary?” I also made a blog article on it. I’ve spent much more time and energy discussing and writing about a proposal than I have on a strategy.
But it was precisely because of that history that I felt compelled to write about this book. Plan-As-You- Go It is the preparation, not the plan, that is the focus of a business plan. Instead of a ponderous document, Tim Berry recommends doing the planning that any organization needs to concentrate, prioritize, and manage. Do that and nothing else if that’s all you’re going to utilize. Don’t wait for a large plan to be completed: get started planning, thinking, and doing whatever portion will help you operate your company more efficiently.
Tim discusses how to construct your strategy around a core (or “heart”) strategic combination of market, identity, and focus in this book. I appreciate the notion that the actual plan isn’t about the output format, but about what’s intended to happen, why, when, and how much money it will cost. These are the kinds of concepts that make me believe that everyone operating a company should create a plan, but only in the basic, practical sense that this book advocates. That is why you should purchase this book.
—-Guy Kawasaki, author of The Art of the Start and Reality Check
It is beneficial to plan ahead. You may not need a full-fledged company plan, but preparing may definitely help you manage. As a result, I’ve created this book to assist you get started fast and simply, with as little preparation as you want and need to achieve. That may or may not need a comprehensive strategy.
Linus and Lucy are strolling down a sidewalk in an old Peanuts comic strip when they see something in front of them that Lucy, who knows everything, recognizes as a rare Brazilian butterfly. When she begins talking about how amazing it is that the butterfly has come all the way from Brazil, Charlie Brown interrupts with, “It’s a potato chip.”
“Isn’t it even more incredible that this potato chip came all the way from Brazil?” Lucy says without pausing.
This tale makes me think about what’s going on in the world of business planning. People who intend to convey what I’m saying in this book, that not every company need a formal business plan, lose out on planning. That’s a real pity.
So, in my opinion, we should keep things basic and realistic. Make as much preparation as you’ll be able to. Recognize that all plans will evolve over time, so consider of yours as a living document that you can use to steer your company. Expect things to change, but utilize the planning to keep your eye on the big picture. It’s similar like planning a trip: having a plan doesn’t bind you, but it does help you stay on track and modify as required. Similarly, while dribbling, you maintain your eyes on the whole field (or court) while dealing with the ball, keeping track of the action without losing sight of the goal. Make a plan as you go.
This is a novel way of thinking about company planning. It’s unique in that it takes the most essential aspects of the conventional business plan concept and adapts them to the modern environment. And it’s much superior than the conventional business plan in terms of speed, ease, flexibility, practicality, and use.
It’s taken a long time for this to happen. For the last 30 years, I’ve been dealing with company strategies. Growth plans, strategy plans, action plans, feasibility plans, and plenty of plans for new businesses that didn’t exist yet. Borland International, which went public less than four years after it began and earned me a lot of money, was one of my business ideas. For a total of 12 years, I worked on yearly plans for Apple Latin America, Apple Pacific, and Apple Japan. Without outside funding, I was able to develop my own firm to 40 people and a 70% market share by using business planning.
Over the years, I’ve seen how business planning may be the key to success for both new and expanding businesses. I’ve observed how the top businesses comprehend planning and create and manage plans on a regular basis. Good businesses have plans.
I’ve also seen how misconceptions and misunderstandings obstruct progress. People mistakenly believe that having a plan entails being forced to do something that makes no sense just because it’s in the plan. People mistakenly believe that fast change makes planning less effective, while in reality, excellent planning is one of the most effective methods to handle change. People believe a business plan is difficult to write and put in stone, with a lengthy list of required components, and that it is a ponderous and pompous formal process. This is one of the most harmful misunderstandings.
The plan-as-you-go business plan is just what you need, and nothing more. It may be as simple as a 60-second strategy overview given in an elevator. That, with a review schedule, milestones table, measurement notes, and a sales estimate, may be plenty for a small business. And when businesses expand, so do their strategies. Then, when you need the large plan document, you just add the missing pieces and produce the document. You, on the other hand, are constantly planning and never without one.
This isn’t the first time I’ve written a business plan book. Unfortunately, I now despise the title of my most successful business plan book because it promotes the exact opposite idea: the business plan as a roadblock. Hurdle: The Book on Business Planning was the title of the book. What’s wrong with this is that business planning is meant to be a strong instrument for better managing your firm, controlling your business destiny, creating responsibility, and building collaboration, not a roadblock. It should never be seen as a stumbling block. It’s not a challenge to conquer; it’s a method for better managing your business.
As a result, don’t stop working. Never allow your business strategy get in the way of conducting business. Start right away, get moving, and make the strategy work for you right now.
This book will teach you how to implement that approach. I’d want you to get started right now. I anticipate that you will be able to accomplish something now that will benefit your company tomorrow.
I see your point. Let’s start to work on a plan now, after all the explanations and positions. So go ahead and take the plunge.
- The majority of individuals like to begin with the most important aspect of the strategy. You’ll see what I mean if you go there right now. It’s all about your company’s true motivations. Your strategic emphasis, your target market, and your company offering Don’t worry about the structure; write it down, say it out loud, use bullet points, slides, or whatever you choose.
- The plan review schedule is my particular favorite. This makes it obvious that you’re seeking improved management and planning, not simply a plan.
- The sales projection is also a great place to start. Some individuals like to start with the numbers, while others prefer to conduct their conceptual thinking as they work with the data. As you create your sales projection, keep your target market, company product, and strategic emphasis in mind. That’s not a terrible plan of action.
- Instead, you may wish to start with an expenditure budget. Calculate your monthly payroll on a monthly basis. Calculate your burn rate, which is a crucial figure that indicates how much money you must spend each month.
- If you’re thinking of starting a company, start-up expenses are an excellent place to start. Make a list of everything you’ll need, including money, products, places, and so on.
- SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is a fantastic place to start, especially if you have a team. You may start with the SWOT analysis right now.
- Some individuals like to begin with a mission statement, vision, slogan, goals, or keys to success to better establish the tone. This provides your strategy a structure to operate inside. If you want.
However, certain aspects of company planning, like plan-as-you-go planning, must be completed in a specific sequence. You can’t start with the cash flow statement without first doing your sales estimate, burn rate, and certain asset and liability assumptions, for example.
Even so, you may get started right now. I can’t say I blame you. After you’ve made some progress, you may want to return here (using your Back button) to continue the explanations.
Web Links in a Live Book
Because certain things change faster than a book can be produced, I keep the information on the web current and updated. You have the book as a guide, but now it’s time to optimize.
This is the twenty-first century. I’m not going to pretend that this book exists on its own. As I wrote this, I was working on three sites and contributing as a guest expert to three others. I just left a business that was obsessed with online traffic, download purchases, conversion rates, page views, visitors, and Google analytics. In the digital age, where my papers reside online and I access them from whatever machine I’m on, I was working with Microsoft Office on four computers and three other office replacements.
Of course you understand; you’re on the internet with me right now, so you can see what it implies to you. Everything is changing so fast in this new world. Happily, much of what I have to say will stand the test of time, but my blogs and related websites will also include upgrades, new ideas, tools, and, of course, fresh content. That is why you have come. This is where you can find out what else is going on in the world of plan-as-you-go business planning.
I don’t want you to put this book on the shelf and forget about it; I expect you to utilize it. And I don’t anticipate it to remain static in its current form; I plan to update it on a regular basis on the web, in my blogs, and when it finds its way into other books, periodicals, software, and other publications.
Updates to the chapters
Please return to this page from time to time since I will be updating certain chapters. After all, if we’re doing plan-as-you-go planning, shouldn’t we be doing write-as-you-go writing as well? Not just in your company, but also in the business of business planning, things change.
Sources of information
Links, resources, and references that appear in the book may also change; we are, after all, in the real world, and we must cope with change. I’ll keep you informed through this website.
The plan-as-you-go business plan isn’t big on supporting information since it slows you down, but it is needed in certain instances, so I’ve put up links to update information sources like market research sites, industry information, and conventional financials when they go out of date.
Software is not required but is available as an option.
Plan-as-you-go business planning does not need the use of software. This book is about planning, including how to do it, why to do it, when to do it, and how to deal with ideas, people, issues, information, choices, and, of course, statistics. It’s not about a certain piece of software.
Planning does not need the use of any particular software. As far as I’m concerned, plan-as-you-go planning is all about outcomes and management, not tools, so you can do it on the back of your hand.
By the way, I’m also the primary author of Business Plan Pro and a conceptual co-author of LivePlan, both of which are published by Palo Alto Software. I won’t go into detail about it in this book, but I can promise you that everything I recommend you do can be accomplished with that program.
Take Action Immediately
Jump about a little. That is why this book was written. It’s not entirely in order. If you want to get started right now, go ahead. (I hope you noticed the preceding section’s sidebar.)
I don’t expect you to read the whole book from beginning to end. That’s not how I’m writing it, and I doubt you’d want to read it that way. This book is about your company, and when you think about your company, your mind races. You go from a sales forecast to a fresh approach to your strategy. Something reminds you of something else.
Please read the chapters in the sequence that makes the most sense for you. I’ve included links and page references throughout the text. Allow an idea in one area to lead you to another thinking in another. That’s how it’s meant to work.
I’ve attempted to make the chapter names and headers correspond to the major themes in the book to assist you pick where to go when.
Subjects That Jump Around
Seth Godin brings out the increasing tendency of shorter material and rapid leaps of attention as part of the society we currently live in in his excellent book Meatball Sundae (Portfolio, 2007). Immediate satisfaction Keep it brief, as if you were writing a blog article. A lengthy lecture is not something you want to sit through.
That’s also how business planning works. There will be a lot of brief topics. Stories. Sidebars. I’d want to assist you in thinking about your company, what’s essential, and how to improve it. Planning isn’t done in a logical order. Short bursts of thought occur.
The Blogs
Links to additional resources may be found on the gateway page, including updates, online tools, templates, and the newest and best. Also, I hope you’ll stop by and see what’s going on in my usual posting locations:
Startups, planning, and stories are all things that come to mind when thinking about these topics. My first blog, which serves as a kind of showcase for my work. That one receives a lot of my new business planning work, as well as real-life company tales, including my own, errors, sometimes fascinating films, current events, and planning basics.
At blog.timberry.com, you’ll find a collection of my blog entries. My blog site that consolidates my blog entries on my main blog, the bplans blog, automatically. Entrepreneur.com, Huffington Post, gust.com, SBA Industry Word, and other blogs.
The plan-as-you-go business plan is a new approach to business planning, a new way of thinking about it. It doesn’t alter the basics, but it shifts the emphasis. It offers some fresh perspectives, and it’s great for you and your company.
What’s the difference between the two? Why do I distinguish between the two?
In his best-selling book Presentation Zen, Garr Reynolds declares that his approach to giving presentations “is not a technique.”
“A method suggests a step-by-step systematic process, something very much planned and linear, with a specific proved technique that you can take off a shelf and follow in a logical orderly manner from A to Z.”
“An approach suggests a path, a direction, a frame of mind, perhaps even a philosophy, but not a set of tried-and-true rules to follow.”
This difference appeals to me. It clearly distinguishes plan-as-you-go planning as a strategy rather than a technique. I’ve spent a lot of time developing step-by-step company planning techniques. Some of them are effective. Sometimes. However, as appealing as the step-by-step approach is, it perpetuates the notion of the business plan as a paper or a roadblock.
What’s the difference between the two? What difference does it make? It’s not crucial, but I’d want to stress that I don’t want this plan-as-you-go notion to become another list of precise stages or a list of “do it my way” ways by referring to it as an approach rather than a method. I’d want for this method, like this book, to be yours, not mine. You take what I’m providing here and make it work for you by using what you want from it in whichever sequence you choose.
The military has a strong affinity for planning. Battle plans, war plans, and business plans are all terms used in the business world. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is one of the most highly recommended business books. In my writing, speaking, and teaching on planning, I often cite Eisenhower’s statement “the plan is worthless, but planning is vital.” He raises an important point.
The famous statement “no combat plan ever survives the first contact with the enemy,” ascribed to Colin Powell but possibly to Field Marshal Helmuth Carl Bernard von Moltke, is another example.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the book one about?
A: The book One is the first in a series of 12 books.
What is the #1 book?
A: This is not an easy question to answer, as there are many different types of books. However one book that comes to mind would be the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.
What is the #1 best-selling book 2021?
A: This is a tough question to answer with accuracy, but its been reported that the top 10 best-selling books of 2021 will be Ulysses by James Joyce and The Outsider by Stephen King.
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