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How to Franchise – Strategic Planning, Documentation and Management of Franchise Systems

ewwink — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:18:13 +0000

Imagine opening 20 new business locations without having to foot the bill for real estate, equipment and development costs or taking on any of the risk. Even more, imagine finding managers to run all those locations, who are just as committed to growing the company as you, and you don’t have to pay them a dime. Finally, imagine that these managers will hire, fire and manage all employees as well as foot the bill for all operating costs and expenses. Sound far-fetched?

Not if you’re planning to enter the franchise industry, one of the fastest ways to grow a small business without breaking the bank. For many companies, franchising a business (or licensing) is a sensible way to achieve rapid, profitable growth without giving up any control or ownership. Going from a single location to a dozen in a couple years, or a hundred in ten years is possible and well-documented because franchise owner-investors put up all investment capital, shoulder all risk and assume all day-to-day operating responsibilities.

It’s expansion, using OPM – Other People’s Money. Also, the franchise company gets paid handsomely for teaching others the secrets of how to operate its business. First, there’s the up-front “membership” or franchise fee of $20,000 to $50,000 paid for using the brand name and operating methods. In addition, there are continuing royalties of 5% to 10% of gross sales for ongoing advice and consultation. In essence, a franchise development program allows a company to get out of the trenches and become a highly-paid general overseeing its soldiers. Long-term options are also attractive. Build an empire and relax, or let the franchise company be acquired by an increasing number of large companies that look for small, but growing franchise companies. According to the International Franchise Association, 900 new companies have franchised in the last three years.

ENTERING A NEW BUSINESS

A company planning to franchise must realize it is entering a new business, offering an entirely different service (training & support) to entirely new customers (business owner-operators). This new business requires different skills, abilities and expertise. In the new business of franchising, it is critical to develop effective evaluation, documentation, mentoring, training and consulting skills. Since these new skills are rarely present within existing personnel, an outside franchise expert is needed to train existing personnel and plan the transition. The first step involves determining whether or not a business can franchise, and if so, what needs to be developed. Next, strategic franchise planning is necessary to create a “blueprint” for successful expansion efforts. Experience shows that, just like a building, the foundation developed at the beginning will create lasting consequences affecting the relative success (or failure) of the entire venture. Legal (franchise disclosure document, franchise agreements) and operational documents (franchise operations manual, franchise training program) are prepared and drafted and finally a franchise registration process is required in some 14 states, depending on which state(s) the company sells franchises. These phases are discussed below.

THE FRANCHISE FEASIBILITY PHASE

An indispensable step before any franchise development program gets underway is an analysis of the concept and business model. Has the concept been sufficiently proven in the marketplace? How profitable are existing prototypes or company-owned outlets? Franchising will not solve existing problems, it will only intensify them – and usually at a serious cost to franchise investors. Franchising should not be viewed as a method to raise capital, expand a business that has existing problems, or a way to get rich quickly. There must be sufficient profitability in the business model so that royalty and other payments can be made and leave the franchise investor with a sufficient profit. With a franchise feasibility analysis, a determination can be made about:

(a) whether franchising or licensing expansion ideas should be pursued, postponed or abandoned; and

(b) assuming a positive result in (a), what needs to be fine-tuned or developed from scratch for the franchise program.

Besides determining if and when the business can franchise, the analysis should also include providing guidance and direction so as much of the groundwork as possible can be done by existing personnel. This has proven to be a very effective approach and significantly reduces franchise development costs. If the feasibility analysis is positive, the other phases discussed below follow. My twenty-eight years of experience in the franchise industry lets me share a valuable insight about franchise feasibility studies. Too many companies leap into franchising without doing a feasibility study, or if one is done it is performed by a franchise consultant or group that tells everyone good news – they’re all “franchise-able.” The vast majority of franchise feasibility studies I’ve done either identify areas that need attention before franchising makes any sense or tell the client to forget about it and pursue other options.

THE FRANCHISE STRATEGIC PLANNING PHASE

A successful franchise development program begins with a solid plan – a foundation for franchising. The long-term goal is to establish balanced, integrated, successful business relationships with qualified individuals who support the company’s goals and image. Creating an enduring relationship requires a comprehensive strategy that addresses all aspects of the franchise endeavor.

The starting point is a detailed analysis that covers:

(1) identifying profile characteristics of who will be the best franchise owners for the particular business;

(2) competitive positioning to make the franchise stand out from the other 3,000+ franchise companies;

(3) geographic scope – where and when will franchises be sold;

(4) analysis of the company’s organizational strengths and weaknesses relative to franchising;

(5) identifying the appropriate franchise organizational structure as well as staffing requirements and responsibilities; and

(6) structuring the franchise relationship for a balanced, win-win scenario.

What should emerge from this detailed analysis is a specific strategic plan and framework for guiding virtually all franchise efforts. Despite the long-term importance of the franchise planning step, too many emerging franchise companies enter franchising with no plan or planning – other than “let’s try and sell a lot of franchises.” They rush through (or neglect entirely) the strategic planning process, thereby creating future franchise litigation land mines that are ticking franchise lawsuits waiting to happen.

Often, this is because they only utilize the services of a franchise consulting firm or franchise attorney, where little or no attention is paid to critical strategic planning, operational and organizational issues. Normally, these firms draft “boilerplate” franchise disclosure documents, franchise agreements and franchise operations manuals based on a questionnaire completed by their client, who is presumed to have made all strategic decisions. The franchise documents are presented, along with an invoice and a handshake – hardly the ingredients for success in the new business of franchising.

THE FRANCHISE DOCUMENTATION PHASE

If the company has made doing a good job at the planning stage the number one priority, franchise documentation goals will be apparent. Proprietary and intellectual property assets (like operating techniques, customer information, recipes, formulas and methods) need to be identified and protected. A trade secret protection program is developed and implemented. The name, logo and tag lines should have been previously registered as trademarks or service marks

franchise operations manuals

Franchise operations manuals and training programs are developed, often from scratch, to impart business operating skills to the franchise owner as well as ensure uniformity of products and services. The franchise operations manual and training program curriculum must be drafted with a particular focus. Certain topics, chapters and policies found in manuals for a company-owned chain, for example, are entirely inappropriate in a franchise environment, creating significant liability (lawsuit) issues for the franchise division.

I routinely find franchise operations manuals drafted by franchise consultants or do-it-yourself manual kitscontaining inappropriate chapters or topics. Not knowing where the bullets come from in franchise litigation, they proceed blindly ahead using “boilerplate” manuals where most (but not all) instances of “hamburgers” are changed to “tax returns.” The support aspect of the franchise relationship needs to be carefully considered, structured and reflected in the franchise operations manuals.

Deciding who writes the franchise operations manual is a relatively simple question to answer, yet many new franchise companies also fall into a trap here. Bewildered by the new business of franchising, with its legal requirements, franchise operations manuals, training programs, etc., they decide to “delegate responsibility,” usually to a high-priced franchise consultant who produces the operations manual and sometimes even the legal documents. Putting aside the practicing law without a license issue on the legal documents, does using someone to write your franchise operations manual who knows literally nothing about your business, ever make any sense?

The best practice approach, developed over almost three decades of my writing, editing and reviewing hundreds of franchise operations manuals is based on common sense. Let the true “expert” in your business write the operations manual. And who is that expert? It’s usually the founder of the business or a handful of your management personnel who know the business inside and out. It’s true, an outside franchise expert should be involved in the process, but this should be limited strictly to a planning and editing capacity – helping develop the overall Table of Contents, giving samples of writing styles and technicques, then reviewing each chapter after it’s drafted by you or your management team. This approach produces a professional, easy to use and update franchise operations manual. It also ensures the most efficient use of resources and talent.

franchise disclosure documents

Finally, and only after all of the above are underway, a Franchise Disclosure Document, similar to a securities (stock offering) prospectus, is prepared by competent franchise counsel and registered with various regulatory agencies to comply with applicable federal and state laws. This document can contain thousands of discrete disclosures within its twenty-three chapters and attached exhibits, and obviously needs to be prepared by a franchise attorney. Doing it properly and with a balanced and fair perspective can help keep the company out of the courtroom later. In addition, a franchise registration process is required before any franchises can be advertised or sold in those 14 or so states having a franchise registration requirement. Having one firm author, edit and review all documents is not only cost-effective – it also avoids inconsistencies that can plague the franchise company as franchise legal pitfalls in the future (see discussion below).

RECOMMENDATIONS

My twenty-eight years of experience has demonstrated that in order for a franchise company to get off to a good start, a heavy emphasis should be placed on strategic franchise planning to manage future franchise relationships as discussed above. Then, before the franchise program begins, management needs training in how to effectively operate a franchise organization. At a minimum, the following programs should be in place before franchise marketing efforts begin:

1. Franchise Lead Processing System (sm):

Two key considerations for all franchise companies engaged in franchise marketing are the careful screening of franchise applicants and adopting the proper media plan, schedule and budget. Only the cream of the crop should be allowed to join the franchise network. Eliminating applicants at the entry stage is far easier than waiting for inevitable and costly problems later on. An examination of franchise networks plagued by troublesome franchise owners (who often ripen into future lawsuits) shows a lack of planning and attention to this relatively simple concept. Given the unlimited personal liability risk inherent in franchising, companies neglecting this important concept, or those using franchise brokers, are simply asking for trouble.

Before franchise marketing efforts start, a company should adopt a customized Franchise Lead Processing System that includes instructing key personnel in:

(1) adopting the proper organizational structure;

(2) defining the appropriate profile characteristics of prospective franchise owners;

(3) developing effective interviewing techniques, marketing materials, procedures and checklists;

(4) using a series of tests and other measures to ensure that inappropriate candidates are disqualified before joining the franchise network;

(5) detecting (and then avoiding) red flags that arise in the franchise marketing cycle; and

(6) adopting the appropriate media plan, schedule and budget.

2. Legal Compliance Program (sm):

A franchise lawsuit can result if inconsistent or misleading communications occur when a franchise is first sold. Most of the legal risk is franchising centers around what happens during the marketing cycle: the twenty-three chapters of disclosures in the franchise disclosure document as well as who said what, and when. Defending any franchise lawsuit, even a frivolous one, can be enormous. Franchise companies involved in franchise litigation are shocked to discover they have fallen into a quicksand that swallows up time and money without limit. The cost of prosecuting or defending even a “small” franchise lawsuit can quickly exceed $100,000, and up. Exposure can run into the millions. Although one study of franchise disclosure documents indicated 27 percent of franchise companies have a history of franchise litigation (slightly greater than 1 in 4), the real percentage is much greater and probably north of 50 percent. This is because only pending litigation and final judgments must be disclosed in franchise disclosure documents. Most franchise litigation cases, like other litigation cases are settled, so they’re only required to be in the franchise disclosure document from the time they’re filed until settled. After that, they vanish without a trace. And whether the chances of getting sued in a franchise lawsuit and getting embroiled in franchise litigation is greater than 1 in 2 or 1 in 4, who wants to get involved in a time-consuming, stressful and expensive mess?

It is almost impossible to avoid potential franchise liability unless a genuine program of education and instruction is conducted with marketing personnel as well as middle and executive franchise management. An integrated Disclosure Compliance Program that specifies rules and expectations (including legal rules in selling a franchise), manages franchise disclosure documents and controls the dissemination of all information is absolutely essential. It is also one of the best investments a franchise company will ever make. For all of the above reasons, the use of franchise brokers is definitely NOT recommended. Their statements (or other actions) made to “close the deal” will make the franchise organization (and the personal assets of its officers) liable for violations of federal or state franchise laws. This also expla

ins why the overwhelming majority of successful franchise organizations set up their own in-house franchise marketing department so that actions and statements made during the franchise marketing cycle can be monitored and controlled within the framework of a Franchise Sales Control System (sm).

3. Franchise Sales Control System (sm):

Franchise Sales Control is the other half of the entire compliance equation. While legal compliance specifies rules and expectations, franchise sales control is the mechanism for detecting gaps and inconsistencies. When detected, their causes can be identified and corrected before injuring the franchise effort. A Franchise Sales Control System should be designed with this in mind, and should include a variety of feedback mechanisms to monitor performance and retrieve pertinent information for review by management. This not only increases the effectiveness of franchise marketing efforts – it also greatly reduces the likelihood that sales personnel will deviate from established procedures in selling franchises. Finally, a well-designed Franchise Sales Control System creates a complete back up file for every franchise sold that will qualify as business record evidence in the event of a future franchise dispute. It also satisfies the legal requirement of various states that franchise companies maintain a complete set of books, records and accounts of franchise sales. Since most of the legal risk in franchising arises during the franchise marketing cycle, a comprehensive Franchise Sales Control System is the company’s best protection against the quicksand of franchise litigation.

4. Managing Franchise Relations:

As franchises are sold, the communication lines that develop between the parties will have a major impact on the success or failure of the ongoing franchise relationship. Controlling who is brought into the network through the steps outlined above is the critical first step. Once inside the franchise network, franchise owners must be taught to realize they are members of a system of mutually dependent outlets, each working for the better of the entire network. Developing an awareness of this concept early in the relationship and implementing a franchise feedback system will create a positive attitude, encourage innovative ideas from franchise owners, ensure timely royalty payments and prevent franchise relationship problems later on.

For more information, visit the Franchise Foundations website.

Evaluating Potential Businesses – 8 Critical Components of Your Business Viability Analysis

ewwink — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:15:15 +0000

Indeed, Business Viability Analysis is a boring topic. But this is also the most critical component of your business & marketing plans which provides direction on the potential market environment, market demand and supply, and to extent, guides your potential market direction decisions. Note that financial modeling is beyond the scope of this article.

I have segregated the Business Viability Analysis into two major categories, namely Overview Evaluation models and Your Domain Business Evaluation models. The former includes Porter’s 5 Competitive Forces Model, P.E.S.T. Analysis. The latter includes SWOT Analysis Matrix, Target Segment Analysis, Product Life Cycle Analysis, Competitive Advantage Model, Product Growth Directions, BCG Matrix. Both set of models will help you to qualify if the business in question is viable from market demand supply as well as potential market perspectives.

1. Porter’s 5 Competitive Forces Model -

Porter’s 5 Competitive Forces model is developed by Michael E. Porter, an important strategic analysis from a broad market environment perspective. It explores the 5 major factors namely Bargaining Power of Supplier, Customer Power/Buyer Power, New Entry Threats, Substitution Threats & Competition Rivalry.

These 5 forces are interdependent, influencing and interplaying with each other at any given point in time. This is a model which needs to be revisited on a consistent basis, usually, over a half yearly time frame for re-evaluation of market trend.

2. P.E.S.T. Analysis -

Doing your “PEST control” ensures good health a strong pulse for your business. PEST analysis essentially means macro environmental evaluations such as Political & Legal, Economic, Social & Cultural, as well as Technological.

Economic environment could make or break your business. In 2008, the US sub-prime issue became a global financial crisis which not only affected the housing market but nearly every facet of the economy by virtue of its spillover effect. The interest rate at time of writing, is 2%, a far cry from 4% a year ago. Banks tighten their lending belts and business loan borrowing become more difficult to obtain. But if you manage to get that business loan, you should be incurring a much lower interest repayment.

One Social factor which is growing in importance is the environment. Every large corporation nowadays are involved in one way or another in reducing carbon emission to the ozone and in dealing with climate change.

3. SWOT Analysis Matrix -

SWOT Analysis, is the acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats affecting your business. Strengths component analyses internal capabilities throughout all business functions which could become unique propositions when mapping out business strategies. Weaknesses analyses the internal gaps in current state. Likewise, Opportunities & Threats analyse your business’s external environment which could give rise to opportunities or threats to your business. This is a fluid cheat sheet (not totally exhaustive & you should add on to it to cater to your own business type) which should be revisited annually as a reality business stop-check.

4. Target Segment Analysis -

This is a very critical section of the marketing plan which helps you with your market segmentation and defines your target markets. Define & segment your clientele-base into Primary & Secondary Target market groups using demographic and psychographic information. Demographic data includes age, income group, geographic location etc. Psychographic data includes life-stage needs, lifestyle, consumer purchasing behavior etc. Upon completion, you would have a better gauge on the potential size of your target segments. You may adjust the segments to match your products, thereby expanding your segments for greater potential.

5. Competitive Advantage Model -

The Competitive Advantage Model by Michael E. Porter suggests 4 approaches benchmarking against your competitors namely, Cost Leadership, differentiation or focus with 2 variants.

Cost Leadership strategy means leading in a low cost pricing strategy within your industry. This is achieved from economies of scale. You must almost solely dominate this competitive space otherwise more than one company in this space will cause a price war.

Differentiation strategy indicates unique value proposition, namely in areas such as the product, service, image, distribution, marketing etc or a combination of them.

Focus strategy aspires to be the best in a focused segment, with 2 variants of cost focus and differentiation focus

6. Product Life Cycle Analysis -

The Product Life Cycle Analysis helps you to identify the stage of your product. All products go through four stages, namely the Introduction, Growth, Maturity & Decline stage. Every product has a life cycle. You need to know each of your products’ life cycles thoroughly in order to plan to phase their life-stage across the horizon.

This analysis is a fluid document which needs to be revisited annually for planning purpose. If you believe that your product has other potential uses not maximized currently, you should pro-actively look to rejuvenating the life cycles of such products at their matured and declining stages.

7. Product Growth Directions -

Product Growth Directions shed light on the possible growth approaches you can adopt in driving your product sales. This is a matrix which maps your product growth strategies across new vs existing markets and products. Potentially, the four segments are Market penetration, Market development, Diversification as well as Product Development. Market penetration essentially denotes leveraging new markets with existing products. Market development means making inroads on existing markets & products. Diversification indicates leveraging on existing markets with new products. And of course, Product development is expansion into new markets with new products.

8. BCG Matrix -

Boston Consulting Group developed this BCG Matrix which helps you to determine what priorities should be given in your product portfolio of a product. It has essentially two dimensions – market share and market growth rate, with 4 categories fitting into these quadrants.

Stars = Leaders of the Business – Products with high growth rate & high market share. Generates high cashflow and requires high cash input. Usually, Net cashflow is flat.

Cash Cows = Foundation of the Business (stars of yester years) – Products with low growth rate & high market share. They generates high cashflow with low cash input requirements.

Dogs = Drags of the Business – Products with low growth rate & low market share. They must be avoided whenever possible. Liquidate as many as possible.

Question Marks = Ambiguity of the Business – Products with high growth rate & low market share. Have high cash demand and low returns. If keeping question marks, you must ensure increase in market share and deliver cash.

The identification of your products at the various categories will enlighten you to apply the correct growth & funding strategy. For instance, cash infusion could be provided to fund Question Marks &/or Stars to drive them towards the next level – Cash Cow positions.

True application of all the above mentioned viability analyses is a cumulative interplay of the different models, although they are developed separately by separate strategists. I advocate a broad yet conjugative approach to the application as therein lies great interdependence of each to the other.

Business Planning: Eating the Elephant

ewwink — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:49:57 +0000

We really get tired of seeing the same old tired ads for business planning. It appears that what is being sold is “business in a box.” The suggestion that once completed, you will have a full business plan that any banker will fund, is false and misleading. Here are the facts: If you are writing a business plan just to get a loan, STOP, rethink your business. Getting a loan should be your last reason for writing a plan.

The Value of Planning

Anyone who has been in business, or part of a corporate management team, knows the value of planning. However, we understand the problem. For those who are new to the process and overwhelmed by the sear magnitude of a business plan, let’s clear the air. Writing a business plan is simple – provided you build the plan in logical stages. The first thing you have to do however is to relax; you will never have all the right answers, and the variables are infinite. Unless you can see into the future, you will never know everything that is going to happen.

Breathing Life into Your Ideas

A business plan – properly done, is a “living” study of how a business entrepreneur intends to organize an entrepreneurial endeavor. A business plan formulates the activities necessary and sufficient for the venture to succeed, or as my associate says – “a business plan puts you’re scattered – napkin and scrap paper ideas into a format that others will understand.”

Business plans are best used internally for the management of the operation. The operational plan sets the tone of the business for the employees and advisors who will be working to make the business successful. The operational plan starts everyone out on the same page.

One common belief within business and venture capital circles is that the actual plan itself has little value, but it’s the act of planning that has the real merit. A fact that most people ignore, is that if a business idea is good, a business plan makes it workable – but if the idea is garbage – no amount of planning can make it good or fundable.

We said that the process of building a business plan is made simpler if you build it in logical stages. By logical we mean build the plan as you thought of it. For example, the first thought someone usually has is “I have an idea.” The next question then becomes – is your idea feasible? You prove it by developing the feasibility study.

Overview of the Feasibility Study.

Just like in building, the most important part of any plan is the foundation. The feasibility study is that foundation. When consulting with a business plan client regarding a new business, the feasibility study is generally the first document I write, as it is less formal, and cost the client less to build.

A feasibility study is the process of testing ideas against known factors. A feasibility study asks – is the business idea sound? Is the product or services wanted by others? Who wants it? What other company is currently selling the same product? For what price? And, how do they sell them? We test our answers – not just say yes or no to them. The test is general research to prove the hypothesis – stopping just short of a full blow research study.

A feasibility study may only be one to 15 pages in length depending on the business idea, and includes cursory attention to such key matters as business concept (above), preliminary financing needs and a brief marketing section. It serves as the base plan, and later – as a valuable prelude to a full-length plan if the idea takes off.

If all the answers in the feasibility study are good and the decision is made to go forth, the ways and means of selling the product or service are required. You have done the preliminary ideas in the feasibility study; now flesh them out in the Marketing Plan.

Overview of the Marketing Plan.

Once you have the feasibility studies completed and have concluded that you want to go forth with the business you will need to know a little more detail for the cost of marketing and selling the product or service. We fully flesh out the preliminary marketing plan we did in the feasibility study.

The marketing plan sections points out the Who, What, When, Where, and How of marketing the product or service. From this marketing plan, you can determine your budgeting requirements. The marketing plan also discusses the web requirements of your business, and how the internet will be used. Get expert advice here and work with a full service internet developer to help you determine the direction you need to go. In other words, don’t get sucked into the hype surrounding pay-per-click, or ad-words until you know if you can afford these and your business model warrants these methods.

From the answers derived in the planning, you will be able to develop a cost of marketing estimate. The next step is the Working or Operational Plan.

Overview of the Operational Plan.

The third stage of the logical planning solution answers the question of “what will it take to run the business.” If you have never been self-employed, then the operational knowledge will come from advice received from consultants, business advisors and prospective managers you will be hiring to help run the business.

As with the feasibility study, you can afford a somewhat higher degree of candor and informality when preparing a working plan. The working plan is an operational plan that conveys your requirements and sets the tone for future employee policies.

Once you know how you are gong to run the business, the next question is “how are you going to fund it?” Stage two of the operational plan sets the funding requirements. The funding portion is based on the knowledge you have gained in the previous stages.

We know what we are going to sell, we know to whom we are going to sell it to and we know the resources we will need to operate the business. We can project assumed costs and thus the expected profits out of this information. Pretty simple huh? The question we want to solve at this stage is – can we sell our product or service for the price needed to make a profit and stay in business?

In addition, the drafting of the funding plan allows us to map out the exit strategy, a part of planning often never discussed. (Right alone with contingency plans and business life insurance) Look for my up coming article on Contingency Planning. The simple explanation for an exit strategy is how you plan to terminate your ownership of the company, or some part of the company. You and your investors pre-plan ways of recouping the capital that will be invested in the company.

Once the answers are determined in the strategy meeting with your advisors, the final decision is – will you self-fund, use private investors, or do you need venture capital? If the outside capital route is the answer, then say hello to the Presentation Plan.

Overview of the Presentation Plan.

The Presentation Plan is a compilation of the Feasibility Study, the Marketing Plan and the Operation plan with projected profit and loss analysis. The formalized version is the one suitable for showing to bankers, investors and others outside the company. It should be in both printed and electronic format for ease of use, e.g. presentation over a web broadcast to a remote lender.

A Word of Caution Regarding Planning Software

The use of computer software to develop you business plan is a good alternative for people who are more serious about their business then they are in learning how to write. But planning software has its drawbacks – the biggest is that is makes you lazy. Good planning software offers you advice for strategic aspect of t

he plan, but this advice should in no way be the only advice you seek when planning your business. It simply mimics what is written in often-copied planning manuals.

I will stop short of recommending software for I have seen and used both good and bad software over the 20 plus years I have been helping people write their business plans. I also want to caution you in using the sample plans. I can tell you this. Every serious investor knows the difference, has seen the sample in countless other plans, and the minute they see the same old hackneyed answers; the plan goes in the garbage. Save yourself the time and the embarrassment. The bottom line is that if you cannot plan out your own business, using your own words, then you probably should consider staying an employee.

Conclusion.

Business planning is easy once you decide to build your business plan on paper and in stages. Actually, it is more enjoyable then running the business. When you see your ideas come to life on paper and you prove each question or solve each problem as they come up, you are setting yourself up for future management decisions. If you get half way through and don’t go any farther then the operational portion, you are still better off then if you had just jumped into business without a plan.

Staged Business Planning is the solution to the question of “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer of course is “one bite at a time.”