There is no better opportunity of having a clear vision than grabbing an instantaneous moment of forming your resolve. You have to have focus in everything, and focus is nowhere to be found without vision, so create one now, and post it in a board.

If you find yourself in the middle of deep contemplation, but without the single idea what exactly to do, or you have hundred other things that need attention but you have no hint where to start and what to prioritize, it only means you lack vision and you needed one, so badly. Your plans will only make sense if you know exactly where you are going. I do not even think it is possible to craft sensible plans without a sensible vision.

About 30 years ago, I learned about making up ‘vision board’ from recycled materials of used magazines. It is quite simple. You secure for yourself some magazines (this should not be hard, there could be plenty in recycle bins) with pictures of the things that you want. The pictures could depict cars, jewelry, town houses, universities and top rated vacation destinations. Cut out anything that appeals to your senses, anything that you envision of possessing, make small cut outs of them and then paste it on some board. To make the objective somehow worthwhile, the board has to be ideally large and have it hung on a wall on an area that can easily and readily be seen.

All those things that you place and pasted must be consisted of the projections of your life, current and future. It has to give off an idea of the life you wish to live: successful, happy and full. The images have to be powerful to convey a strong message of self determination on your part. It has to make a statement; statement of success and happiness.

Just recently, I uncovered my own vision board that I made a couple of years ago. It contains images of people and things that project the life that I have now. Most of the projections I placed there indeed became a reality. The people I wanted to work with then indeed exactly became the people I work with now. The success I wished to have is now progressively becoming a reality.

Make your own vision board, and make things happen. Have the life you wish to have. Project the life you wish to live .And in time, it will be yours.

The effectiveness of your plan is not dependent on its complexity but it is in how it is being implemented. Your goals need not to be vague and wordy; it is your commitment that counts.

A lot of people are having difficulty of crafting a plan; all the more of devising a plan that is workable yet simple in structure. This prompted me to craft simple steps to help you craft simplified plan but rich in wisdom and one that really works. What you need is a guide in how to come up with this plan, so I have prepared the following to make it easier for you:

Reinforce your Vision

Reinforce your vision from time to time. Remind yourself everyday about your vision. Update your vision continually, make changes, and make it grow as you also grow. Your vision must become a part of your system, and not just a composition of useless statements. Consult with it when deciding on important matters, and make it your inspiration for striving.

Identify possible ways to gauge results

You must craft strategies of measuring results. It will help you identify the key areas for which your business is strong and where it is weak. This you could give you enough preparation to make improvements.

Make your strong points stronger

After you have identified the strength of your business, you have to craft ways to make it way better and stronger. You must not get lax with your successes. Continually seek for improvements.

Prioritize things

You must know the things that you consider relevant so that you could give it priority over the others. The tendency is when things begin to improves, a businessman get entangled with so many affairs that he gets lost as to what is important and what is not. Devote your resources to things that you consider relevant. And for you to do this, you must be clear with your vision.

Keep track of things

It helps to keep track of everything that you employ with your plan. Record your progress and setbacks. Mention the specific details for future reference. As much as possible, do not left things out, include even the minute fact. This will help you to have a solid reference once you start analysis of your business.

Act and React

You need to act accordingly and react to feedbacks appropriately. The reason of having a plan is so you could organize your actions. Be prompt with your responses. If you have seen things that need rectification, attend to it immediately.

Make your plan work. Improve on areas that need improving, and celebrate with your successes.

Many people have no problems crafting plans. It is in sticking with the plans and making it work that makes people go gaga.

Plans are an integral part of running and grooming a successful business venture. Nothing is greatly achieved in the absence of a sensible plan. It has to be a part of the system of every business entity. It is the blueprint of a business, without it, things could really get chaotic in the process. Plans however, no matter how grand, are rarely implemented the way it is designed to be implemented. Sometimes people craft plans just out of necessity and not really for the sake of making it as a concrete guide as it really is. Businessmen make carefully crafted plans, with impressive goals and strategies, and then leave it as it is. They come up with great plans at the start, and then come up with petty excuses when implementation is called for.

If you wish to succeed in your business, you really have to learn to stick with your plans. Make it useful. Or should I say use it as it is designed to be used. It could be your map of driving your business towards the path that you want it to take. Having a plan and implementing what it says makes it easier for you to manage your business and will give you desirable results. If plans are so crucial, then why so many people ignore implementing it? To help you in making your plan work for you, remember these:

• Put your plans into writing. It makes it easier for you to implement it if the details are written.
• Make your goals specific. Leave nothing in ambiguous terms.
• Keep your focus at all times. Never be swayed by the threats and challenges along the way. Think of it as natural occurrence of nature.
• Make your plans practically sound. Meaning that it is workable under any circumstances. If the point is to make your goal achievable then make your plan doable as well.
• Share your plans with like-minded people. Withhold no details. Explain your plans and ask for their feedback how to make the plan better.
• Keep track of all your victories and challenges. This will help you gauge the soundness of your plan and it could also tell you whether you need to do some revisions with the plan.
• Gauge the results objectively. Any unfavorable results should be met with a positive attitude to make it work somehow
• Never give up!

So if you have a plan, make it work!

Business plans seem just like a mere theory to some, with nothing much to offer. However, business plans really count in business, here are simple ways in making your business plans a reality:

Some of you may not feel the necessity of going through the process of writing your business plans, pretty much confident that you know your business well. And if ever there was a point that you wrote a business plan, it was for formality sake and a requirement for a loan. After you made and wrote your business plans do you even bother to consult with it? It is a sad reality but a reality nevertheless.

Business plans are your business’s map as it treads along the tricky path of the business world. It crystallizes your goals and the ideal time for which you achieve your goals. It helps make you see it as clear picture. An ideal business plan includes methods and strategies you are about to employ in running your business. It even lists down the risks and threats your business is about to meet, and states your contingencies whenever those risks occur. It is your detailed guide towards business success.

The real question there is whether do you regularly refer to your business plans? For some, it is tossed aside as easily as if it doesn’t matter. Even if you have crafted such grand business plans, do you really see the whole idea? Is it really indeed making a difference?  As long as you do not live by your business plans, it will not become a part of your system, and it will surely drift away.  So let me help you by pointing out key simple steps to make your business plans count in a span of a year:

1. Itemise your goals into small achievable ones

To make it not seem overwhelming, you do not need to project your goal as a whole. You can break it down to pieces into small achievable goals. If your wish to accomplish your goal, you can break it down to a monthly process. Or achieve your goal by phases. This makes easier and practical of living by your business plan and achieving your goal.

2. Make your business plan a part of your system

• Remind yourself of your business goals daily.
• Associate and meet regularly with like-minded people who are of the same quest as you do.
• Make your business goal the screen saver or desktop background of your computer
• Place your business plans in your mobile phone
• Write it down in your whiteboard

You need to make your business plans and your goals to be a part of your daily routine; you have to make it belong to your system.

3. Have fun while doing it

There is no point of trying to succeed in achieving your goals if you are not having fun. You may try these following stuffs to make things enjoyable:

• Make your self-reminders humorous.
• Reward yourself every time you achieve a goal
• Place inspiring messages and quotations around your business plans
• Treat yourself somewhere while reviewing your business plans.

You have to remember that life is short. Do everything in joy and in fun.

There are other things to make your business plans work, if you have any ideas please let us hear it out.

A lot of experienced soloists encourage newbies to make business plans before they commence on their business pursuit. However, there are some soloists who just don’t make business plans but rather stays pliable or quick on the trigger. If you look closely, such approach can be absurd.

You see, if you are making decisions regarding marketing and other business-related issues, how can one create strategic plans or decisions? Without a business plan, your decisions will be for short-term periods only and tactical. Also, how much time can it take for you to decide on what you should do and what you shouldn’t if you don’t have the foundation for making that decision? In fact, how can you even come up with decisions?

According to behavioral science, there are a lot of options for humans which leads to doing nothing or doing things over and over again. The paradox of choice, as they call it.

Soloists should always, always, always have a business plan before they set sail and go on an adventure. The same goes to the little things that you’re planning to do. For example, traveling. If you enjoy traveling and you are bound to go to an unknown place, don’t you need to have to have a concrete plan in order for you to execute the whole adventure perfectly and at the same time, make great decisions? The same applies to small businesses or even large ones.

Devising new strategies, long-term plans are some of the most important things that you can write on your business plan. Aside from this, having the right foundation can give you a bigger chance to succeed on your business ventures. Soloists who are more into flexibility tend to be caught off guard and make wrong decisions that causes their business to fall into peril.

However, it is all by your own personal choice, whether you are the type of person who makes long term plans or just go with the flow, then go ahead. If you are a soloist and you plan to expand your business, you will need to attract more investors or partners for you to be able to expand and you can only do this if you have a business plan ready for them to assess. A business plan is the foundation of your business and potential partners or investors would want to know what you plan to do and fopr them to also give their judgement on your plan.

Having a foundation or framework for your business will allow you to be more creative and cook up new ideas that can help your business improve more. In order to do this, one should always have a good and clear starting point. As you make a plan for your business, just make a list and then do it. You don’t have to spend all your time creating lists, take action and everything will fall into place.

Making a great business plan can assure you of great benefits. Here are some of the most important benefits that can be delivered if you make a great business plan.

Busy? This is not the secret to success!

A lot of business owners say that they don’t have business plans because they are loaded with too much things to do. Urgent priorities tend to tyranize the minds of business owners and because of this, they lose focus on the things that they should concentrate on, such as making a business plan. Having a business plan assures you success and at the same time, you will be more confident in making decisions because yoo have a well laid-out plan.

According to recent studies, some business owners don’t have a clear starting point which causes procrastination. That is why it is important to have a very clear and organized approach. Aside from this, don’t just focus on the investments. This is also one reason why business owners fall into ommision when it comes to making their business plans because most of them tend to focus more on how much their company can earn and other business opportunities that can bring more money to their business.

To put everything in a nutshell, it’s always great to have a plan because this will help prevent abrupt results.

Boost business value

This is one benefit that you can get from having a business plan. Setting value goals and having the ability to delimit your progress will enhance business value. Business value is considered to develop during the late stages of the business. Consider the comprehensive value at the time of sale, there will be no enough time to increase the value of your business. You should value the growth of your targets and at the same time your objectives as this will allow you to track the progress of your business, not just the cash flow but the comprehensive value of your business.

Remember that the value of your business will determine what will happen today and in your future once you exit your business. Having a business plan for how the creation of value will take place and you’ll be able to adjust your business with the objectives you set.

More business partners and funding

All businesses need to draw more funding and partners for the business to grow. In order for investors to consider your business proposal, you should be able to present your business plan which has a realistic path to success and with your own definition of success when it comes to financial and imperative value.

Having a distinctive business plan will show potential investors that you have the right kind of attitude, motivation and discipline that made you come up with such a plan with recapitulation on how you connote to achieve your business objectives. You can also use milestones to break down your plan into a more feasible and fathomable proposition.

If you don’t have a plan, it will be difficult for possible investors or partners to give you a significant assessment. Having a plan to present them will give them the chance to give you an analytical review of your plans such as your approach, strategy and business model.

Coordinate strategy with action

The high-level of strategy for your business develops when you are making your business plan. Having a plan will let you think of many strategies to work on your business for it to grow more and draw more potential investors or partners that can do good to your business. Making a plan will allow you to have recourse to your resources that are limited.

Better decision making

Once you have a business plan, you will be able to avoid complications and you will be able to come up with the right decisions that will do good for every aspect of your business.