New Attitude Adjustment Video Summary

I've just finished a 12-minute online video (presentation, slides, with me talking) summary of Chapter 2, Attitude Adjustment. Click here for that ... it does require Flash Player and Java on your system, and the window has to be about 860 pixels wide to show the whole thing.

Installing the Business Plan Pro Add-on

I've finished a nine-minute video showing you how to download and install the free add-on, available on this site, to implement a default plan-as-you-go business plan outline as an add-on to Business Plan Pro.

That video is available on YouTube.

This video shows you how to download the add-on, install it into Business Plan Pro, and then use it to create a plan-as-you-go plan. Then it shows you a bit about how to use that customized outline within the software.

Plan as you Go and Business Plan Pro

This is a flash video, set for 800x600 dimensions, which will require that you install Flash on your system if you don't already have it. just click this link ... Planning as you go with Business Plan Pro ... it should open up a new window with a media player showing, and an obvious arrow to click.

The source file was set up at 800 x 600 resolution, so you might want to resize the window to show the resolution at its best. If the window you use to watch this is too big, then it looks fuzzy.

And here, below, is a flash player version of the same thing (I hope) ...

If this doesn't work for you, it might be a matter of Internet band width or compatibility with flash. I'd like to know, so leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

A Few Good Books

Two of My Books

  • If you're starting a business or even thinking about starting a business, please look for Start Your Business in Three Weeks, with Sabrina Parsons as co-author. As I'm writing this I'm revising that one, and they're both scheduled to come out at about the same time.
  • Hurdle: The Book on Business Planning
    by Tim Berry
    read more about this book...

    If you want a step-by-step guide to creating the formal business plan, try my Hurdle: the Book on Business Planning. It's posted as its own free website at www.hurdlebook.com, and you can download the ebook-and-printable version as well, at www.bplans.com. Or you can buy it from Palo Alto Software or www.amazon.com

Books in This Book

This book recommends or cites several other books at various places. I do tend to refer to books I like and recommend.

The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
by Guy Kawasaki
read more about this book...
Guerilla Marketing in 30 Days
(Guerrilla Marketing)
by Levinson, Al Lautenslager
read more about this book...
Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide
by John Jantsch
read more about this book...
Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
by Seth Godin
read more about this book...
All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
by Seth Godin
read more about this book...
The One Minute Manager
by Kenneth H. Blanchard, Spencer Johnson
read more about this book...
Rules For Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services
by Guy Kawasaki, Michele Moreno
read more about this book...
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
by Malcolm Gladwell
read more about this book...
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
by Chip Heath, Dan Heath
read more about this book...
The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)
by Patrick M. Lencioni
read more about this book...

Sidebar: If You Dread Planning

This is from my blog Up and Running, on Entrepreneur.com

If You Dread Planning Your Startup, Don’t Start It

Earlier today I had one of those light bulbs go off in my head. I’m referring to those times when you’re reminded of something you already knew, but had forgotten. In my case today it was this: planning your new business, the one you’re thinking of starting, ought to be fun. Planning isn’t about writing some ponderous homework assignment or dull business memo, it’s about that business that you want to create. It should be fascinating to you … what do people want, how are you going to give it to them, how are you different, what do you do better than anybody else …

Honestly, isn’t that related to the dreaming that makes some of us want to build our own businesses? It was for me, every time, including those that made it and those that failed. Dreaming about the next thing I wanted to do was always part of it. Dreaming is related to looking forward, anticipating, and — in this case — business planning.

This came up this morning during my second day of video sessions for SBTV (which no longer exists), which had been filming me on starting and managing a business, and business planning. I was answering a question relating starting a business to getting out of the cubicle when I realized that I was in danger of forgetting that business planning is part of the dreaming and part of the fun.

I think what’s important is that none of us should be intimidated by business planning because of what I’ve called the not so big business plan, or the point I made in this blog last month about starting anywhere you like. The business plan is a way to lay out your thoughts and think it through — it shouldn’t be some dull ponderous task you have to get through.

If thinking through the core elements of your business, or for that matter the details of your business, isn’t interesting, then get a clue. You’re not really looking forward to it. Do you not want to do it?

Remember, you don’t have to do the whole plan all at once. One of the most common and damaging myths about planning is that you are supposed to work only on your business plan until you finish that plan. To the contrary, you should be enjoying thinking about the market, what you do well, how you want to focus, what sales might be, what costs might be, and so forth; and you should be writing some of that down, simple and without a lot of intimidation, just write it down and save it and then do something else. You start your plan wherever you want to, and you start using it the next day, and you don’t worry about exactly when it is formally done, because it never will be. Just get going, but enjoy the thinking and planning while you do.

If you dread the planning of your next vacation, stay home. If you dread the planning of your new startup, don’t start it.