“Experts Views on the Value of Business Plans"

As I was browsing through a website that focuses on experts in the industry and their opinions on business plans, I came across two experts whose views caught my attention. The first expert I read about name was Chuck Blakeman. Chuck Blakeman is an entrepreneur and mentor whose views are that a company should not have a business plan.

According to BP Expert Views, Blakeman says a business plan wastes time that could be spent actually doing the business. Since the future is untold, Blakeman feels that you should spend time doing the actual business instead of planning for it in advance. I agree with Blakeman statement. One doesn’t know if he or she will even be alive the next day, so how are you going to plan for a future that is unsure if it is going to actually happen. With the way that technology and the entertainment business is changing, why should someone plan for a future is they are unsure if the way things are happening now will happen in the future? You spend all this time preparing for a project that could either be out of trend, no longer marketable, or your competition may beat you to it first since you did not start acting upon it right away.

The second expert I read about was Steven Gedeon. According to Bp Expert Views, Steve Gedeon is a founder of dozens of private, public, venture capital and non-profit organizations; published over 100 articles, reports and patents; and delivered over 40 public speaking engagements and on-line videos on personal leadership, motivation, entrepreneurship and teaching.

Steven Gedeon views on business plans is quite different than Chuck Blakeman’s. Steven focuses on key points when drafting up a business plan. Some of the key components he focuses on are the following:

• What is the business?
• Whom are you selling to?
• What is the price point for the services and products you are offering?
• Who are the competitors and how are you different?

These key components help you determine whether your business has credibility and if your company is worth investing in. These components help measure the effectiveness of your business and prevent a company from making mistakes. Working on a business plan takes time, dedication and patience. The more effective you are with your business plan the more successful your business will be.

References:

Blakeman, C. (2011). Chuck Blakeman. How: the worst, most asked planning question, retrieved from http://chuckblakeman.com/2012/8/texts/how-the-worst-most-asked-planning-question

Hartwell, L. (2012). Chuck Blakeman. Expert Views on Business Plans, retrieved from http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/

Richardson, A. (2012). Steven Gedeon. Expert Views on Business Plans, retrieved from http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/