Business Management, Long-Range Planning

If there's one skill that most people wish they had, no doubt it would be the ability to know what's going to happen next week… or next year… or in 10 years… or in 30 years. It sure would make contractors' lives easier if they could know what the weather would be like tomorrow, or whether business will be brisk enough in the coming months to recoup the cost of major equipment purchases, or whether the economy is going to head south next year, or what a cozy retirement will cost two decades from now. As long as this ability eludes us, however, we all must rely on educated guesses and sober analysis of available data and various indicators to plan as best we can for the short-term and long-term future. It's a daunting task we all face, in our professional and personal lives alike.

The key to running a successful business is to set realistic goals, develop a plan to achieve those goals, and implement the plan in a logical manner. According to Mark Bowman, a business professor at Emory University, "Every business plan needs to address three questions: Where am I now? Where do I want to go? How am I going to get there? In other words, assess your current business situation, identify where you want your business to be at some pre-determined point in the future, and spell out the strategies and tactics you should pursue to get there."

Regardless of whether you're a painting contractor, a caterer, an architect or a photographer, if you're running your own business, you need a plan that addresses both short-term and long-term concerns. As author Mark Hendricks puts it in his book, Business Plans Made Easy, "About the only person who doesn't need a business plan is one who's not going into business. Anybody beginning or extending a business that will consume significant resources of money, energy or time, and that is expected to return a profit, should take the time to draft some kind of plan."