[Christien]

Some good points here. Wayne, while I agree with your comment re obsolescence of a business plan the minute it leaves the printer, it can still be a very valuable exercise to go through. I made a business plan 2 years after my company started operations, and was already running successfully. (I needed one to shop the company to investors) I learned a boatload about what we're doing well, what we can improve, and potential holes someone else might find in my company, which of course were quickly filled. It forced me to look very critically and objectively and what we were doing. It also helped in that I had to create a bunch of spreadsheets for cash flow projections, and other really boring stuff, but it really lays in front of you how your company will grow with $xx investor dollars vs. $xxxx. Now I can just alter a few numbers here and there since I made them to reflect what's happened in the intervening years, and I've got new projections in a couple minutes.

But yeah, too much reading of books and not enough "out there doing it" experience will not only give you a headache but also maybe some wrong impressions. Remember that most of these are written from a generic business standpoint, typically with things like inventory and overhead. My company (financial) has no inventory - there's no markups on products or anything like that. So I had to reinterpret everything I read.

The absolute most important thing you have to have is a good bookkeeping/accounting system. You're sunk if you can't see where your money's coming from and going to. It's a ridiculously steep learning curve, but you can do it. If you're absolutely stuck, hire someone to do it for you. You (or someone on staff) need to know the financial figures inside out.