This Issue: Plan Your Business, Assure Your Success

Winston Churchill was a great orator, but I read that he spent a lot of time developing this skill. He wasn’t a natural in the beginning, but he worked at it until he mastered it. He became a powerful and mesmerizing speaker. One of his most famous speeches during World War II included these words:

Never, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

Churchill and his people were in danger of being bombed out and overrun by the German military when he said that. You might not be experiencing the blitz, but you can still apply those words of courage to your daily life. There are days when I have so many problems come at me at once that it can seem like the blitz. I don't give in to them, and neither should you--ever!

Another important thing about courage is that it will help you think and act in the right way. It will help you focus on the opportunities in front of you instead of on the problems. Problems are often opportunities coming at us in packaging that isn't what we expect or want. This has happened to me more times than I can count. So when I say I welcome problems, there's a reason for it. Keep your mind flexible and open to creative solutions to your problems. Einstein said, "You can't solve a problem with the same thinking that created the problem." That's a good way to avoid brain cramps as well as find a solution.

Back to courage. Remember that fear can be conquered. Know that you are capable of courage and that you are designed to succeed--that's half the battle. Then go full throttle, and the odds will be on your side.

Today's article by Donald J. Trump is adapted from his latest book Trump: Never Give Up, just published by John Wiley & Sons.

THIS ONE IS BIG!!!!  Fail to plan, plan to fail. It is as simple as that.

And by plan, I don’t mean have some idea in your head about your business or your career. When I say plan, I mean have a REAL plan. A written plan . . . that you work on frequently.

People always ask me how to get started on writing a business plan. It is really quite simple. For my planning processes, I like to use what’s called heuristic, or backward, planning. I learned it in the military. Basically, you start with your objective in mind and then work back to where you are now.

Heuristic planning can be distilled down into three basic steps. Let’s take a look at each . . .

Step One: Identify Your Overall Objective

Hopefully, you’ve incorporated your passion into your overall objective. That objective can be anything from getting a job in a new industry or new company to owning a major league sports team. Whatever it may be, just make sure it is something you’re passionate about and that it is defined. Once you’ve identified your overall objective, you can begin the processes of achieving it!

You need to be specific about defining the objective. What constitutes success? How do you define failure? What are all of the components of the objective that you want to achieve? Truly understanding the answers to all of these questions will help you develop your plan more effectively.

Step Two: Determine Intermediate Milestones and Supporting Tasks to Reach Each Milestone

For any objective you identify, there will be many milestones. And for each milestone there will be many supporting tasks. For instance, if your objective is to find a job in a new industry, say real estate, then you’d have many potential milestones that could include:

1. Obtaining some level of formal or informal education about real estate
2. Developing an understanding of the different jobs available
3. Conducting a self-assessment and comparing that to what you’ve learned about the industry to determine the roles for which you’d be best suited; and
4. Developing a structured network to assist you in finding, closing and excelling in your new job.

These are just a few potential milestones. Based on your ultimate objective there can be many, many milestones and they need to be individually mapped out. Many milestones can be worked on simultaneously. For instance, you might be getting your formal education in real estate at the same time you are increasing the size of your network in the real estate industry.

For each of your milestones there are supporting tasks that must be accomplished. The supporting tasks are basically all of the actions you need to accomplish in order to reach your milestone. The more specific you are in identifying tasks and timing for them to be completed, the better you’ll be able to track your progress.

Step Three: Measure Your Performance and Adjust Your Plan

Tracking your progress is critical to success. You can’t know how you’re doing if you don’t measure against your plan. The milestones act as measuring points where you can assess your development and gauge your progress. As part of the process of measuring your progress, you may find some interesting things occurring: You may learn that there are new milestones that you need to put in place to reach your objective; some of the milestones you thought you needed to reach may not really have been necessary; or you may even find out that you need to adjust your overall objective. Adjusting your plan is all part of the process and will ultimately enable you to achieve your objectives.

On The Apprentice, I took a lot of flak for being on the laptop a lot during the tasks. One of the interesting aspects of the show is that the complexity of each task does not come through to the viewing audience. Before we filmed the show, I remember watching a couple of episodes of Season One, and I remember thinking to myself that it looked pretty easy.

Well, I’m here to tell you that it isn’t! We were given very little time and money to accomplish some very significant tasks. That required meticulous planning. Not only did we have to account for every penny, we had to manage some very strong personalities. By tracking our objective, milestones, and supporting tasks on the laptop, I was better able to lead my teammates and contribute to our ultimate success. So think about that...we created a detailed written plan for one task on a reality show. Isn’t your career, your business, your life more important than a task on a reality show!? Or course it is. Start building your plan!

Planning is one of the most critical leadership that will contribute to your ultimate success in business and in life. Remember: identify your objective, set appropriate milestones and list their supporting tasks, and measure your performance so that you can adjust your plan as necessary.

As we roll into 2008, it’s time to write a business plan. As I discussed recently on the Trump Blog, I am the developer of a new approach to the process that I call "plan-as-you-go" business planning. Today, I’d like to explain it in a little more detail. For convenience, let's call it PAYG.

How is PAYG different?

Good question. Let's get into some specifics:

1. Start anywhere and just get going. The plan is a matter of interlocking blocks, so some people start with a numbers task, like a sales forecast, and others start conceptually, with a vision or a strategy or focus. Just get started. Don’t wait until your plan is finished, get going. Start today and start using it tomorrow. 

2. Remember that your business plan will be wrong - but that you need it anyway. Because you are predicting the future you’re bound to be wrong. But you have to do it anyway. You still need to set down tracks so you can follow up, revise and keep moving ahead without losing sight of your long-term goals and directions. 

3. Never forget that good business plans are never done. My company’s business plan started in the late 1980’s and it’s still a work-in-progress. If your plan is finished, your company is finished. Instead, you revise as needed, as in steering, navigation, and walking. The core of the plan is the collection of heart and flesh and bones - its content, thinking, and specifics. From that, you can spin out a document or presentation or elevator speech as needed, and when needed. 

4. Form follows function. Do only as much as you need to run your company, to manage, to build strategy and follow-up and long-term goals and directions. If you don’t need to create a formal plan, don’t! 

5. Don’t ever let your plan go static. Keep it on top of of your pile of work-in-progress. It needs to be active, alive - and not forgotten in a drawer. 

6. You will measure your plan by the decisions it guides. The paper, the font, the page layout, the cover - all secondary! Any plan is only as good as the results it achieves.