I think writing a formal business plan is a huge undertaking. It has benefits, but really not much more (IMO) than can be gained by asking some simple, to the point questions such as the ones you’ve listed above.

I have a creative thinking tool that I love and use a lot, which is about ask (at least) 3 questions about your problem, find 3 possible solutions or talk to 3 people – maybe that’s why I went for a model with 3 questions in it…hmmm

Hi Joanna and thanks…it was fun

Hey! Did you know that Economists lay awake at night wondering if the real things they see can work in theory?

I have some license to slam Economists and Economics ’cause I studied it at Uni. I reckon it’s a form or brain disease…it maybe too late for me?…but maybe I can help prevent others suffering the same fate?

I was always jumpin’ up on down on my desk, demanding answers that made some kind of sense. I’d be saying stuff like:

“Are you trying to tell me, that you want me to read this big fat book and learn all these preposterous big fat words and graphs, that describe a cup of tea over a fence between neighbours?”

I like simplicity too …I tried it…Mobile Wood-Fired Pizzas…sounds so simple doesn’t it? …I thought so too…but I ended up being a bluddy lobbyist!

Cheers

Stephen G

They’re back in…I had to remove the no follow though, I think that was part of the problem? Very strange…

You can remove these comments if you like

Cheers

Stephen G

They disappeared from the link context thingy too…:

Link Context: One link ‘WorkInColour’ goes here – “I’m curious Joanna…given that you have a great business ‘WorkInColour’ …”

The other one,’the book’ goes here – “Here’s an excerpt from a description of ‘the book’ by Mark Johnson…”

Thanks

Cheers

Stephen G

Link Context: One link ‘WorkInColour’ goes here – “I’m curious Joanna…given that you have a great business …”

The other one,’the book’ goes here – “Here’s an excerpt from a description of by Mark Johnson…”

Good to see you back supporting to our intrepid and dare I say it, ‘crusty’ ‘blogmeister’ while he is on Safari for ‘winged elephants?’ ;-P…Paul – have you tried a trail of breadcrumbs mate?

Butt seriously…elephants are pretty smart mate…but they’d be not pretty smart to miss out on The Feisty experience

I’m curious Joanna…given that you have a great business http://workincolour.com.au why would you want to employ a different business model? Is the one you have not working?

That said, I can see how asking oneself these questions may lead to improvements or reviews of ones current business operations…

However, I have never been inclined to think of business in terms of ‘models’…in fact I think the economies of scale of business rhetoric passed the point of diminishing returns about 80 years ago.

Business models, structures, formats, CVPs, ROIs, ‘PVCs’…where does it end?

Here’s an excerpt from description of http://hbr.org/product/seizing-the-white-space-business-model-innovation-/an/2481-HBK-ENG?Ntt=Seizing+the+White+Space by Mark Johnson, that Mark Johnson’s blog is promoting:

“Leaving the rhetoric to others, Johnson lays out an eminently practical framework that identifies the four fundamental building blocks that make business models work. In a series of in-depth case studies, he goes on to vividly illustrate how companies are using innovative business models to seize their white space and achieve transformational growth by fulfilling unmet customer needs in their current markets; serving entirely new customers and creating new markets; and responding to tectonic shifts in market demand, government policy, and technologies that affect entire industries. He then lays out a structured process for designing a new model and developing it into a profitable and thriving enterprise, while investigating the vexing and sometimes paradoxical managerial challenges that have commonly thwarted so many companies in their unguided forays into the unknown. Business model innovators have reshaped entire sectors – including retail, aviation, and media – and redistributed billions of dollars of value. With road-tested frameworks, analytics, and diagnostics, this book gives executives everything they need to reshape their businesses and achieve transformative growth.”

‘Leaving the rhetoric to others’? My GOD! And that’s just a promo paragraph!!!

In a world where ‘meaning’ has been unceremoniously dethroned by the new ‘King Content’, there seems to be a sudden and dramatic tide of ‘iteration’, lead by the new King’s Chamberlain, Sir Everything Overandoverandover (SEO).

I have met a lot of people in my time, and even the dumbest of them are intelligent enough to ask themselves the followig when embarking upon any project:

What can I do?

Is it worth doing?

What do I need to do it?

What happened to having a good idea and passionately pursuing it? How many great and successful businesses are run by folks that don’t have a clue about all that ‘transformational growth’ jargon?

Architects use models, Geneticists use models, Climatologists use models…Have we forgotten what a ‘model’ actually is? It certainly isn’t ‘reality’…it is a guide, a practice, an educated approximation AT BEST!…isn’t it?

In a world that at least appears to be finally cracking its long-closed eyelids to the fact that the current ‘Business Model’ didn’t do something as basic as a ‘Stock-take’ before it ramped up it’s production systems (ALL OF THEM!); how energy efficient is all this ‘modeling’ at this point? And what is the reference point for all of this modeling? The model that missed the stock-take? Oh! Well that makes great business sense! Doesn’t it?

What if our infrastructure actually supported actual business ‘logic’ (as opposed to ‘business rhetoric’)? Would ‘doing the right thing’ actually become economically viable?

Thanks again Joanna…as always you have a knack for raising the core issues with the lightest of touches

Cheers

Stephen G

And I’m pleased to share this simple model – it has made a big difference to my business planning this year.

Just wondering, how do you wing an elephant? Is it like Dumbo, the flying elephant? I have a weird mental image happening here