Where this article does help is allowing an idea to be quickly tossed out when it doesn't meet the minimum criteria. If it passes muster, then more serious thought, and a real business plan are in order.

SpudDude

Seriously guys, the LH title is more adequate than the actual article title. I think the term jumpstart is definitely more suitable.

"Plans" DO work if used properly. They are merely a guide not a map. If you expect to be able to write or find something that will take you on a linear line to your goals then you probably shouldn't be in business for yourself.

SirSmiley

At best this is laughable. The sad part is someone out there will read this and think "this is the kick in the pants I need".

Reality #1 - The business plan is all research to gain trust in a bank that will loan you money to get started or add-on.

Reality #2 - The idea of following a plan as a small business owner is funny to me. There are so many things that come up. There are so many changes all the time. "Plans" don't work. Flexibility and having thick skin will go a lot farther.

WarBread

I run my own business too

I don't find this to be too helpful

Ken

i run my own business

HA! if only it was that simple...

gorilly

#5 - who's the competition and why are you better?

If you don't consider this, and answer the second part from a truly objective viewpoint (like having your product run side-by-side in an independent test) you'll get hosed.

virgilstar

Whiteboards are so gay.

TPSreports

2 simple steps to mapping out a business, true story. Let me paint the picture first. The economy was sick, like now. No job, employer went bankrupt. Decided to start a business.

Step
1. Throw yellow pages on the floor. Where it opens close your eyes and run your finger down the page. Stop. You picked your business.
2. Learn everything you can about the same type of businesses. Call them up and talk. The owner will brag and tell you his secrets, pitfalls, charges for his product or services. Adopt the same charges for your business. Compete for the market.

If this works and you become successful, send me some money.
danahyatt.mail@gmail.com

danahyatt

Another small business owner here.

I have to agree with other folks saying that the article doesn't really meet up with a lot of what I like to call "reality".

There's a lot more to it than answering a couple of over-simplified questions. This may help you to start brainstorming, if you're otherwise oblivious to the business world and you realize it's only step one in a hundred step process... but if you're truly serious about starting your own business, this is more like stretching before the workout than anything truly meaninful.

As already stated, a real business plan is used to help you establish credibility and credit to get things running. Anyone using the article as a replacement for a real business plan should probably just avoid starting a business and save themselves the humiliation and frustration that such expectations will inevitably cause.

Plus, as others have said, if you're planning on running a small business, sticking to any such simplified plan is as near to impossible as you might as well stop fooling yourself right now. Things just aren't that simple. Running your own business has a ton of peripheral junk that sucks up more time and energy than any human should conceivably have to worry about.

dv8godd

@gorilly: This is just a really high level and simple list to remind people/entrepreneurs what your goals should be, especially since it's so easy to get lost within details.

chareverie

@danahyatt: LOL.. thats a refreshing twist..

Neo

It seems like this would be very useful for screening potential employees in a new company, or giving specialists a very basic idea of how the business runs. Startups rely so heavily on everyone in early stages that every single person should know the answers to these four simple questions.

pscheyer

Dwight Eisenhower said something to the effect that "Plans are worthless - Planning is everything"

The problem with these simplified plans is that they simplify the planning and diminish its value.

The reason plans are worthless is (as mentioned above) reality gets in the way. But if you've done good planning you know your business and the interface with reality well so you can adapt and still succeed.

I would never invest in a company whose planning consists of just the questions on the post.

BizCoach

@warbread Why shouldn't small businesses make plans- especially, flexible ones?

Nothing's wrong with starting your plan using these 4 questions (which are actually broken down into several sub-questions if examined) in order to start the planning process, but even as the author stated they're not supposed to be enough to produce a document to take to the bank for your small business loan.

In this form, it's more like a simple strategic plan- something to give structure to your decisions and direction, rather than a business plan.

edadkins

Having a plan is far better than not having one - even as things come up and change rapidly, flying by the seat of your pants from the get-go won't go well. A business plan is not only to make the bank feel better about lending you money. If you don't have a clear idea of what your goals are how can you define success/failure?

MikeTek

@BizCoach: That's a great Ike quote.

And agreed on the rest as well.

@pscheyer: A good point. It's not that the questions posed are worthless... just that they're not all that helpful to the reality of planning a business as they are presented.

It's actually surprising the number of people in an organization (new or old) who tend to have different answers for such simple questions. An exercise of a similar type can be useful to make sure everyone in your organization is on the same page and working towards the same goals.

dv8godd

When I decided to start a business I spent about three months writing a plan. I had doubts about my ideas, I didn't know how to research properly, I didn't have a concrete idea of where I wanted to take the business and frankly I had way too many doubts as well as too many lofty ideas.

At the end of those three months - having achieved practically nothing useful - I threw my plan away and just got started. Progress wasn't smooth and I was surprised how much was involved. To be fair, a plan would have helped me. But making mistakes helped a whole lot more than sitting down and trying to predict what running a business would be like.

I was naive when I started; made mistakes; probably made a fool of myself. I'm still naive, but I'm a lot less naive than I was a year and a half ago. And next year I'll be a lot less naive than I am today.

I have a strong plan now, of course. It's a lot easier to write one once you know something. If I decide to start a second business, I'll probably start off with a stronger plan. But I'd also get to work first.

With that said, one thing I wouldn't do is spend more money than I'm happy to gamble until I've made a more solid plan.

Alan Pritt

Comparative advantage.

If one has the above the business is feasible.

zolielo

I hope I am not making too much of an assumption but if you all actually read the full article, its not completely off base. I too am an entrepreneur and have studied and practiced business to great extents. The simple 1-4 summary on LH does no justice to the article. For the average "wanna-be" entrepreneur, following this article is not a bad start at all. It covers all of the basics of laying out the core concept of a business to determine its feasibility. I've heard so many entrepreneurs with "great" ideas, but haven't thought thru the simple things like "who is your customer" and "how much can you charge them to make a profit". These are covered here.

A well written article. I hope to see more business/entrepreneurial articles on LH.

joeny1980

@zolielo: Lol, you mean "COMPETITIVE advantage"

joeny1980

@joeny1980: A comparative or absolute advantage can lead to a competitive advantage.

zolielo

5. ...
6. PROFIT!

chaos0815