If you learned how to write a business plan at all, you probably learned how to write a MBA quality 30-page plan designed to attract investors or get a bank loan. In addition, if you are like most of us, after your initial start up you never looked at your plan again.
Often with a prospective client, just asking the simple question tell me about your business plan can lead to all the information I need to coach this business owner to next year. I learn about the vision for the business, the issues, the focus, the employees or lack of and I learn about the customer who buys their product or service.
Entrepreneurs are typically great talkers so I wait until after their first breath and say something like is all this in writing or what do your employees think about the plan? Really, it is not meant to be an earth shattering provocative question. Somehow it usually is.
On a side note, I love entrepreneurs. It could be that I love them because they are often a lot like me. They have great ideas, a positive attitude and have way too much to do! It could be I enjoy them because their business issues are a lot like my own. It could just be that I tend to favor the...