Month 11 - Business Plan Development

My last month on campus was Business Plan Development with Mike Koch. This month we spent a great deal putting our business plans together, paying close attention to each part. Since the beginning of the program I have changed my business plan to J. Coney's, a Detroit-style Coney Island.

The Leadership Portfolio Assignment for this month was to examine and summarize the views and positions of two recognized business plan experts in the field. I researched the work of Omar Soliman and Guy Kawasaki, two people whom I believe have great experience writing business plans. This assignment taught me different approaches to writing a business plan and things that I might run into along the process.

Omar Soliman won a first place prize of $10,000 in a business plan writing competition.  The business plan that he submitted was the first plan he had ever written for his company "College Hunks Hauling Junk".  While some might not think of Omar as an expert at writing business plans, I admire him for taking an idea and executing it.  Soliman taught me that investors are looking for vision and enthusiasm so it is important to appear confident in your business plan when trying to sell it.

Guy Kawasaki is an entrepreneur and author, amongst other things.  A very important lesson that I learned from Kawasaki is that some people spend too much time on their business plan rather than executing it.  While I think a business plan is essential, I also think it is important to execute the plan as your are writing it.  This does not necessarily mean go out and start the business, but rather start talking to others about the idea to create a buzz.  A business plan is something that should be used as one of the many tools that are used when starting a business.