Geez, what is with me and analogies lately? I want to talk about GPS units and Business Plans – what? Bear with me now…

My wife and I decided to go shopping and take the back way (which we had never been on), so we plugged in the destination and took off, after all we had our trusty GPS. Well as my Frank would say trusting a GPS in the Back Country is like trusting a used cal salesman, it’s something you may have to do, but you don’t want to make a habit of it.

We were soon lost – what the GPS views as a road and what we view as a road are two entirely different things, even with All Wheel Drive. We didn’t care, we enjoyed the ride (and this is so unlike me – “Mr.-Point-a-to-Point-b”), the scenery was nice and it was a beautiful day. We could have whined about the trip taking an hour and a half versus the normal 20-25 minutes and so on, but we just rolled with it and had a good time.

This reminded me of Business Plans – by definition once a Business Plan is written, it is increasingly obsolete. Yes the Business Plan is your roadmap but you had better be prepared for some detours and u-turns along the way, because they are going to happen.

You should be reviewing and revising your Business Plan – at the very least quarterly – frequently to see how you are progressing towards your goals and objectives. Do not wait until the end of the year to see where you’ve been versus where you wanted to go. This is self-defeating.

While you should always keep your original version of the Business Plan so you can learn from reviewing it. But don’t be dogmatic and say this is plan and we’re going to stick to it no matter what. Stuff happens, stuff changes, roll with it. Revise your plan and move on.