Presumed Profitable

America's Next Millionaire

I prefaced this post with some background. For the disinclined, go ahead and jump forward to the main text or just click away to eBay (it’s a free Internet).

As my resume proudly promotes, I boast both an undergrad and a mighty master’s degree in business administration. After a slow start (and stop) in academia over a decade ago, I jumped back into erudition with both feet in 2000 and earned my degrees back-to-back (in what I can only remember now as a haze of copious coffee consumption and computer key clicking –alliteration is fun).

Anyway, what I have learned post-graduation is that the knowledge gained in an MBA program is far more valuable than any prestige that might (or might not) be associated with it. Especially since it is likely that MBAs will be just as common as high school graduates in a few years. While every course I completed offered value, I took the most away from the ones that focused on case analysis and strategy.

The core tenet of any business program is that planning is at the root of virtually all successes. The only other thing that was hammered into my brain with the same regularity was that, to truly understand great leadership, you must first accept that there is no patented formula to it. They could have told me that before I signed the tuition check. What they also could have mentioned was how, frequently, diligent strategists contaminate their well-researched plans with too many enthusiastic presumptions.

Meat & Potatoes…

Too little is made of the presumptions that are made when an entrepreneur plans a venture. Also known as ‘guesstimations’, these ballpark figures are usually footnoted in small print on the last page of a newly minted b-plan. This is done most likely to obscure unknowns from an investor who will then view bottom line projections as hard fact. The obvious problem here is that presumptions are an accepted component of a plan to begin with when, for many, they exist simply to add a rosy color to inconclusive research. With this, you might want to say, “Banker, beware!” but what you should really be saying is, “Entrepreneur, wake up!”

The process of writing and composing a business plan is an arduous one if it is assiduously pursued. There are no easy routes to nailing down reliable data and even the good stuff can be slightly tainted by time. After all the hard work that goes into it, there will still be gaps that need to be filled before it is sent to the printer. Intuition, personal experience, and outright wishful thinking usually provide the best spackle.

So as to not turn this post into a novel, just follow the examples in my random musings and before long, you can put the first nail in your business idea’s coffin and have a fistful more to finish the job.

Hey retailers: see my advice for choosing a space next.