I strongly disagree. A business plan is imperative to the success of your business.

A “business plan” can take on different forms. When I started my first company, Bisson Barcelona, I wrote out a full business plan, which included sections on the industry, target market, competition, trends, marketing strategies and much more. This was a business plan that I took to the bank to secure funds needed to buy an office and equipment. I knew my business well, but needed an organized way to layout and present the information for investors as well as myself for planning future growth.

When I started my second company, The Mom Entrepreneur, I did not create the same kind of business plan. I was not seeking money from investors, and since I had already written a full business plan, I had a sense of the information I needed for planning the growth of the company.

I decided to use an idea notebook. This is a 6×9 inch notebook with pages that are filled with ideas, thoughts, plans, suggestions, etc. I refer to it often, make changes, delete ideas and add new ones.

No matter what type of business you own or how savvy of an entrepreneur you are, you must have a plan! Growing a business takes you to a destination. Would you get in a car and drive to a place you have never been before without a map or a GPS system or some other device to help you navigate?

Of course not. So why would you do it with your business?

“Even if you aren’t planning to borrow money or seek investors right away, there are good reasons to sit down and write a plan,” says Karen Klein, a business journalist who covers small-business issues for several national publications, including Businessweek. “Writing a business plan not only helps you determine whether your business idea is feasible, it also establishes a map for your company’s future. Without it, your business is likely to drift along without direction or parameters for measuring progress.”

Microsoft’s Small Business Center advises that if you’re starting a home-based business on a shoestring, some of these suggestions probably aren’t necessary, but you still should create a plan that outlines your goals, expected costs, marketing plan and exit strategy. If you haven’t written your plan yet, your business is still in the fantasy stages.

“A business plan is never quite finished because you’re always revising it, reviewing it, and building upon it. In fact, more important to your business’ future than having a written, 30-page, coil-bound plan to distribute is the business planning process that you undertake on a regular basis to hopefully keep your ship headed in the right direction without losing sight of your long-term destination,” explains Elizabeth Wasserman, a writer for Inc. Magazine.

Even a seasoned traveler needs to be reminded how to get to a destination. Perhaps landmarks have changed, or road construction has altered your direction.

If you are struggling in your business and feel like you have lost your sense of direction then take the time to research and write a business plan that outlines your goals and how you will achieve and measure them.

Here are some sites that can help get you started:

• SCORE Business Plan Templates- they have a variety of templates here to choose from depending on your type of business. Easy to understand and use.
• SBA Business Plan Template – this template is designed to help you build a business plan. Review and complete each section of the template. At the end of the program you will be able to generate and save a formatted business plan which can later be further modified or presented as a final product.
• Entrepreneur.com Business Plan – describes the different sections of a business plan and offers free sample business plans.
• Need help? Have questions? Join our discussion on The Mom Entrepreneur Support Group about how to write a business plan.

So mom entrepreneurs, what are your thoughts? Do you have a business plan? Do you recommend creating one for a business? I welcome your comments.

Martha Quinn the host, and famous 80’s DJ, came on the radio after the song ended and asked if listeners knew why they had not heard more from Bourgeious Tagg. She explained that they quickly faded from the spotlight and their song, ‘I don t mind at all’ was considered a one-hit wonder. The group’s name was too hard to remember and so they could not be easily found online or in record stores, she explained.

This made me think about mom entrepreneurs starting businesses or struggling to grow one. Very few people might not realize that the name of their company may be limiting their marketability.

Entrepreneur.com says that making your business name so obscure, customers will never know what it means, is a mistake.

It’s great for a name to have a special meaning or significance–it sets up a story that can be used to tell the company message. But if the reference is too obscure or too hard to spell and pronounce, you may never have the opportunity to speak to that customer because they’ll simply pass you by as irrelevant.

What’s the best way for start-up entrepreneurs to approach the challenge of finding the perfect business name? In an article for Microsoft Office Live Small Business, Sarah Van Dyck, managing director for Seattle-based Modo Group, and strategic branding adviser to top Fortune 500 consumer and technology companies, recommends keeping it simple.

“A company name, by itself, can’t stand for everything that a company represents,” she says. “The best approach is to select a name that is memorable, own-able, and can stand out in a specific business category.”

Picking a name for your start up or growing and changing company should be taken very seriously. This is an important exercise, and mom entrepreneurs should spend time crafting and developing a company name until they get the right combination of words to fit what they do, and that the target market will respond to.

“A great name is the beginning of a great brand,” says Scott Allen, author of the article How to Create a Great Business Name. He suggests many tips for finding the perfect company name.

Tip # 1 Brainstorm. Think about how you want people to feel when they hear the name. Write down the words on paper and then categorize them by primary meaning.

Tip #4 Experiment. Start playing with combinations of your various words and partial words. Don’t be judgmental now – just make a list.

Tip # 5 Reflect. Review your list and just give some thought to each name. How does it make you feel when you hear it?

Tip #6 Communicate. Go over the list with someone you trust. Have them tell you how each name makes them feel, and how memorable they think it is.

Tip #9 Check domain names. You want to make sure that an appropriate domain name is available. You want YourCompanyName.com, of course. If that’s not available, you may want to reconsider.

AllBusiness.com advises Get your name right the first time.

If you do not choose your name carefully, you may be requested or required to change it, which will require changing your domain name, obtaining new listings in telephone and other directories, and purchasing new stationary, in addition to other unpleasant renaming tasks. Best to do your homework and get the name right the first time. There are two good reasons for this: Your business will be identified by its name and you will (hopefully) be living with the name for a long time.

So in order to avoid being a “one-hit wonder” or “fly by night business”, do your homework, talk to your target market, conduct research and create a winning name that will be the start of a memorable brand.

• Stay focused, and don’t get sidetracked: There are only 24 hours in a day. There is also a price to pay for spending too much time on one activity, which can limit your ability to do other things. It is important to focus on the fact that success is equal to results, not effort. Avoid spending time on an activity that is personally satisfying, but not driving the results you want.
• Just say NO: You will cure some of your frustration and burn out by just giving simple answers without elaborating why YES or why NO. Try it for one week without using the words “Maybe”, “I might”, or “I will see what I can do”. This helps avoid the pressure of feeling obligated or frustrated to commit to someone. Learn to make quick decisions and say “Yes” or “No” instead. Don’t elaborate or give extensive reasons for your decision. A simple “No, I can’t do that at this time” is enough. In the end, you will feel emotionally free without having to fit in yet another activity, conversation or event you were not that interested in anyhow.

I am very grateful to Lucinda for taking the time to offer us valuable tips over the three blog posts we have written, and for the live teleseminar she gave.

For more information about Lucinda or Corporate Mom Dropouts, visit www.corporatemomdropouts.com/. You can also learn more by watching her recent ABC News video.

Imagine jumping in your car and traveling to a distant location without a map. Chances are you wouldn’t attempt it. You wouldn’t know the best route, any costs, or what to do to avoid delays.

On the road to success in business, you often travel to places you’ve never been before. You need to plan the best route to reach your goals and map out potential roadblocks. What marketing strategy and budget will you need? How will you implement the plan and measure the return on investment (ROI)? Will you need to seek financial assistance from venture capitalists or angel investors (affiliate link)? What’s your exit strategy? Once you start this trip, you’ll want to check and review your business plan regularly to ensure you’re heading in the right direction.

The hardest part of putting a business plan together is allocating the time to dedicate to it. It takes discipline and time—more than a week—to write an effective business plan. If you are unable to dedicate the time needed, you should seriously reconsider going into business for yourself. Preparing a business plan is a simple test of the discipline and time required to start a company.

There are many resources available on the Internet that will provide you tips, techniques and templates for writing and preparing a business plan. Steer away from business planning software. These programs may look tempting, but they do not teach you much about writing an effective business plan. You’ll learn how to fill in blanks, but you won’t learn how to write an attention grabbing executive summary, calculate operating expenses, make sales and cash projections or set up a marketing strategy. In addition, these software packages do not account for the wide variety of businesses that are out there or the different stages of development they are going through.

Take a basic template and build the business plan yourself; researching and learning about the business process along the way. The business plan outline on the Small Business Administration’s Web site is thorough and descriptive, yet still allows you to think for yourself. If you have never written, or much less seen, a business plan before, then this process will take you some time. You will need checks and balances along the way to ensure that you are developing the plan correctly.

There are many free resources available to businesses seeking assistance. The following nonprofit organizations have offices in every state; you can visit their Web sites to locate the office nearest you.

• Small Business Administration
• Small Business Development Centers
• Women’s Business Centers
• S.C.O.R.E. (Service Corps of Retired Executives)

In addition, these organizations offer support groups, workshops and libraries of materials that you can use. Counselors are available to speak to you and offer advice on just about any business planning subject. They will also review your plan and offer valuable feedback. Most of all, write your business plan with confidence. You have a dream and you can make it a reality.

(Originally published in the Women’s Business Boston Journal)

1. Get–and stay–organized: There are so many tools and gadgets that are useful for us as moms to make business at home run a lot smoother. Here are some tools that I use that I know you can enjoy and add to your Get-and stay-organized list.
   • Vitalist.com – Helps you to get things done and stay organized. It’s easy to use and most of all free. The free version does everything you need.
   • A habit list – Your habit list keeps your action list from becoming overwhelmed by the every-day things and helps you to separate your to do list as well.
   • Remember the Milk – Handles lists and tasks very well, including repetitive tasks. It has a plug-in for Google Calendar for one-stop organizing.
   • Google Calendar – Along with Gmail and Google Reader, this application allows you to keep your life easily organized, intuitively, with no hassle and share your calendar with your network or team.
   • Backpack – Great list-maker, perfect for to-do lists and other types of lists. Backpack can be accessed from anywhere: home, work, Mac, PC, mobile.
   • The trash bag – Clean this bad boy out on a regular basis – not the actual trash but many of us use our desk space as a trash can. Please reduce this bad habit by tossing anything that’s not absolutely needed and you won’t have a need to organize. Free yourself!
   • Don’t forget me when you leave rack - It’s for unloading your stuff as you come in, so it stays organized, and so you don’t forget it as you leave the house. You can personalize the rack and include the kids section or partner section that will hold things that you don’t want to forget such as mail, keys, sunglasses, cell phones, library books and more.
2. Delegate: You do not need to do everything yourself. Identify activities that only you can do effectively, and those that could be done by someone else. What are you spending most of your time doing. Are you putting out fires all day or coming up with creative ideas that can generate cash flow? You also want to examine whether you are using technology effectively to reduce the time you spend on low value tasks.
3. Schedule a mommy day: This is also known as a “Take Your Mom to Play Day” this is not considered me time, this is just time that your child or kids schedule a day that they want to hang with you by themselves. Therefore, since I have two kids, my daughter chose Friday nights to do something together and my son chose Wednesday for me to watch wrestling with him. This not only helps me unwind but I get to know each of my kids likes and dislikes without them battling each other for attention. It works and it keeps them busy.

Stay tuned for more tips on Balancing the Supermom Act next week and for details on a great giveaway from Lucinda at Corporate Mom Dropouts.

For more information about Lucinda or Corporate Mom Dropouts, visit www.corporatemomdropouts.com.

At a BlogHer conference I attended awhile back, I met some people from Yahoo! Shine, which is the online destination for women looking for the latest information and advice from experts and the community. I picked up a handout about tips for writing a better blog. The information was very useful and I wanted to share it with you.

• Blog about what you’re most passionate about – Good blogs require commitment. If you’re not passionate about a subject, you’re not going to be committed to it.
• Read and comment on other blogs – Get in tune with your audience by reading other blogs. It’ll help you find your niche, and you’ll also build up a network of readers and fellow bloggers.
• Create a blogging plan – Regular posting will make your blog attract more readers. Loyal readers will evangelize your stuff, and will grow your audience for you.
• When picking a topic, be relevant and valuable to your readers – Choose topics that are timely, provocative, helpful, or responsive to your readers’ needs.
• Write great headlines – It’s important to write compelling, grabby headlines that are also easy to understand. Clear headlines are more likely to show up in searches and easier to read in an RSS feed.
• Be focused on one topic – Too many topics in one post confuses the reader, plus it makes your post too long. Break multiple topics into new posts.
• Humanize your topic by relating it to you – Your point of view on a topic is what makes your blog worth reading, so insert your personality and be opinionated.
• Don’t make a post all about you – Remember, a blog is a conversation between you and your readers, and no one likes being trapped in a conversation with someone who only talks about themselves.
• Make sure your post is adding to the conversation – When writing about a topic everyone’s already writing about, make sure you’re not just recycling the story. Add your own spin to make it your own.
• Craft posts that are easy to read and scan – Write clean copy – typos and bad grammar ruin your credibility. Second, break up big paragraphs with subheads, images, and video, so it’s easier to skim. Use bullet points, short sentences and other layout techniques to make your post reader friendly.

What additional suggestions would you offer for writing a better blog?

After interviewing over 200 moms, Lucinda has come up with some of the most interesting ways Supermoms can fly and create a life that operates the way they want it to.

5 Tips for Balancing the Supermom Act

– By Lucinda Cross

1. Identify where you want to be: The most important thing is to know what you want and where you want to be. Think about the end result. If you have a clear identified target of desire to succeed, you can walk that path with confidence. But you must know where you want to be and what does that vision look like. (Create a vision board.)
2. Work your super star pitch: Know that you have 20 seconds to make a wow impression, but first things first. Always mention: who you are, what you do, and what type of industry your in. Add in some personality so that the person your talking to feels your passion. Be able to describe who you are and what you do in the time it takes to ride an elevator.
3. Develop a clear strategy: Strategy is one of the steps in the planning process and success cycle. The sequence in creating a clear strategy is having a Vision, Mission, and Goals. Take a look at your business model and write down what worked and what did not work. Then list the things you have not tried and combine that list with your “this worked” list. Begin to craft an execution strategy plan and be deliberate in your actions.
4. Refuse to lower your standards: Many times we lower and drop the value of our personal and professional goals and values in exchange for something or a project that requires more commitment or more sacrifice for less value. Understand your value and refuse to lower your standards if it is not a win-win situation.
5. Realize your purpose and understand that its not about you: You are in business to service others, this is not about you and how you feel, its about creating that ultimate experience for your clients and prospects. What is your purpose and how is it fulfilling the needs of others? How does your product or service make others feel? What problem is it really solving besides for example (saving them time, creating a brand, marketing their service or etc…)?

Stay tuned for more tips on Balancing the Supermom Act next week and for details on a great giveaway from Lucinda at Corporate Mom Dropouts.

For more information about Lucinda or Corporate Mom Dropouts, visit www.corporatemomdropouts.com/.

I read an informative article today on PCWorld by Ian Paul about the do’s and don’ts of integrating these two powerful social networks with one another that I wanted to share. It is important for mom entrepreneurs to understand the pros and cons about setting this up before moving forward.

You have three options for integrating LinkedIn with Twitter:

1. you can rebroadcast your LinkedIn status updates to Twitter,
2. turn your tweets into your LinkedIn status,
3. or both.

To start integrating your tweets, you need to edit your LinkedIn settings by adding Twitter from your profile page or by clicking the Twitter icon next to your status on the homepage. Twitter integration will be rolled out to all LinkedIn users over the next few days, so you may not see the new feature right away.

Do’s and Don’ts are summarized below:

• DO broadcast your LinkedIn status to Twitter.
• DO link multiple Twitter accounts to your LinkedIn profile.
• DON’T send all your tweets to LinkedIn.
• DON’T display your Twitter account on LinkedIn.
• DON’T forget about LinkedIn.

To read the article in its entirety, please click here…>