Ask Victoria: What Are The Best Reasons Not To Write A Business Plan?

December 6, 2015 By admin Leave a Comment

One of the topics I discuss with my clients and prospective clients is the importance of a direct selling business plan.

When I bring this subject up, I hear some very interesting reasons why they don’t bother to write one.

Here are some of them:

My idea is too big.
I can’t write it down, because it keeps changing.
I don’t need one, because I have the money. I’m not borrowing money from the bank.
I am just focusing right now on just two things. Everything else can wait.
It’s all my head. I know where I’m going.
I already know where I’m going to be in five years.
I’ve never written one before with my other business ideas.
I don’t have the time to write it down.
I can’t write it yet, because I don’t have all the answers.

What Will A Business Plan Do For You?

Some people think that the sole purpose of an MLM business plan or a party plan business plan is to secure outside investment capital. This is one of its purposes, but it’s not the most important reason to have a business plan.

A business plan will help you to describe your business in detail from several perspectives, whether you will be seeking outside funding or not. The exercise of writing your business plan will help you to be a better business owner.

A thoughtful business plan can be used to show yourself and others, convincingly, that you have created a viable and profitable model.

Get Even More Creative

Writing a business plan gives you the opportunity to be even more creative. As you focus on each area of your business plan, you’ll see what you know already and you’ll become aware of the areas in which decisions remain to be made.

For now, it’s OK if parts of your direct selling business plan can’t be written yet. The empty spots will be really important because they will show you clearly where your ideas are not yet fully developed.

Did you know that once written, a business plan can be changed? There is no shame in updating a business plan to reflect what you’ve learned. A business plan is not a static document.

Update your business plan as you grow. You may want to keep your original plan so you may look back on it to see how you have grown or if you made a change you didn’t like, you may revert back to the original.

It’s Not Just For You

Your business plan is not just for you.

Your business plan should be used to communicate your vision to others who will help you to create and launch your business. If your business plan is not written down, how can you expect the people who will help you to do their best work?

Be Fearless

Don’t be afraid to write a business plan. We have helped business owners to move past their objections to writing a business plan.

Jay Leisner, the President of Sylvina Consulting, is a top compensation plan and direct selling expert, a trusted adviser to new and established network marketing and party plan companies. For more than 30 years, Jay has enjoyed assessing and improving party plan and network marketing companies across the globe.

Jay Leisner and Victoria Dohr authored the top-rated book for new and young network marketing and party plan companies, "Start Here: The Guide to Building and Growing Your Direct Selling Company".

Available in English and Spanish. This startup guide contains 250 pages of wisdom that will guide you through the right steps to start and continue on your journey to build a successful direct selling company.

You will save thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of your time using the information you will read in our book.

Sylvina Consulting and ThompsonBurton sponsor the two-day pure education "Direct Selling Edge Conference" for new and young direct selling companies in different cities. The wisest direct selling executives never stop being students. They seek out opportunities to learn more. They understand that the long-term success of their companies depends on how much they know, so they make efforts to keep learning.

In 1986, Jay began his career in direct selling by working for a major direct selling software provider. First as a software developer and later as a project leader and a business analyst, Jay worked closely with new and established network marketing and party direct selling companies to provide them with software solutions to meet their unique requirements.

Jay contributed in many ways to the success of large implementation projects for many companies. Jay also worked with dozens of smaller companies to assist each of them in various capacities to provide them with the systems they needed to help their businesses to grow faster.

Along the way while working with them, he learned the secrets of successful direct selling companies and the challenges faced by them. In true entrepreneurial spirit, Jay’s decision in 1999 to start Sylvina Consulting as a direct selling consulting company was driven by what he saw was a need for answers, advice, and solutions.

In 2004, 2006, 2009, 2014, and 2018, Jay gave presentations on compensation plans, recognition, and field leadership development at conferences held by the US Direct Selling Association.

He traveled to South Africa in 2015, 2016, and 2017 to conduct workshops on compensation plan design and recognition programs for member companies of the South African Direct Selling Association.

In 2017, Jay spoke at the Canadian Direct Sellers Association Meeting on the importance of recognition.

More than just a compensation plan expert, Jay is exceptionally skilled at advising new and established companies on business strategies. Before offering advice or solutions, he asks important questions to understand each client’s specific concerns and goals.

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