Good planning is for both business and life, as the two are normally intertwined. Good planning is block scheduling for success routines, work, and life. It also means making your health a priority, so that you can lead and take care of others.

Good business planning for owners of startups and small businesses consists of three important areas of emphasis.

• Marketing…plan. Precision marketing. Price, Product, Promotion, Place
• Operating…plan. Systems that enable you to generate steady, reliable profits and consistency for customers.
• Finance…plan. Projections within industry norms, or a great reason why they aren’t. Keep score and keep everybody paid. 

Brazilian-born David Neeleman founded Morris Air, JetBlue, Azul, and Breeze. As a child, he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Later, he realized that seeing the world differently was an asset. He founded JetBlue in the late 1990s.

“It was a time when the legacy carriers were offering really bad service, their costs were ultra high, and they were just right for the plucking,” Neeleman said. 

In response, Neeleman founded JetBlue which calls itself, “a customer service company that flies airplanes.”

• Business Plan? We always recommend having one ready. Game things out and make your mistakes on paper. Creating a business plan is useful, and with great software, can actually be fun. 
  • The U.S. Small Business Administration has a free tool for your use here.
  • A simple, user-friendly, and relatively inexpensive business plan service is available here.
  • One Click Advisor fills in the gaps with the free Business Builder, which walks business owners through a plan and connects them with free, discounted or paid recommended services.

What next?

The book 99 Questions to ask BEFORE starting a business in the US gives foreign investors the opportunity to learn from two industry experts about the different aspects of starting, operating, financing, and marketing a new business in the USA, including those considering entering the US through a qualifying investment. The book 99 questions is available on Amazon and through Balboa Press. 

And finally…

Welcome to One Click Advisor! We would be remiss if we didn’t give you a brief tour of the site and what it can do for you, as an owner of a startup or small business. Your challenges and opportunities can be sorted into one of three areas.

Marketing, because it brings in the customers. That requires the right combination of price, product, promotion and place. 

Operations, because it keeps your customers. A well-run business pleases customers and generates steady and reliable revenue. But to be well-run, you need reliable providers. 

Finance, because it is the scoreboard, and keeps everybody paid. Change the “score”, find bookkeeping help, and find capital. 

The One Click Advisor Business Builder connects you with all the fundamentals. Skip the hours of research and costly mistakes…we have done the work of locating the best small business services for you.