Profit Growth

Strategies
By Brian Tracy
Planning for Success
Introduction
Failing to plan is planning to fail. (Brian Tracy)
If you dont know where youre going, any road will take you there.
(The Mad Hatter in Lewis Carrolls Alice in Wonderland)

here are a lot of Mad Hatters living in a form of Wonderland who are trying to
build successful businesses. Be sure that you are NOT one of them.

Your ability to decide what you want to accomplish in every area of your business and
personal life will dramatically increase your results and rewards.
When you make clear, written plans with measurable standards and schedules, you
increase your probabilities of success many times over the person who is vague or
unsure.

In this lesson you will learn:

How to determine what you really want in life

The key steps to creating your business plan

The importance of your values, vision, mission and purpose

What you must do to achieve business success

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The purpose of your business life is to enable you to enjoy your personal life. Fully
85% of your happiness will come from your relationships with other people; only 15%
will come from external achievement.
The man who knows both himself and his enemy will be victorious in a hundred
battles. (Sun Tzu)

A.

Decide exactly what you really want in life.

1)

What are your personal values? What are your business values?

Personal Values?

Business Values?

1.

1.

2.

2.

3.

3.

2)

What are your three most important goals in life, right now?

1. _ ___________________________________________________________

2. _ ___________________________________________________________

3. _ ___________________________________________________________

3)

What would you do immediately if you learned today that you had just won
$20,000,000?

1. _ ___________________________________________________________

2. _ ___________________________________________________________

3. _ ___________________________________________________________

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4)

What would you do, how would you spend your time, if you learned today that
you only had six months to live?

1. _ ___________________________________________________________

2. _ ___________________________________________________________

3. _ ___________________________________________________________

5)

What have you always wanted to do but been afraid to attempt?

1. _ ___________________________________________________________

2. _ ___________________________________________________________

3. _ ___________________________________________________________

6)

What sort of activities give you the greatest sense of fulfillment, satisfaction
and self-esteem?

1. _ ___________________________________________________________

2. _ ___________________________________________________________

3. _ ___________________________________________________________

7)

What one great thing would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy.

B.

Strategic and Business Planning

1)

Vision if your business was perfect sometime in the future, how would you
describe it?

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

2)

Purpose why have you decided to get into this particular business?

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

3)

Mission Statement describe what kind of a company you plan to be in

the future, based on serving and satisfying other people in some way.

Start with the words, Our mission is to . . .

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy.

C.

Develop a strategic plan for your business.

This plan is composed of the following parts:

1.

Your vision, purpose and mission statement.

2.

Your goals and objectives.

3.

Market analysis.

4.

Production and products.

5.

Marketing strategy.

6.

Organization structure and people.

7.

Funds flow and financial projections.

Determine your strategic business goals.

What are your sales and revenue goals for the future?
Year

Sales

Profits

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

D.

Analyze your market thoroughly before you begin business operations.

1)

What is the size of the current market for your product or service?

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a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

2)

Who or what are your major competitors for the same customer dollar?

1. _ ___________________________________________________________

2. _ ___________________________________________________________

3. _ ___________________________________________________________

What do you offer that makes your products or services superior from your

3)

customers point-of-view?

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

E.

Determine your selection and mix of products and services.

1)

What are the three most important products/services you offer in your market?

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy.

2)

What are the three most important services you offer to your customers?

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

3)

What are the three most important considerations or problems in creating,

acquiring or producing your products or services?

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

4)

What are the essential people, equipment and resources you need to
produce or acquire your most important products or services?

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

F.

Determine exactly how you market and sell the quantity of products or
services you described in C.

1)

What methods of advertising and promotion do you use to attract

customers?

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a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

2)

What benefits or competitive advantages do you emphasize in your

marketing?

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

How do you sell and take orders for your product or service?

3)

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

4)

What is your budget and expected sales from your advertising and sales
activities?

a. Budget? $____________________________________________________

b. Expected sales? $______________________________________________

c. Schedule and timelines?_________________________________________

Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy.

G.

Decide upon your organizational structure and the essential jobs to be

done in each area.

1)

List the three most important functions or jobs in sales and marketing.

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

List the three most important functions or jobs in the production, or

2)

acquisition, of your products or services.

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

List the three most important functions or jobs in the management and

3)

administration of your business.

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy.

H.

You must provide for the funds you need to operate your business
successfully.

1)

List your three primary sources of funding.

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

Describe your expected sales and expenses month-by-month for the next

2)

12 months.

Example*:
Month

January

February

March

Totals

Sales

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000

$450,000

Less cost of goods

$25,000

$37,500

$50,000

$112,500

Expenses

$75,000

$85,000

$100,000

$260,000

Misc.

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$45,000

Total

($110,000)

($137,500)

($170,000)

$417,500

Profit (loss)

($10,000)

$12,500

$30,000

$42,500

Cumulative

($10,000)

$2,500

$32,500

$42,500

* This is a simple example of a profit and loss statement. In reality, you should detail
all items in expenses, and create this statement for the next 12-18 months.

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3)

Who is responsible for the accounting and bookkeeping functions?

a. _ ___________________________________________________________

b. _ ___________________________________________________________

c. _ ___________________________________________________________

Your ability to ask and answer these questions will give you an outline of the key issues
you must address in the development of your business plan.
Failure to think through, understand and make plans in any of these areas can lead to
business failure.

Action Exercises

1.

What business are you really in? What does your product/service achieve,
avoid or preserve for your customers?

1. _________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________________________

2.

Who is your ideal customer? Describe the three most important characteristics he/she
would have.

1. _________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________________________

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3.

What does your ideal customer consider value? Why would he/she buy from you?

1. _________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________________________

4.

What is it that you do especially well, better than 90% of your competitors?

1. _________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________________________

5.

What are your three most important business goals right now?

1. _________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________________________

6.

What are the main constraints on achieving your goals? What is holding you back?

1. _________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________________________

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7.

What are the 20% of things that you could do that would account for 80% of your
results?

1. _________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________________________

What one action are you going to take immediately as the result of your answers to the
questions in this lesson?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

You can learn anything

you need to learn to achieve any goal
you can set for yourself.
Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without the written permission of Brian Tracy.

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