Do You Need a Business Plan?

I get this question very often, many startups ask me how to put a business plan together, what goes into a basic plan, and how long does it have to be? Well unfortunately the answer is, “It depends”. But that is also fortunate!

You see, every business is different. Some are single member, some may have contracted services. Some may have goals to scale big in 3 years. The needs will all vary and they will all need different kinds of plans. But a plan is needed.

Here is a short video explaining my why on this:

There are several approaches to getting a business plan going. BPlans has a simple one, or if you want to use their Live Plan service it’s very intuitive and you could turn one out in a month if you were focused. There is still the one page canvas if you’re just looking to map things out as well.

Whatever the need is, look at what you are asking of the business. If it’s sales volume, generating exposure, or gathering following you’ll have to have those things in your business plan. Use S.M.A.R.T. goals if you can, and have a coach or trusted peers help you out if you can. I hope this is helpful, leave any questions in the comments below, happy to help!

For many years I’ve  been fascinated by dream interpretation and symbolism. I’ve always felt as if there were important lessons to be gained from our subconscious mind processing our day’s happenings. One perspective I came across a few years back was looking closer at animal symbolism and interpretation. I’m a huge fan of Carl Jung and his work on archetypes and dreams and I find his style of symbolism to be intriguing and useful.

This could be a huge post, hundreds of pages long if I weren’t careful so I’m keeping it focused on animal symbolism. One very useful book I like to reference is called Animal Speak by Ted Andrews. He draws upon a very spiritual look on how animal symbolism had played out in North American history and how it can still be relevant today.

One technique I like to use is to read about the animal symbols and how they were interpreted by medicine men and shamans. His book will talk about animal behaviors as well as traditional history and interpretations of animal symbolism. Then it wraps up with possible interpretations of animal symbolism and what it might mean in the reader’s life. Here are a few examples:

Hawks:

Associated with Visionary Power and Guardianship as well as higher levels of consciousness. How would you feel that vision and soaring to new heights is relevant to your world right now?

Coyote:

Associated with Wisdom and Folly, sometimes coyotes are incredibly wise and understanding creatures but if those around you don’t understand, you may need to simplify things in order to communicate that perspective. They also hunt in packs by coordinating and cooperating. Is cooperation an aspect of one’s life that needs work?

Frogs:

Associated with transformation. Since frogs start off as tadpoles in water, and then eventually grow legs to navigate on land, there is a tremendous amount of adaptation and trasformation in this symbol. Are there aspects of life which need transformation in order to move forward? Since frogs start off in water and then land, how do the elements of Earth and Water become relevant?

Sometimes these animal symbols won’t make sense when you first think about dreams and what plays out. But in the context of a deeper wisdom it may illuminate a much needed perspective on what is going on in one’s life. But if a bizarre dream of your parents sitting in water holding a frog doesn’t make sense, try thinking of the wisdom of the symbols and consider if a moving beyond old family patterns and transforming the self to something beyond that would be a benefit.

I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a reference book that will give meaning/interpretation to cover all situations but consider what animal symbolism could teach you. One must make their own assessments and interpretations based on situational and personal relevance. Are there animals you seem to be naturally drawn to? Have there been odd symbols that didn’t make sense but could have a deeper meaning? Feel free to share some things that stand out or seem like they would be worth exploring, I’m curious.

There is an interesting concept I came across in some of my Eastern studies relating to the five elements. In Chinese astrology for example, not only is there an animal symbol for your birth sign but also a corresponding element relating to what part of that year you were born in. Also in certain Tibetan traditions, five elements were useful in bringing balance to the self. Let me lay out a summary of the elements and what they may mean.

Earth: This is a very solid, grounding type of energy. Things like dirt, metal, and stone are examples of this. The Earth element can bring about stability, heaviness, or solid protection if needed.

Water: A very flowing, fluid type of energy. Water conforms to it’s container, holds no shape of its own, and is less dense than Earth. It can represent the ability to flow with changes around the self, is sometimes associated with vast ‘oceans’ of wisdom, and other times can be a tsunami of force.

Fire: This energy is passion, motivation, drive, and motion. The element of fire also tempers and purifies. Sometimes things need to be burned away to give way to something new, this is another way in which fire can help.

Air: The element of air also takes the form of wind, fresh perspective, change, and freedom. Very light and expansive, air can be a sense of peace and freedom in certain cases.

Space: This element is the fifth element, a little more abstract. All matter occupies space, this is where the potential lies. The larger the space the more one can allow in to certain situations. It can be expansive or restrictive depending on the need.

In all of this lies the concept of balance. Within all of us is aspects of all of these elements and a certain strength in each of these. The energies of these elements can be strong, weak, or in a relative harmony. The goal is to try and assess where each of these reside and what type of adjustment may be needed.

For example, I worked with a manager who tended to be hot-headed. When too many things came his way he tended to be short, make rash decisions and at times lash out. Interestingly enough, one of his favorite past times was boating. He felt relaxed and peaceful while on his boat. In this case his element of fire was probably too strong and water was a way to ‘flow’ better and even out some of his temper.

In another case, a job seeker who is unhappy in their position but is afraid to leave the security of where they are, may actually have too much Earth element (grounding) and could use a little fire to motivate.

Another example could be the pessimist who thinks that they are out of options and can’t actually change their situation. This individual would benefit from increasing the element of space to allow in possibility as well as increasing the element of air to usher in some fresh ideas and perspective.

It gets interesting when you start using elements to assess workplace culture, work styles and leadership styles. When elements are incorporated into the perspective then it sometimes is easier to see potential solutions to change. A stagnant work culture may need more fresh ideas (air), then introducing new trainings or newer personnel may be useful.

What I suggest now is thinking about these concepts in different aspects of work and life and see if you can measure them:

1. What elements seem to be more prevalent?

2. How do you think they are weighted? Too much, too little, neutral or in balance?

3. What counter elements could be introduced to bring a better balance?

4. What activities or solutions could reflect those counter balancing elements?

Let me know what you think, I’m curious to hear your assessments!

Ok, I know it’s been too long but I’ve been regrouping and putting together some new ideas.  Much more to come, stay tuned in the next 4 weeks for more updates, new visual, and of course more quirky content.

So anyone who knows me and hears “Quirky Optimist” usually stops, has 2.5 seconds of thought and then lights up because it really fits!  But what does it mean?  Here is the first of many posts on “What is a Quirky Optimist” which will include references to influences on my humor, perspective, and philosophy on life.  So here are several things that you could call quirky influences on me, enjoy:

Monty Python troupe of the 70’s spawned so many great actors, I really appreciated their dry sense of humor.  Love these clips including the Ministry of Silly Walks  and the Constitutional Peasant.  (You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power because a watery tart threw a sword at you!)

The Tick was a 90’s comic about all the rejected superheroes and how they get assigned to “The City” to fight the villains (which seemed to be of equal quality).  This episode of The Little Wooden Boy had all the elements including a pretend side kick, the Swiss industrial spies which used gigantic Swiss army knives, and a giant whale who runs across the continent.  Does all this make sense, no.  But pretty entertaining.

The movie Student Bodies was a horror movie from 1981 which was actually more of a spoof on the saturated genre at the time.  Think of it like a Scary Movie before spoofs were really popular.  Much of this movie was absurd and I loved the sense of humor in it.  And it has a rubber chicken scene.

Other quirky things about me include my love of Subaru Boxer Engines, sleeper cars, red wine (due to my appreciation of Three Musketeers stories).  I had pet ferrets for a while, now just a shih-tzu with a very strong opinion on how things should go.  I make my own stir fry sauces (because they’re better that way!) and have at least 4 ways to make my own coffee.  I am a coffee snob by the way…

But also I’m an optimist because I choose to be.  I feel that every day we all have choices in how we act as well as respond to the world around us.  I feel like we can choose between optimism and pessimism.  If I thought we didn’t have free will I’d likely be a pessimist, however since I see there are choices and we can (to reasonable degrees) have control over our situations that it only leaves optimism as a responsible solution.  If we can make the most of what we have, likely we will get more than if we didn’t try at all.  I have a post I wrote on Berni Xiong’s site about how Muhammad Ali was an inspiration to keep swinging, and how it is possible to make change.  I’ve found in my life that if you try, you can make something happen.