I’ve been in business development and marketing long enough to know that most entrepreneurs think creating a business and/or marketing plan sucks. Finding time to start is hard. It always takes a lot longer than you think and 80% of plans that get started don’t get completed. I made that statistic up but I bet if I’m wrong it’s because the stat is higher.  I’m going to cover 3 of the most common excuses people give me for not having a plan and what you can do to overcome those obstacles. (Yea, I called them excuses. [tweetable alt=””]Obstacles are things you overcome, excuses are things that keep you from moving forward.[/tweetable]) The key thing to know is that you really just need a plan. [tweetable alt=””]Don’t let your business fall victim to these excuses.[/tweetable]

Obstacle / Excuse 1 – I don’t have time

This obstacle has its own set of excuses, but the truth is, you will always make time for whatever is most important to you. The key is creating a list of priorities and sticking to it. You don’t need to have life balance when building a business; you need to figure out a way to balance things around what is most important. Putting food on the table has to be in the top 2.

[tweetable alt=””]If you have time to watch your favorite TV show, you have time to create a plan.[/tweetable] DVR’s are the entrepreneur’s friend. You can have a favorite show just make sure you’re watching it after you have created your plan.

The bottom line is this, [tweetable alt=”The more things you have in in your life sucking up time, the more you need a biz plan”]if you have anything in your life that sucks up a lot of your time, then it is even more important to make sure you have a plan.[/tweetable] Plans make your company run as smoothly as possible. If you have kids, I feel your pain. The good news is we will cover some ideas in the next section on how you can include them in your planning processes. In the meantime, get a babysitter or a day care to watch them for the day while you hammer out the plan. This is your livelihood we are talking about here.

Action item – Take a road trip, if you have a partner, bounce ideas back and forth. If not, keep your phone close so you can record your ideas. [tweetable alt=””]Business and Marketing plans don’t have to be formal documents.[/tweetable] They just have to be something you can reference so that you know what you do, how you do it and how you can grow. Here is a little secret, my wife and I started this business on an impromptu road trip to Vegas for our 2^nd anniversary. Our plan was done before we picked a hotel.

Obstacle / Excuse 2 – I’m not Techie

[tweetable alt=””]Sometimes the marketing tactic that works best isn’t the most cutting edge one, but the basic tactic that is getting overlooked by everyone else.[/tweetable] I still believe that a business card is a much more effective tool than it gets credit for. If you want the most bang for your buck, telling your clients to refer their friends is a goldmine. Creating a plan for how to give out your business card and reward people for referrals isn’t rocket science, but if you don’t have a plan on how to increase those opportunities you are going to be stuck exactly where you are.

Action Item – Find time to learn new things to integrate into your marketing plan. There was a time when Facebook was thought of as Techie but now it’s just a great place to live out excuse 1. Podcast and blogs are great things. You’re reading this so you’re way ahead of the game.

Now back to dealing with kids, talk and read to them. They can learn while you do. I have a newborn that is more than happy for me to read her magazine articles and blog post on business. She smiles and everything. I have a 4 year old that is the prime age to start picking up business and marketing tactics that will serve her the rest of her life. It’s about time she started a business and started paying us back for all those diapers she used.

Obstacle / Excuse 3 – I’m doing fine where I’m at

Whenever I hear someone say this my first thought is “I hope your resume is current.” Just because you are doing fine today doesn’t mean your customers will be back tomorrow. I always use this example, but it fits, Kodak was one of the largest companies in the world, they invented the digital camera and sold it because they didn’t have a plan for how it would be useful.

Action Item — If you are doing fine you should be happy. This is the best time to create your Business and Marketing plans. [tweetable alt=””]It’s always best to figure out ways to grow rather than figure out ways to stop the bleeding.[/tweetable] Grow while you can. Your company is always just one new startup away from going under.

The key to finding your perfect plan is to just get started with something. [tweetable alt=””]You don’t have to create the perfect plan in one sitting.[/tweetable] Make time every 6 months and add something new or replace something else that isn’t working. As long as you get started you can be sure you moving in the right direction. I hope this article was useful for you. Feel free to leave me a comment and share it with your friends.