Most businesses that fail in the first 5 years fail from a lack of cashflow. They don’t generate enough money to sustain their operations and growth. Most often their lack of cashflow is because they don’t have a plan, a plan for how a they will acquire new customers, make money, and sustain their business. The greatest product or service doesn’t have a chance without a plan.

Most businesses are started by people who are really good at what they do and get fed up with wherever they are. That means they are awesome technicians (good at what they do), but may not know much about management or strategy. Thus, they don’t have a lot of experience or expertise in planning how they are going to break into the market.

To succeed in business, you need a plan to get paying customers and keep them coming back. You also need a culture to attract great team members in a very competitive hiring market. How to do either of these is not obvious, unless you have a plan and a manual.

If you’ve started your own business, and you want more traction, more attraction, more growth, and a proven way to do it, start spending at least 1 hour each week working on your plan.