1. Play to your strengths - this requires serious thought to understand what your strengths and weaknesses really are. Consider reviewing the SWOT analysis monthly and update it as you discover new things.
2. Be different from your competition. A company that looks like all the others can only compete on price.
3. Effectiveness is much more important than efficiency. Efficiency is all about minimizing the input vs. output. Effectiveness is all about producing the most valuable output.
4. All profit comes from risks taken. The Drucker outline of risks: From <http://www.druckerinstitute.com/2012/05/the-risk-one-cannot-afford/>
1. The risk one must accept, the risk that is built into the nature of the business
2. The risk one can afford to take
3. The risk one cannot afford to take
4. The risk one cannot afford not to take
5. Keep it simple. Business planning is a communication tool used to explain the goals and the reasoning behind them.
6. Sunk Costs don't count. This is one of the most powerful emotions that contaminates your thinking. The idea that because you have already invested X dollars in time and money into something, you must continue with that something. Planning should be about the future, not justifying the past. This is an incredibly hard thing to do.
7. Planning is worthless unless put into action. Do not wait for the perfect plan - implement and adjust.
8. Business planning is never done. You need to review it monthly and update it as you discover what works and doesn't work.
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