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Tim Berry

Tim Berry on business planning, starting and growing a business, and having a life while you do it.

Planning Fundamentals are Business FundamentalsYesterday

How do absolute business fundamentals relate to planning fundamentals? I really believe that's a critical question. Business planning has to relate to the real business principles.

I can think of five key business fundamentals that should underlie good business planning:

It's about results. It's not planning for the sake of truth or beauty. It's not planning for the sake of the document, or formatting. It is about what you need to improve, manage, and plan your business.
Form follows function. What's included in a business plan isn't necessarily anything more than what you need to understand and manage your business strategy (the heart) and work out what's supposed to happen when, and how much it costs, how much it brings in, and who's in charge of it (the flesh and bones). It might never get off of your computer. Or, if you need a so-called business plan, or a summary memo, or presentation, or elevator speech, then that is output from the plan on your computer. It's not the plan, it is output from the plan.
Metrics and tracking equal accountability. Plans should be concrete and specific. How will you know, after time goes on, whether or not you are implementing your plan? That's a matter of things you can measure, and having the discipline to measure them, and track them. And the result, when it's done right, is accountability.
Planning assumes change. You don't plan the next year so you know what to do regardless of what

How Obama Can Clean Up the MessNovember 18

I'd like everybody who possibly can, to listen to 'Obama's Challenge': A Transformative Opportunity, a 38-minute interview, podcast, from NPR's Fresh Air which broadcast on Thursday November 6.

This seems really important to me. Hopeful as well, as if maybe there's a way out of this economic mess we're in; but also important in that I'd like you to listen to it too.

And read the excerpt that's included here as well.

Robert Kuttner, author of Obama's Challenge spells out a convincing argument for both the depth of the problem and the need of a Roosevelt-like, New-Deal-like solution. I hate to summarize something as important as this, but:

The government has to spend billions to prop up housing prices. Too many of us link our wealth to our home value. The economy can't survive a severe hit to the home owners. Roosevelt, facing something like this, established the Home Owners Loan Corporation (H

Thanks Anita Plan-As-You-Go Book GiveawayNovember 17

Anita Campbell is giving away copies of my Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan book over at her Small Business Trends blog. She posted this offer last Friday for her birthday (nice touch) and offered five books to be given at random from among the list of people who commented.

The give-away program lasts until this coming Friday, November 21, so you have time to go there and add your own comment to the group. I checked yesterday afternoon and there were 36 comments before one that I added.

Aside from the possible free book, another good reason to go there is to jsts browse through the comments. Why do people plan their businesses? There are some good reminders.

OK, I'm biased, but this is also a good reminder that Anita's is one of the best blogs you'll find anywhere on small business topics in the real world. It's n

The Charter For CompassionNovember 14

Do you want to help solve one of the world's great problems? This has to be as important as clean energy: religious fundamentalism turning into violence and hatred. The darker side of humanity seems at its worst when powered by misguided religious fervor.

"Misguided" is the active word there. All major religions have some variation on what I learned as the golden rule -- do unto others as you would have others do unto you-- at their core. Despite that, some religiously oriented groups preach violence and hatred. I don't want to cite examples here because that usually diminishes the discussion.

I found out about the Charter For Compassion yesterday from the TED blog yesterday morning. The idea seems universal to me. What I learned as "the golden rule" exists in the core of all of the world's major religions. This group wants only to bring that basic idea, in the different flavors it comes with the different religions, back to the forefront. That's where it belongs. Start with not doing harm to others.

Please click the link here and see what you think.

Ping Me, Ping Me: Social Media Good, Bad, and UglyNovember 13

Blog posting, email, LinkedIn. So much social media, so little time. I think we have to ignore some of it, some of the time, but on the other hand, what works? How does anybody get any email message read?

1. The Good

I don't know why this one appealed to me as it did. The book is called "Dirty Little Secrets of Buzz," by David Seaman. I never would have noticed it, except for the emails.

The first email in the series started with the words "press release" and I ignored it completely. I would never have known it was there if I hadn't done a keyword search, looking for the second. I sent back an email template response, thanks but no thanks. I totally forgot about it in a flash.
The second email annoyed me just a bit, but I noticed it. The subject line was "New Marketing Book Cures 'All Problems' with Businesses Affected by the Economy." "All problems" was in quotes. I say annoyed me because what a stupid claim, a book cures all problems with businesses affected by the economy. But still, annoyed or not, I answered it. "Wow, what a claim," I said. The answer to my email was a question: did I want a copy? Sure.
The third email came today: the subject line was "as the economy falters, fame becomes a valuable commodity." There again, it gets my attention.

I have the book now, I haven't read it yet, but it looks