Page 97 - The UnCaptive Agent

70 THE UNCAPTIVE AGENT

like Moltke, you should plan to adapt your plan as you
go through that first twelve to thirty-six months.
The section of your plan dealing with the first twelve
months should be the most highly specific. The farther
out your plan goes, the more general you can be in terms
of forecasting.
There are many different formats for business plans,
and you can find lots of examples on the Internet. There
are also a number of pre-formatted plans you can down-
load for free as a basis for your plan. But be careful and
only use those as examples. I read a lot of business plans
every year (forty to fifty in an average year) and can spot
the ones almost instantly that someone downloaded and
tinkered, with compared to the one somebody thought
through. So can most of the people who read your plan.
This is something you need to take time on and really
think through. Describe, for every part of the business, what
you’re going to do, how you’re going to do it, and what
you expect to happen as a consequence. Use the formatted
plan as a template and a guide, but not as a replacement
for the thinking about your business that you need to do.
I’m a pilot, and I find that the more time I spend on
preflight briefing (research) and planning, the smoother
and less stressful the flight goes. When I’ve planned well,
I’m ahead of the airplane and relaxed. When unforeseen
events arise, I find no need to panic, as I already have
a Plan B and usually a Plan C. If you approach your
business planning in a similar fashion, the first three
years of your business will be fun, challenging, and exhil-
arating—not scary and focused on existential survival.

The Retention Plan

First things first. Included in your business plan should
be a plan for retaining the clients that you sell and a