A certain immigrant made good the hard way. He worked long hours, made the customer feel important, and was sensitive to the needs of everyone who came to his shop. His years of hard labor paid off, and he was able to send his son to college.
When the son came back to join the business, he was appalled by his dad’s bookkeeping and urged him to computerize and do it the modern way. The father replied, "I already have a bookkeeping plan. It works like this. When I started my business, I had $100 and the pair of pants I was wearing. Now, when I want to know what I’m worth, I deduct the pants and $100 and what’s left over is profit."
A generation ago it may have been acceptable to keep your cash in an old cigar box and use a yellow writing pad for accounting, but not today. Failure to know where you are going in business accounts for the high majority of small-business failures. A strategic plan, whether it is for your business, your church or your life, is very important.
Business advisor Dennis Waitley says, "Most people over-estimate what they can do in a year and under-estimate what they can do in five." He’s right.
Jesus said, "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?" (Luke 14:28). A plan that includes your goal and objective, counting the cost to see if resources will allow you to succeed, and then an action plan to translate ideas or dreams into reality, is the only way some things happen. Did you notice that he first sits down and counts the cost?
It’s amazing what marriages, families and friendships have in common with successful businesses. Planning and execution work pretty much the same way for them all.
Another important factor to consider in strategic planning is God’s direction in your life and work. When he was asked what was his five-year plan, Francis Schaeffer used to reply that he had none, that God had not yet revealed what his direction five years in the future was. I’ve never forgotten that.
Wise is the man or woman who makes God his or her senior partner. As the writer of Proverbs wrote long ago, "We can make our plans, but the final outcome is in God’s hands. We can always ‘prove’ that we are right, but is the Lord convinced? Commit your work to the Lord, then it will succeed" (Proverbs 16:1-3, the living bible). What more can anyone add? - Resource Reading: Proverbs 16