I’ve just finished a 12-minute online video (presentation, slides, with me talking) summary of Chapter 2, Attitude Adjustment. Click here for that … it does require Flash and Java on your system, and the window has to be about 860 pixels wide to show the whole thing.

I’ve finished a nine-minute video showing you how to download and install the free add-on, available on this site (in the resources tab), to implement a default plan-as-you-go business plan outline as an add-on to Business Plan Pro.

If for any reason you don’t see the video here then you can click here for the youtube version of the same thing.

This video shows you how to download the add-on, install it into Business Plan Pro, and then use it to create a plan-as-you-go plan. Then it shows you a bit about how to use that customized outline within the software.

And, just as a reminder, there’s also this video showing you how to just still with the standard default Business Plan Pro, and also use the plan-as-you-go approach. And for that first one as well there’s a youtube alternative in case the flash player doesn’t work for you.

This is a twelve minute slide presentation summarizing the key points in Chapter 2, ‘Attitude Adjustment.’

If for any reason you don’t see the youtube video player in this post, you can also click here to go to the source on youtube directly.

Where’s my discussion of the secret sauce? Chelle Parmele from the BIG (business in general) blog asked me that a couple days ago, expecting it to be in this book. I was embarrassed. I talk about the secret sauce a lot, in my seminars and in my class, at the office. It’s definitively another view of the same reality I’m calling the heart of the plan. So that’s one thing to add for the next edition.

The secret sauce is the magic, also called (boring) differentiators, and sometimes competitive edge; Guy Kawasaki calls it “underlying magic” and recommends that it be one of the 10 (or so) slides is a pitch presentation. You can google it and see how people are writing about it, using it to define what’s new or different about some businesses. (You’ll also see some items on McDonalds’ secret sauce for the big mac, and some cooking stuff, but you’ll see what I mean).

This idea of the secret sauce is a good way to explain how you’re different from your competitors. What sets you apart?

Examples? Apple Computer’s secret sauce is design, for example. Michelin tires’ branding tries (in my opinion) to emulate Volve, the safety angle. My favorite restaurant in Eugene, Poppi’s Anatolia, has an extremely spicy version of vindaloo chicken. Whole Foods’ secret sauce is its having established the brand for healthy and organic foods. In cars, just look at the mini-cooper or the Honda Element or the Toyota Prius and you see secret sauce immediately.

This is a flash video, set for 800×600 dimensions, which will require that you install Flash on your system if you don’t already have it. just click this link … Planning as you go with Business Plan Pro … it should open up a new window with a media player showing, and an obvious arrow to click.

The source file was set up at 800 x 600 resolution, so you might want to resize the window to show the resolution at its best. If the window you use to watch this is too big, then it looks fuzzy.

And here, below, is a flash player version of the same thing (I hope) …

If this doesn’t work for you, it might be a matter of Internet band width or compatibility with flash. I’d like to know, so leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you.

A tip of the hat to the team at Entrepreneur Press, because the book was barely finished in May and it’s already available now — July 25 as I write this, but it’s been a couple of weeks.  You can order it now at amazon.com, it should be on the shelves at Barnes & Noble stores and is available online at the Barnes & Noble website; and you can order it online at Borders. From what I’ve been told about orders, you’re likely to find it at the Barnes and Noble stores, but not so much at Borders stores — although it’s available online at all three places.

By Guy Kawasaki

You should be surprised that I’m writing this forward for a book about business planning. After all I’ve blogged about how I started a venture of mine called Truemors.com without a business plan. I also wrote a blog posting called “is a Business Plan Necessary?” I’ve spent a lot more time and effort talking and writing about one’s pitch than one’s plan.

However, it’s exactly because of that history that I wanted to write about this book. This book is about planning, not the plan. Tim says that instead of a ponderous document, do the planning that every business needs to focus, prioritize, and manage. Do that, and, if that’s all you’re going to use, nothing else. Don’t sit back waiting for a big plan to be done: get going, start planning, start thinking, and do whatever part of it is going to help you do your business better.

In this book, Tim explains how to build your plan around a core (he calls it the “heart”) strategic combination of market, identity, and focus. I like the idea that the real plan is not the output format, but what’s supposed to happen, and why, and when, and how much money. It’s ideas like this that make me say everybody running a business should develop a plan, but only in the simple, pragmatic context that this book evangelizes. And that’s why you should buy this book.

Planning is good. You may not need a full formal business plan, but you can certainly use planning to manage. So I’ve written this book to help you get going quickly, and easily, with only as much planning as you want and need to succeed. That might require a full plan, and it might not.

In an old Peanuts comic strip, Charlie Brown and Lucy are walking on a sidewalk when they see in front of them something that Lucy — who knows everything — identifies as a rare Brazilian butterfly. She starts talking about the wonder of the butterfly having traveled all the way from Brazil, when Charlie Brown looks closer and interrupts: “It’s a potato chip.”

“Then isn’t it even more amazing,” Lucy continues, without missing a beat, “that this potato chip got here all the way from Brazil?”

This story reminds me of what’s happening to business planning People who mean to say what I’m saying with this book, that not every business needs a complete formal business plan, say “don’t do a business plan” instead. They don’t really mean “don’t plan,” but when they’re experts, people believe them; and end up missing out on planning. And that’s shame.

So I say let’s keep it simple and practical. Do as much planning as you’ll be able to use. Realize that all plans will change, so think of your plan as ongoing and use it to guide your business. Expect it to change, but use the planning to keep your eyes on the long-term goals even as the details change. It’s like planning a trip, for example:having the pan doesn’t lock you i, it helps you keep track and revise as needed. Or like dribbling: you keep your eyes on the whole field (or court) while you deal with the ball, watching the play develop without losing track of the goal. Plan as you go.

This is a new approach to business planning. It’s new and different because it takes what’s most important about the traditional business plan idea and applies it better to today’s world. And it’s a lot better than the traditional business plan, quicker, easier, more flexible, more practical, and more useful.

It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been working with business plans for about 30 years now. Startup plans for new companies that didn’t yet exist, growth plans, strategic plans, action plans, feasibility plans, lots of plans. One of my startup plans became Borland International, which went public less than four years after it started, and made me a lot of money. I did annual plans for Apple Latin America, then Apple Pacific, and then Apple Japan for a combined total of 12 years. I’ve used business planning to grow my own company to 40 employees and 70% market share without outside investment.

Through all of these years, I’ve seen how business planning can be the secret of success for new companies and growing companies. I’ve seen how the best companies understand planning and regularly develop plans and manage them. Good companies plan.

I’ve also seen how myths and misunderstandings get in the way. People think — wrongly — that having a plan means getting locked into doing something that doesn’t make sense, mindlessly, because it’s in the plan. People think –wrongly — that rapid changes make planning less useful, when in fact good planning is one of the best ways to manage change. People think — and this is one of the most damaging misconceptions — that a business plan is hard to do and set in stone with a long list of necessary parts, a ponderous and pompous formal exercise.

The plan-as-you-go business plan is what you need and only what you need. It can be as simple as a 60-second strategy summary that can be delivered in an elevator. For smaller companies it might be that plus a review schedule, milestones table, measurement notes, and a sales forecast. And as companies grow, their plans can grow. Then, when you need the big plan document, you add the additional parts you need and create the document. But you are always planning, and you are never without a plan.

This is not the first business plan book I’ve done. Unfortunately, I now hate the title of my last business plan book, the most successful, because it sets up exactly the wrong idea: the business plan as hurdle. The book was titled Hurdle: the Book on Business Planning. What’s wrong with this is that business planning isn’t supposed to be like a hurdle that stands in the way; instead, it’s a powerful tool for managing your company better, controlling your business destiny, establishing accountability, and developing teamwork. You should never think of it as a hurdle. It’s not an obstacle you overcome; it’s a technique that helps you, all the time, manage your company better.

So don’t stop working. Don’t ever let the business plan stand between you and doing business. Get started, get going, and make the plan useful to you from the very first day.

You’ll find that strategy in this book. I want you to get started. I expect that you’ll be able to do something today that will already be helping your business tomorrow.