I have a few words of advice for first-time entrepreneurs, as well as seasoned business owners seeking to hit a fresh stage of growth. My advice is this; write your organization plan in pencil. I realize this may be a hardship on whatever you non-golfers, but the process will illustrate two important principles.

1. Change is inevitable.

I have without a doubt that you simply (the small-business owner) will shortly change, amend, modify, scrap, or abandon your original business strategy plan altogether. One of the attributes of successful entrepreneurs is flexibility. By writing your company plan in pencil it can make you have a look at change because the only constant. Make alter your friend, embrace it, and arrange it in your favor.

The logic behind why your original plan should be changed after your company is operational are myriad. It’s likely you under or over-estimated your competitors, margins, cash needs, competencies, and suppliers. Or you misjudged market need and size. Every entrepreneur discovers new opportunities that didn’t appear until there was a business working.

2. We must avoid strategic business plan worship.

When we perceive documents neatly typed (and maybe even received praise for them), we’re hesitant to change. Especially for people who attended business schools in which the plan took on the greater than life importance. People whose plans got high marks, as well as worse, won a business strategy contest, tend to feel their plan is inviolate. They also often feel that whenever they rigorously adhere to the plan it’s going to yield the riches of these dreams. I hope that this mental image of a pencil will remind you that change is great and may allow you to reach your goals.

Most small-business people that I know never wrote a business plan. In 16 start-ups, I’ve …