“It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.”

[Driven_Magazine]

“It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.”

Its been brought to my attention recently that some people go into business without really having a way of knowing how their going to make money. I thought to myself, well that's silly, then why are they going into business in the first place? Lets break this down a bit.

Even todays rapidly growing companies like Twitter and Facebook are in this group. I bet you never really thought about it before, but these companies don't really have a revenue plan and if they have some what of a revenue plan now, they definitely didn't have one when they started.

Let me explain, lets take Twitter for example. Someone had a nifty idea for a new social media site and came up with the idea for Twitter. After that, they had to go and convince enough people to invest in it, so that they could create the site and company. However, no one actually sat down back then and said hey, how are we going to make money off of this? Instead they built it up, got a whole lot of users (especially because it is free) and grew very rapidly in competition to other social media sites.

Now that their all high and mighty.. How do you think their making money? cant think of a way? that's because.. their not. so are they really even a business? Perhaps.. if they can figure out a way to make money now, or instead maybe they should have planned that before!

Now instead, their trying to come up with a way to make money and not destroy the beautiful company they have built. Can they do it? I guess well find out, but all I know is that sometimes when you bring money into an issue where there was previously not, it can drastically alter the mechanics of your business and lose a lot of users.

Sites like Twitter and Facebook are going to try and make their money if there not already. Facebook, already making SOME money from advertisements and direct sales but that's probably asfar as their going to go. They cant fill up Facebook with tons of advertising because then they'll have too much SPAM and scare users away. Twitter is not making money yet at all! Their projected plan is to start having advertising tweets that will be clearly mark as sponsored. They're going to make it so that if you don't want advertisements then you can pay a little to not have them. Now if they started charging users then they would definitely fail and lose a lot of people but even what their doing might be enough to detract from their image. People don't like being bombarded with advertisements when their using social media.

The point of all this is to point out that even big companies sometimes fail to plan for a revenue stream and it can drastically affect their chances of success. You need to have a plan before going into business on how its going to make money or it isn't really a business at all! plan plan plan! or you'll end up flat on your face when you get going!

So If your thinking of starting a business, and you haven't yet thought of how your actually going to make money? I suggest you get on that and hammer out your plan! You don't want to end up like all the majority of companies that fail. A simple plan could keep you afloat and far above the rest.

Richie is a entrepreneur who is currently writing a book for young entrepreneurs entitled, "100 Short Lessons, Tips and Ideas, for the Busy Young Entrepreneur". More so, Richie has founded an Orlando wide organization called EXEC #Elite Xtreme Entrepreneur Collective). It will be aimed at young entrepreneurs and will provide a place for them to network, learn, and share resources. Richie Frost is the epitome of a go-getter and a World Class Executive that is dedicated to taking on every opportunity possible to further his life.

[amiel]

I totally agree. Planning ahead definitely places you in advance to better position. Planning ahead let you analyze in advance what will possibly happen in the future, and if not, at least you have some back ups to cling on. In my line of work as a virtual assistant, this is really helpful, not only to gain clients but also to gain their trust and respect, which is one of the most important aspect not only in business but in life as well.

[KofiLGS]

Good article.