From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list xfs); Wed, 23 Aug 2006 11:50:46 -0700 (PDT) Received: from n31a.bullet.scd.yahoo.com (n31a.bullet.scd.yahoo.com [209.73.160.90]) by oss.sgi.com (8.12.10/8.12.10/SuSE Linux 0.7) with SMTP id k7NIoXDW018679 for ; Wed, 23 Aug 2006 11:50:34 -0700 Message-Id: From: "Claude Jollet" MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 23:45:02 +0800 Subject: [Fr*e-Content] Planning Is Taking Advantage Of Risks Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: xfs-bounce@oss.sgi.com Errors-To: xfs-bounce@oss.sgi.com List-Id: xfs To: free-content@yahoogroups.com ***************************************************************** Message delivered directly to members of the group: free-content@yahoogroups.com ***************************************************************** Please consider this free-reprint article written by: Claude Jollet ================== IMPORTANT - Publication/Reprint Terms - You have permission to publish this article electronically in free-only publications such as a website or an ezine as long as the bylines are included. - You are not allowed to use this article for commercial purposes. The article should only be reprinted in a publicly accessible website and not in a members-only commercial site. - You are not allowed to post/reprint this article in any sites/publications that contains or supports hate, violence, porn and warez or any indecent and illegal sites/publications. - You are not allowed to use this article in UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) or SPAM. This article MUST be distributed in an opt-in email list only. - If you distribute this article in an ezine or newsletter, we ask that you send a copy of the newsletter or ezine that contains the article to claude_jollet[at]sympatico.ca (replace [at] with @) - If you post this article in a website/forum/blog, ALL links MUST be set to hyperlinks and we ask that you send a copy of the URL where the article is posted to claude_jollet[at]sympatico.ca (replace [at] with @) - We request that you ask permission from the author if you want to publish this article in print. The role of iSnare.com is only to distribute this article as part of its Article Distribution feature ( own this article, please respect the author's copyright and this publication/reprint terms. If you do not agree to any of these terms, please do not reprint or publish this article. ================== Article Title: Planning Is Taking Advantage Of Risks Author: Claude Jollet Word Count: 816 Article URL: Format: 64cpl Author's Email Address: claude_jollet[at]sympatico.ca (replace [at] with @) Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=76997 ================== ARTICLE START ================== Planning is the management of risk ... while there are no risks involved (yet), and while it is still safe to take action ... proactive action, that is! Planning is being able to recognize friends from foe ... before going into “business battle”. Planning is the dressed rehearsal before the premiere. Here is a “behind the scene” look at what the planning process is all about. An Eventful Journey Many (too many) aspiring entrepreneurs see the business plan as a set of documents describing their intentions and aspirations. Planning before going into business is much more than that! Business life is made up of events that occur sequentially, from cause to effect, as well as simultaneously, randomly, and spuriously. These events can occur within your sphere of influence, as well as on the periphery. They can, and will, also occur far removed from your knowledge ... apparently harmlessly! Each event can be a source of risks and opportunities for you and your business. Consequently, planning is the process by which you aim to maximize the beneficial effects of the latter, while minimizing the adverse effects of the former. A risky situation or event gives you the opportunity to put into action a counter measure that will benefit your business. You will have some of those measures planned, hopefully! One of the major advantages of a planned counter measure is that you can put it in effect ... while your competition is still destabilized! A Picture Is Worth ... Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that you have to picture yourself going through the motions, to know how to react when the time comes. Rehearsing lets you discover which events – and situation within an event - you may not be ready for. Planning lets you do just that. When you find you would not know how to react in a given situation, you can visualize your actions – before, during, and after the given event or situation – and test them for effectiveness. While still “off stage”, you can rehearse your moves until you find the proper ones to do. Before The S... Hits The Fan I mentioned that there are actions that have to be taken before the event. That is perhaps the most important part of planning. If you do your business research right, you will find that there are undesirable events you can indeed avoid, by simply avoiding the actions – or inactions – that will put you in trouble! You can easily identify these negative moves with proper planning. You can eliminate them from your winning scenario, before they have any chance of harming your business. That is what being proactive really means. During The Storm Nobody can foresee everything. Planning helps you eliminate as many unknowns as humanly possible. However, there will be times when things happen so fast, or in an unforeseen way, that you can be destabilized, even driven into a state of panic. You can avoid dangerous false reactions during a potentially disruptive event. You can avoid being overcome by doubt. You can practice reacting in front of the unknown. You can rehearse to react in a controlled fashion. Remember though that the best defense is offense. Proper planning is a potent form of offense. Your competition will never know your state of preparedness ... until it's too late! After The Wind Has Died Down That's when you take advantage of the good moves, and you recover – hopefully unharmed – from the bad ones. You can learn how to do that too! In fact, your business cannot grow if you cannot master the art of taking swift advantage of a favorable situation ... and of swiftly recovering from harmful ones. With proper planning, and training, you can learn how to recognize both, and take appropriate actions. Planning ... Takes Planning As you might have guessed by now, planning itself ... takes planning and practice! Before going into business, get a professional trainer to help you go through the moves with a training (learning) plan that will suit your needs. Get a coach to help you work on your mindset and resolve. In other words, do not hesitate to seek the help of reputable people who have been there, and done it. The professional trainer, and coach, will help you: * identify what you have to take into account, * see the business game, play by play, * avoid getting lost in rehearsing false moves, * go through the motions, in a professional manner, before you go into action, * plan how to recover from your mistakes. In short, they will help you build your confidence, and competence, one small – planned – move at a time. About The Author: Claude Jollet is a former planning advisor to major industrial and commercial clients. He specialized in weather related operational planning issues. He holds a B.Sc.A. specializing in business process analysis and automation. He now devotes himself to the promotion of entrepreneurship on Please use the HTML version of this article at: ================== ARTICLE END ================== For more free-reprint articles by Claude Jollet please visit: http://www.isnare.com/?s=author&a=Claude+Jollet Community email addresses: Post message: Free-Content@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: Free-Content-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: Free-Content-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com List owner: Free-Content-owner@yahoogroups.com Shortcut URL to this page: http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/Free-Content Coming Soon! Submissions & Archive at New Site Free Text to HTML Converter for Publishers! Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Content/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Free-Content-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/