The natural corollary to this is that if you don’t write it down and you go wrong, you won’t have any idea where, or why. Only a few people of my acquaintance were so capable that they could do without a plan, or carry it in their heads; they usually drove their partners, staff and investors crazy. There are a lot of reasons NOT to do something. Dr. Samuel Johnson (and I’m paraphrasing) said that for every reason to do something most people can think of 50 reasons not to.
The boss may be able to keep everything in his head, but he cannot do all the work. So if it’s not written down, much of his time will be spent in explaining it to the people who need to do the work.
Every magazine and every magazine plan has some aspects that are unique and particular to the situation. But most plans, most of the time, share a great many things with most other plans. There are as many variables in the planning for any publication as there are variations between magazines. Chile Pepper’s plan is going to be different than Canadian Business’s.
If you don’t have something that distinguishes your idea, it will be easy for competitors to duplicate Ideas are cheap, execution is difficult. Investors are galvanized by something that is concrete and tested. A large market is much more likely to yield a substantial profit. If the investor is to get his/her money out with a premium, the magazine has to make lots of money. Do you have some “skin in the game”? That is, are you risking something substantial, that will keep you motivated and committed to the project? Magazines are a people business – one of the big mistakes is underestimating the cost and complexity of management. Investors want to know that they are buying the commitment and the expertise of a team that will take the project to a profitable position as quickly as possible.
Enemies of good decision-making are WISHFUL THINKING, RATIONALIZATION AND DISSEMBLING OR VAGUENESS. The reader of the plan relies upon it to give a clear and accurate picture.
Executive summary will be read, even if the rest of the plan is only skimmed. It is written last. It is, and should be short and to the point. If your plan is particularly long or complicated, the summary can be longer – a 10-page summary is not unrealistic if the document it is summarizing is 100+ pages. An investor will look at your summary and flip to your financial statements to see if it’s worth reading any further. A funder may read the whole plan, but will refer back more than once to the summary. A table of contents is sometimes overlooked in a short business plan, but ought not to be. Because you are intimately acquainted with the plan, don’t expect all your readers to be. A table of contents is one of many possible reading and comprehension aids for a wide variety of consumers of your plan.
In your binder I have put a couple of excellent articles on strategic planning and how to analyze our competition. Once again, it is attention to detail and a willingness to do the hard work of research and analysis that goes into an excellent plan.
In other words, will the whole be greater than the sum of the parts?
An investor or a director will want to know the level of commitment that the key managers have to the process of growth or renewal. Ideally, they like to have the most important people’s feet “nailed to the floor”. It is a people business. The kind of outside expertise already tapped or available to be called upon That many of the ongoing relationships with suppliers are already in place That the authors of the plan have thought through the money they’ll need and where they will get it (and what alternatives they have in mind if their plans don’t work out) That the planners have already spotted ways of making the publication better by strategic spending and/or strategic cost-cutting. Either way can help lead the magazine to profitability or financial stability.
A plan should show enthusiasm, but rigor and caution. It’s a question of balance. Nobody ever got into trouble by under-promising and then over-performing.
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