What about your business? Did you set goals for that too? The first of the year is a fantastic time to look back on all that you have accomplished in your business — and perhaps reconsider the things that didn’t go quite as planned. If you have a business plan, you can gauge your progress against your projections and make course corrections accordingly. If you don’t have a plan (as many businesses don’t) perhaps your resolution is to finally do one this year.

I know. You’ve heard this lecture before. The majority of small businesses fail in the first five years, and many times that failure can be attributed to the lack of a business plan. You hear it all the time in trade journals and on the news; at the Chamber of Commerce meeting and from your small business advisor. Still, you just haven’t gotten around to it. You are not alone. One recent study estimates that only 31 percent of new businesses start with a plan.

One widely held idea among business owners is that a business plan is what you put together when you are going to the bank for a loan. Considering that 73 percent of small businesses are not funded by banks, but by the owner’s personal savings, it becomes apparent why so many skip the business plan. But stop and think about that for a moment. Your business is most likely funded by YOU. You are investing your hard earned money, your nest egg perhaps, into this venture. That fact may serve as a motivator for you to think about your business in a new way — to put in place a plan that ensures your hard earned investment dollars are being well-managed. This is not to say that as business owners we take outside investment from banks and partners lightly. But there is an extra sting to throwing away money you had a personal hand in earning.

Understanding the intricacies of the financial analysis that goes into a formal business plan is another reason many business owners skip the exercise all together. But again, this is your money we are talking about. You WANT to know where it is going. Success must be measured. When you made the heady decision to strike out on your own and open a business you graduated from the check register in your wallet to any of a number of financial tools that allow you to predict income and expense, to run “what-if” scenarios, to plan for lean times and to capitalize on a rush, to budget and analyze, to pay yourself for a job well done.

Make just one resolution for your business in 2007. Define your market, buy a new accounting tool, make a budget, set a sales goal. By taking just one step, the ones that follow will come all the easier. For help with your business plan, contact the Kitsap Business Assistance at the number below.

(Editor’s Note: Wendy Miles, Director of Customized Training and Military Education at Olympic College, oversees the operation of the Kitsap Business Assistance Center (KBAC). For partnership opportunities, contact her at 360-475-7786. For KBAC counseling services and workshops contact Rand Riedrich at 360-307-4220, rriedrich@oc.ctc.edu.).