Business in General

We've Moved!

We're making the BIG leap from Typepad to Wordpress this week.

Please change your bookmarks to www.businessingeneral.com and your RSS feeds to http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/bplans so that you don't miss a single post!

See you at the new digs!

Dead-Simple Software

A little company business this morning.

Palo Alto Software would like to announce and welcome a new blog to its fold. Dead-Simple Software is the official product blog for all the Palo Alto Software products. There you will be able to keep up-to-date with the latest news, user tips and product releases for Business Plan Pro, Marketing Plan Pro and our soon to be released Email Center Pro.

If you are a current customer or would just like to know what the heck we're doing, please make sure to sub to the RSS feed or bookmark the site.

We will continue to have our usual editorial content on this blog from a variety of people inside and outside the PAS network. And we thank you for your continued interest and support!

 

'Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Working at Palo Alto Software does not suck

On DumbLittleMan today there was a post on creating the perfect environment. After reading the article, I stood up and looked around our office. We've been in these offices for a little over a year, and I think everyone is much happier and more productive here.

Orange day in full force!

Here we are standing in front of just one of the buildings we worked in. Three buildings in all, but one of those buildings was separated into 3 largish type rooms. There was very little space and half the offices went without natural light.

When we moved, it was like stepping from the basement into the penthouse.

Here's a view of the inside of our new offices - (I say new, but it will be two years in July!)

One whole side of the office is windows and everyone is grouped in into teams, that's the customer care team you see right in front with the web development team in the next bullpin over.

Communication improved, smiles brightened, laughter was passed around more frequently and in general a more cohesive working environment came out of that change.

Alex, at DLM lists sunlight, flowers, laughter, integrity and respect as some of the things vital for a happy and successful environment, and I think we've got that going on here at PAS in spades.

I'd love to hear from you on how you improved the environment of your business. What little changes happened to make your company culture one that is more productive and energetic?

'Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

The Queen of Business Plan Software

Ramon Ray has an interview with Palo Alto Software CEO Sabrina Parsons in The Queen of Business Plan Software on Small Business Technology yesterday.

Sabrina gives a nice review of business planning in general and Business Plan Pro's latest version.

Technorati Tags: business plan, business plan software, business plan pro, palo alto software, women executives, small business

Business Plan Pro and The Plan-as-you-go Business Plan

As we roll forward into a new world, warmer (sadly), greener (I hope), and much quicker to change, it's time for a new kind of business planning. I call it "The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan" and I'm writing a book on it, to be published by Entrepreneur, due out next September.

You have a picture of the cover here, and a summary on my blog Planning Startups Stories.

A lot of what's different is in attitude. Plan-as-you-go planning is more flexible, more fluid, than the normal business plan the old way of doing it. It assumes change, and therefore also assumes regular plan review. It focuses on the core of the plan -- strategy and specific steps to implement, trackable metrics, accountability and collaboration -- rather than the information that backs it up and supports it. You'll find these and more essentials, and principles of plan-as-you-go planning, on that post on my blog.

What I wanted to add here, on this blog, is how you can use Business Plan Pro to do that same plan-as-you-go business plan that I'm recommending.  I'd like to explain the principles and add the specifics for working those principles with my favorite business planning tool:

1. Lighten up. Angels fly because they take themselves lightly. You're not doing a full formal plan unless you have a business reason for that, like seeking investment or borrowing. Form follows function. Don't think you have to do a big formal plan. Just what your business requires to guide it right, help it grow. You might be keeping it on your computer, and never printing it.

   

2. Insert a topic for plan review schedule. Use the outline tool. It fits either in the first chapter, the summary, or the fifth chapter, planning and implementation. Set up the review meetings (for example, third Thursday of every month) and who's supposed to be there. Write this information down in the review schedule topic.

   

3. Get going. Get started. The plan-as-you-go business plan is built in blocks, and you start wherever you are most comfortable, and jump around. You can do that with Business Plan Pro very easily. Use the Tasks window or Outline window. Save often, add things as they come up, and then let it go.

   

4. Create a new topic (outline tools again) for assumptions. Your Business Plan Pro has an assumptions topic in the standard outline, but that tends to tie directly to the specific general assumptions table. A plan-as-you-go business plan keeps assumptions on top, visible, so you review them with every plan review meeting. Remember, this is a new world. Things change fast. You keep the assumptions visible because your plan needs to absorb changing assumptions, and adapt. Plan-as-you-go planning means never doing anything just because it's in the plan; if it doesn't make sense anymore, then you change the plan. 

   

5. The heart of your plan is in the strategy chapter. Add topics and change topic names if you want to. Make sure you have focus, what you do for whom, who's your target market, what is your business identity, what are you best at.

   

6. Develop your metrics.  Add the specifics. This is probably in the strategy and implementation chapter. You can build this around the milestones chapter, or wherever you want it.

Think of this as attitude adjustment. You're using business planning to run your business, not just to create a document that you'll print. You're going to share all or part of it with people as required for business purposes.   

You should separate in your mind the output from the plan. The plan is what you keep in Business Plan Pro. The output might be selections from the plan that you'll distribute as PDF, or a presentation, or a summary, or an elevator speech. That's always just the output.

By the way, you might remember that the print dialog of Business Plan Pro allows you to select specific subsets of topics and tables as you print or create the slides or the PDF document or Word document or whatever. So you can spin out one subset for team members, another for introducing new employees to your company, and another for distribution to vendors or potential partners. The plan is what you manage, and you separate, in your mind, the plan from its various outputs. 

Form follows function. Business Plan Pro is a powerful tool for doing a full formal business plan, if you need that; but it's just as powerful for doing a plan-as-you-go business plan, step by step, only what's needed. Do it for yourself, if you don't need to show it to anyone else.

-- Tim

The Woman's Congress 2008

The Woman's Congress starts in Miami Florida this weekend at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Tim Berry and Sabrina Parsons, our President and CEO, will be on hand to present a seminar on family succession planning.

Their part of the conference will take place on Friday, the 25th at 10:45-12:00 noon session in Room 239. Tim and Sabrina will be presenting with Mazy Gills of RHR International and the moderator, Mira Halpert of 3D Learning.

Here's the description of what they'll be talking about:

As a business leader, everyone needs a long term plan for succession.  For small businesses, how do you plan for a new leader? For corporate executives, how do you plan for your own succession?  This session explores objective and systematic methods, and evaluating and tracking the talent necessary for future leadership positions so your business continues to grow.  Three to five year planning should be done to ensure that key positions have the back up needed so that organizations remain strong in years to come.

If you're already planning on going, please stop by and say hello!

 

'Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Updates and Upgrades

Over the years I have encountered plenty of customers who don't carry a translation dictionary for the terminology used in the world of computer software, and they shouldn't have to - that's why we have documentation, training, customer care and support.

One of the most common sources for confusion is the idea of a software upgrade versus an update. The simple definition is; an update contains a set of changes that enhance and/or fix an existing program, while an upgrade is a new program altogether.

UPDATES:

Software updates are released to add features and resolve problems in software. Consider updates to be the "patches" that keep the fabric that makes up a software program together over time. For example, you have undoubtedly noticed a little icon in the corner of your screen that lets you know that there are updates waiting for you to download and install. You are "patching" your operating system with new features and solutions to known issues when you do these updates.

It is always a good idea to make sure that you are using the latest updated version (aka the very newest release of a program). As with most software programs today, our updates have been made easy and automatic. Palo Alto Software programs include an automatic update feature that checks for and downloads updates using your Internet connection. If you turn the auto-update feature off, you can check for updates through the Tools menu in the program itself.

UPGRADES:

New versions of existing programs are created to keep up with changing goals, standards and technology. We focus our development efforts on creating new and better planning products that meet the objectives of our customers. Although our customers' core objectives do not change much from year to year (present a quality plan that wins the funding from investors and/or gets the loan, manage your existing business to track actual performance against what was forecasted, develop a strategy for bringing a service or product to market effectively, etc.) the methods for achieving those goals are certainly not static.

For example, our latest version of Business Plan Pro focuses on a secure, hosted method for sharing your plan with team members and investors online - printed plans on paper are a dying breed. We have also developed a management dashboard for comparing what is actually happening to what was planned as time passes and your plan becomes a reality.

Our goal is simple: a better planning experience for thousands of Business Plan Pro and Marketing Plan Pro users. We are here to help individuals succeed in business. Sure, operating environments change rapidly; the technology landscape is constantly evolving, and our software is always compatible with the most current technology. But after all, we are the Planning People, and focusing inward on what is cool looking and slick would be an exercise in self gratification - in the end, it's all about the plan!

- Jake Weatherly

The Art of Living

One of the best things about my job is watching as people create things and make them grow. I got an email today from Jan Stumbo, who has created Soul Arts Foundation.

The Soul Arts Foundation greatest commitment is working with children in sheltering agencies and encouraging individuals of all ages to develop their full creative potential through visual arts.

Provide the basic principles of Art, tools, and media for those individuals and conduct supervised classes for creativity and self expression with children and adults.

She says some nice things about how Business Plan Pro helped her get going. She also linked me up to this video on YouTube, about her and her ideas and the foundation she's created: 

Nice going Jan.

--Tim Berry

Mommy Wars

Palo Alto Software CEO Sabrina Parsons is quoted today in a story in USA today on Working Moms:

Those who do work say they often must confront attitudes from co-workers who may question their decision to leave children in child care or with a nanny. That's what happened to Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palo Alto Software in Eugene, Ore. Parsons says she was recently participating in a business meeting and during casual conversation, one of the men said, "Thank goodness my kids are not being raised by a nanny."

Presumably, this was a man who had a wife who had chosen to stay at home with his children. Meanwhile, Parsons' children were at home with their nanny. She says she just smiled, said nothing, and felt happy that she was ending a very productive meeting and was on her way home to be with her two boys, Timmy, 3, and Leo, 1. Parsons works full time.

"I thought he'd be embarrassed, but he just didn't get it," Parsons says. "I thought, 'Should I say something?' Not all of us have a choice. There are times there is pressure to feel guilty. I feel like work makes me a better mom. I want to work."

And at Palo Alto Software we're glad she does.

 

--Tim

 

News Interview with Tim Berry

Tim was interviewed yesterday after his presentation at eBay Live in Boston. Click here for the video interview.

-- Noah