If you’re starting or growing a small business and throwing a lot of money into business planning, you might want to read this before spending another dollar.

Talk to almost anyone in the business development or lending arena, and they will tell you flat out that you need a business plan.

True enough. You need a plan.

What’s less well touted is that almost all of the benefits of business planning accrue from researching and writing the plan yourself.

So, let’s cut to the chase. Individuals setting out to start small or micro-businesses are far better off to take up the mouse and keyboard themselves than to outsource the development of a business plan. Anyone can write you a story, but nobody can read your mind or predict whether or not you’ll succeed in business.

And guess what – you stand to lose everything if the plan doesn’t work out.

Of course, you also stand to gain everything if your business gains traction and succeeds.

So, here’s the rub. If a consultant could create a business plan that is guaranteed to succeed, why would he do it for you for pennies? Why wouldn’t he simply start the business himself? Here’s why – because 99.9% of the work is not in the planning; it is in the implementation of the business plan. And only you can assess whether or not you are able and willing to take on the work and make the business succeed.

Anyone who knows a few words can write a story. Anyone with those skills, a hint of imagination, and a bit of business knowhow can write a fairly convincing business story. But is that person in business? And specifically, unless that person is buried in your business up to the neck, the business plan isn’t going to be worth the pdf it’s written on. And if that person is in the business already, he isn’t going to help you in to the market place just to compete with him.

So, where do great business plans come from? They arise from the mind of the entrepreneur putting assets on the line, tempered with a few hours of research to validate any assumptions. That’s it. The only business plans that are worth a pinch of muskrat muck are those that are brought about through the blood, sweat and tears of the person who’ll be paying the taxes once the business is rolling.

So, suck it up and research and write your own business plan. If you have a roadmap to follow, it’s not such a bad thing – fact is, you might even enjoy the planning process once you get past the initial fear. After all, in planning a business, you are mapping out the next leg of your personal journey. You are laying the groundwork for an optimistic future, possibly improving your financial status and getting into a lifestyle you want.

What could possibly be more enticing than that?