It’s no secret that a successful business starts with a solid business plan. That’s why it may come as a surprise that sometimes the best type of business plan leaves the most wiggle-room for unanticipated events. If you are accustomed to writing business plans that detail every step of the way with laser precision, you may want to rethink your methods.

It Starts With the Heart

The perfect business plan doesn’t start with the brain. It may sound counterproductive, but the best plans come from a place of emotion. If you want a plan that never fails, think about what you want to accomplish long-term. This doesn’t just mean a financially-driven plan. What passion lies behind your drive to create this business? What type of purpose does this business carve out in your life?

When unexpected changes happen, as they often do during the course of a long-lasting business, sometimes the only things that will keep you going are the passion, purpose, and excitement that lead you to carve out your own path, to begin with. Ignoring the heart behind your ideas when creating a business plan causes a real disservice to everything you plan to accomplish.

Build In Flexibility

Building flexibility into a business plan almost sounds like an oxymoron. The idea of building a plan sounds like it should be a logical progression with concrete steps starting from the origin of the idea through to the completion. The problem with a rigid business plan is that it doesn’t take into account changes in an industry or unexpected events. Some business owners try to think of everything that could potentially happen and then build a contingency plan for each. Unfortunately, this type of thinking still leads to a fixed set of rules that don’t allow for flexibility when an event occurs that is not predicted in the plan.

Stay On Course

A flexible business plan that is built from a place of passion and drive will always be the perfect plan because it allows you to stay on course throughout the development of the business. Any time changes need to be made, going back to the basics of the motivation behind your ideas when they originated keeps you set on the right path. As long as your motivation and attitude are reflected in your plan, it can make a huge difference when external forces threaten to lead you astray.