To those who run a somewhat profitable business: To what extent

>>960680
Me and my partner ran a really profitable business for the last 3 years. We hired some of our friends along the way too.

It was a business selling a photography related invention we had.

Time management is tricky because I think most perfectionists obcess too much anout time management when that analysis paralysis usually slows them down overall.

Various things should be planned out but that 50-page business plan they teach you to do in college is useless except for maybe getting investors.

>>960700
I'm interested in this too. I don't expect to have a major business plan, but you have a plan, right?

i cry

>>960680
"do you have a plan"

of course you idiot. think anyone gets rich by accident?

I went the route of doing shit blindly, then fixing problems, reinvesting everything until I reached a level where it was blatant that I needed to invest in outsourcing tasks to other people to continue to grow my business... I call it reaching the plateau. This is pretty much just time management. I couldn't grow my business by spending 7 hours a day packaging inventory and sending it out, I needed to get to a level where paying someone a wage to work 7 or 8 hours a day made financial sense to me.

I didn't go the route of developing a business plan because I wasn't ever able to secure a loan or borrow in the beginning stages of my business.

>>960700
>Various things should be planned out but that 50-page business plan they teach you to do in college is useless except for maybe getting investors.

I disagree. the business plan helps you define and properly delineate your operation. It's a good starting point to fully flesh out the business concept.

Next to the BP, you also need your project handbooks, and of course your overarching financial sheets.

>>960680
Nothing is spontaneous.
Spontaneous customers and spontaneous investors and spontaneous suppliers can go fuck themselves. If your move is not a strategic move that fits into the narrative of your business plan, you don't execute. That isn't to say that your BP is static. You adapt it according to the development of the environment.

Time management.
Forget time management. The only deadlines you have to meet are external ones, and you'll have to crunch those accordingly.
Always have something in the pipeline. If there isn't anything in the pipeline, you crunch until there is. But when the pipeline is full, you have to learn patience.

The gist is you crunch. Forget time. Time is a slave's chains. You either crunch, or have your things be crunched.

>>960735
I wouldn't call that a profitable business. While the line is blurred, it sounds more like service kekoldry to me.

Oh to be 18 again.

>>960753
It's more about knowing how to use a business plan correctly. In some cases, it may not be necessary at all. If you are a freelancer, they may be no point.

Mold it around your objectives if you do in fact need one. Otherwise focus your efforts on getting some cash flow going.

>>961190

I was talking from the perspective or startup corporations, to clarify.

>>960680
Starting out my partner and I didn't overthink anything that much. Nuts and bots. What equipment do we need to do the job, what are the profit margins, who are our potential customers, how much competition do we have etc.

Once we were up and running a lot of it was spontaneous. Paying close attention to our competition, adding to our services where we saw opportunities for more profit or to get that edge over everyone else.

Time management is important from a sanity perspective. When you're running your own company it's very easy to get lost in it. To the point your mental health suffers because you're so consumed and focused on what you're doing. So finding time to unplug so to speak is huge.

If you're committed to your business, time management skills develop naturally and out of necessity. I wouldn't say it played that much of a role in being successful or profitable. It does help personally to find happiness with a hectic schedule.

>>960778
t. 19 year old