The fundamentals of business are still the same. Except that now business is valued on Internet traffic as opposed to actual dollars. But planning, implementing, reviewing, revising, strategizing - it’s all still the same.

What has changed is the speed of business - the speed of change - the speed of opportunity. It’s a brave new world and opportunities abound.

Our featured guest in this episode of Small Business Trends Radio is Tim Berry, the Founder and President of Palo Alto Software the makers of Business Plan Pro software. Tim Berry is an author, speaker, entrepreneur, and expert in business planning.

He is also the founder of Bplans.com, the world’s most viewed and referenced business-planning site. Tim shares his many insights and observations into creating and managing a living, breathing business plan for your company.

Here is a sampling of topics discussed during the show:

• Business planning — is still a part of the fundamentals of business, however, misconceptions do exist. One must realize that a business plan isn’t a straitjacket. You’re not bound to it. And one must also realize that a plan isn’t really about a plan as a document - so much as it’s about planning. And as speed increases, planning is a way to manage the ever constant ebb and flow of change.

• Plans are not a straitjacket — and a plan doesn’t mean that what you planned to do in June 2008 - you actually have to do in June 2008. It simply helps you to maintain a long term direction while managing constant short term changes.

• The living, breathing business plan — isn’t your fathers business plan anymore. Nowadays, a plan lives in a computer, is shared with your team, is fluid and flexible and is simply a series of reminders along your journey. It must be manipulated and adjusted accordingly and a good business plan is never finished. If your plan is done - so is your company.

• Writing a business plan — is a combination of covering target marketing and focusing on needs, wants and deadlines. It is essential to first understand that you’re always writing your business plan. And that it doesn’t matter where you start. Just be sure to start using whatever piece you’ve composed immediately - and then continue to build on your plan as time progresses.

• Plans should include a combination — of target marketing, identification of the company’s strengths and weaknesses and the company focus. Each of these should relate to the other. It may be difficult to drill these down but if you view your plan as a continual work in progress - success can be yours.

• Include specifics — and a lot of them. Mainly, specifics related to cash flow and dates. Who is doing what and when, how much does it cost, how much money will be earned? What is going to happen and when is it going to happen? This is vital to business planning and you cannot really manage your company without them. List them - manage them.

And always remember that it’s your business. You control your own destiny and planning is a vital part of that. You don’t have to be an expert writer. But keep your business plan top of mind and manage it making sure to always view it as a living, breathing, ever-evolving entity.

Want to begin planning a successful future for your company? Take control of your destiny now by clicking the player below and listening to Tim’s full interview.

Listen Now:

 Plan As You Go Business Planning [28:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Six Disciplines Corporation, our sponsor, has recorded a number of quick 1-minute “Tip of the Day” segments. Regular listeners of the Small Business Trends Radio program will recognize them from the show.

They are excellent snippets of wisdom, all recorded personally by Six Disciplines Founder, Gary Harpst. Gary speaks from the voice of experience, as he also founded and grew Solomon Software (now part of Microsoft).

Here is an example of one Tip of the Day:

Set Goals That Lead (1 minute - MP3 file)

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Ever wondered why so many business strategies fail? Is it because the strategy was bad? No! says our most recent guest.

The problem with most business strategy is executing it, says Gary Harpst, CEO and founder of Six Disciplines.

Gary is an exceedingly successful entrepreneur.

Listen to our 55-minute podcast Conversation and you will discover that he started a software company called Solomon Software roughly a quarter century ago. Over the years he grew that business until in 2000 it was purchased by Great Plains Software. Soon thereafter the company he founded in the small city of Findlay, Ohio, USA became part of Microsoft when Great Plains was itself acquired.

Along the way Gary says he made many business mistakes. And like any successful entrepreneur, those mistakes were some of his most valuable — albeit painful — lessons. What he learned he decided to use to build a system to mentor and grow other entrepreneurs and business owners.

The result is Six Disciplines. After investing over $10 million and nearly five years of development, Six Disciplines is like nothing else you’ve seen for small businesses. It’s part methodology (business processes), part technology (Internet-based software to manage a small business), and part coaching (someone who helps the business owner learn and stay on track).

If you have a chance to listen to only one small business podcast, you definitely want to listen to Gary Harpst. There is nothing like Six Disciplines and I guarantee you will get a tremendous amount out of his talk.

Go here to listen to Gary Harpst.

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