Wealth Without a Job: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Freedom and Security Beyond the 9 to 5 Lifestyle

must be you handing over the cash to the car dealer and driving

home from the car lot.

COMPLETION OF EACH STEP MUST LEAVE YOU READY TO BEGIN THE NEXT ONE

This requirement ensures that your plan is complete. If your plan is

complete from beginning to end, then the accomplishment of each

step places you in a position where you are ready to begin the fol-

lowing step. Such is the nature of steps. If this is not the case, there

are steps missing in your plan. Knowing this, you see where steps

must be added to make it complete. It is much better to find out

ahead of time that steps are missing than to discover at the last mo-

ment that you have forgotten something.

PLANS MUST BE IN HARMONY WITH YOUR VALUES AND YOUR TRUE PURPOSE

If you are not certain about your true purpose, you will spend your

time and energy expressing the purpose of someone who is. Per-

haps you notice that you have made little or no progress on some

plans that you have already made or are working on. It is difficult to

accomplish something that is not in harmony with your values and

your purpose because of the internal conflicts.

PLANS MUST INCLUDE PERSONAL GROWTH ACTIVITY

By “personal growth,” we mean any activity that enhances your peace

of mind, your emotional well-being, your creativity, or that helps you

to resolve the conflicts from your past. The accomplishment of any

significant, long-held desire will change you—not your essence, but

your perception of yourself, others’ perception of you, and your per-

ception of others. In this way, accomplishment contributes to your

personal development. It is hard for people to make significant ac-

complishments unless they resolve internal conflicts that hold them

back. Any sort of personal growth activity that aids you directly in the

resolution of internal conflicts and childhood conditioning is certain

to facilitate your accomplishment of any significant project.

Sample Plan

Here is the beginning of a sample plan someone wrote to expand a

proofreading and editing business. This plan is modeled to include

the four distinct business processes from Chapter 10:

1. Finding prospective customers


2. Presenting your product or service, so prospects buy

256 Putting It All Together into a Plan