Creative DisciplineSM
The process of writing a business plan can be challenging because it requires prospective entrepreneurs to:
Expand
a simple idea into a robust plan of action
Express
ideas in a concise and persuasive manner
Utilize
research, analytical, and communication skills
Make
decisions on best available information
Creative Discipline is a simple, but powerful concept used to meet these challenges. Simply stated, Creative Discipline builds on the concept that
Creative Ideas + Core Disciplines = Tangible Outcomes
In other words, procedural discipline is essential to successfully translate an early stage creative idea into a real and tangible product or service.
Entrepreneurship, The Art of Succeeding in Business incorporates the Creative Discipline concept by establishing clear steps at each stage of the business plan development process. For example, the first step in preparing a Marketing Plan is the development of a customer survey (Chapter 11). Creative Discipline requires the customer survey to answer four critical business questions:
Who
are my customers?
Why
do they buy my product or service?
Why
don’t they buy my product or service?
How
much of my product or service do they buy in one year?
Developing a survey that answers these four questions ensures that entrepreneurs gather and analyze data needed to make creative business marketing decisions. In other words, creative marketing decisions result from a disciplined data gathering method. (When used in classroom, the Creative Discipline process also provides objective criteria for instructors to evaluate student surveys.)
Creative Discipline is much more than an orderly process that facilitates writing a business plan. Creative Discipline is a method to help entrepreneurs develop a well-rounded set of life skills that will benefit their professional and personal lives.
The Creative Discipline process used to develop the business plan nurtures essential life skills including:
Ability
to balance professional and family goals
Self-reliance
Positive
attitude
Persuasive
communication
Decision
making based on best-available information
Ability
to complete a long-term project
The Creative Discipline process creates both a challenge and an opportunity. A sense of opportunity and accomplishment are two of the most common feelings associated with completing the business plan. In addition, the life skills developed through the Creative Discipline will help the new entrepreneur succeed in their future endeavors.