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2005 Best Of Winners

Discover Mid-America — January 2007

Getting grounded with your plan

Whatever else it is and whatever one's political position with respect to it, it's hard not to see the war in Iraq as an example of what happens when a grand vision isn't grounded in a coherent plan. Likewise, it's important that both dealers and consumers of the trade be students of history too, and not just of its artifacts. As the expression goes, "Think globally, act locally."

So what's your plan for achieving economic stability and the sustainability of your business?

The best time to have a strategic plan, of course, is before going into the field. But having failed to do that doesn't necessarily mean we're bound to the status quo. Even if you've been in the trade for years without one, it's not too late to develop a business plan.

Victorian cast iron Christmas Tree stand, paint probably not original. I bought it because I like the form, but I confess that metalware, even precious metal, isn't normally my cup of tea. Plenty of others have the passion for it I lack, though, and the point is to follow your own attractions in planning whether and how to specialize as a dealer in the antiques trade. This and others like it I've researched have 2.5" diameters to accommodate the tree. Must have been meant for a pretty small tree and may have been meant for display at table level.

Luckily, though, it's not rocket science; good business planning answers basic questions. Where do you want to be in five years? In ten? When you retire? What will you need to do to get there? And what resources will you need to take you there? Those questions help give us the steps or stages of strategic business planning.

1. A strategy starts with a vision
Every good business plan begins with a vision — what it is that the businessperson wants to accomplish. Notice I didn't write "do." I wrote "accomplish." It isn't just about wanting to make a living. It's about meaning and purpose, about wanting to make a difference. How will your profession make the world a better place to live?

Where would you want to do business if you could pick any place in the country (or even the world!)? What kind of business would you want to run? Who are the clients to whom you'd most want to cater? What kind of inventory would you most prefer to carry?

This is the glamour stage of the planning process, the no holds barred stage. Think big. Don't waste negative energy at this stage in finding reasons why you can't do what you dream.

My own passion is porcelain, especially animal models — and if I were ever going to be a dealer, this would be the stuff of my dreams! A minor Thuringian German company called Pfeffer made this miniature set of polar bears sometime prior to 1945. Were I a dealer, I'd probably rather trade in Meissen, but I'd surely lack the resources!

2. Scan the environment - and respect what you see
Returning to the global analogy again, some nations seem to have a tendency to blunder into military confrontations where we don't know the climate, don't understand the culture, and don't appreciate the tenacity of guerrillas willing to subvert traditional standards and strategies for warfare.

Planning to meet such challenges, in a business no less than in a war, involves taking the environment seriously, analyzing realistically both its threats and its opportunities. Failure to recognize either means being overtaken by the threats and missing the opportunities.

It is said that the Chinese character that equates to the English word "crisis" is composed of the characters for "danger" and "opportunity." What, then, in your experience, is characteristic, both physically and culturally, of the 21st-century environment in which you're trying to do business? What are the unique dangers or threats this environment poses for your business? What opportunities are there within that same environment — opportunities you can exploit in achieving your business vision?

Then again, I might decide to specialize in a more recent passion of mine that tends to yield older finds — delicately painted Japanese pottery and porcelain. My tastes here run to finely painted Satsuma. Pictured here are two unmatched examples of "Kyoto Satsuma" with the green bamboo handles typical of Kyoto Satsuma-type pottery. Most are unmarked, date from the 1890s, and were made for export to the West.

3. Identify what you need to do to ‘Pro-act’ rather than react
What actions would you need to take to put flesh and bones on your business dream? What specific steps would you have to take to meet these threats and opportunities head-on (as opposed to waiting for them to bite you in the rear)?

4. Consider what resources you'll need
Recently, I heard a commentator describe the Rumsfeldian approach to war as trying to do as much as possible with as little as possible. As a theory, it has a certain attraction. As a boots-on-the-ground strategy, it limps. It takes resources to pursue a business no less than a war.

This is the stage in the business planning process where dream and reality have to confront one another in a dance of mutual attunement. As a general rule of thumb, achieving your goals will nearly always take more resources than you'd first imagined. Do you have the resources — of time and effort and not just of money — to get you where you want to
go? Could you achieve your goals in planned phases, with specific target months (or target years)? How will you acquire the resources you need? (What will you need to borrow? To rent? To own? To learn? What will it cost?)

Or maybe I'd be a glass dealer! My parents and I collect (among other things) Fenton Glass. True to form, my tastes run to Fenton's animal figures, but I can certainly appreciate this Fenton Cameo Opalescent-footed candy jar from the 1920s, an item from my parents' collection.

5. Write down your business plan
Up to now, the planning process has been primarily a matter of thinking and dreaming. Time now to commit your plan to paper. Head the paper with your vision for your business.

Then write down the specific steps you'll take to get there — including the resources you'll need and how you'll go about acquiring them. Set timelines for each action.

6. Implement the plan
Sound too obvious? Well, perhaps the number one danger in having a formal, written business plan is sticking it in a desk drawer. And that's where the next step in the strategic planning process comes in.

7. Assess progress regularly and respond accordingly
Make assessment appointments with yourself and write them on the calendar. I'm serious! Schedule this to occur at least once a quarter. Planned assessment is the antidote to the tendency to put the plan itself aside and forget about it. Recommit to the parts of the plan that are advancing you toward your desired vision and goals and bag those parts that aren't.

It's a plan, not a straightjacket. You don't have to stay the course if the course isn't working for you. Chances are you'll need to adapt to the challenges and opportunities the environment can be trusted to keep throwing at you.

There you have it...It's not that complicated. Certainly, you'll have to go with the flow, roll with the punches — pick your preferred metaphor for unforeseeable events. The point of strategic planning is to anticipate the obvious obstacles on the way to your dream so you can meet the environmental surprises from a position of strength.

Peggy Whiteneck is a writer and collector living in East Randolph, VT. If you would like to suggest a topic she can address in her column, email her at allwrite@sover.net.

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