I want to share an analysis of an expected business launch that prevented a bad decision. An 18 year veteran for yoga came to me for guidance on a business launch she wanted to do that involved retail space in San Diego county. It is quite common for a professional to want to take that next step towards entrepreneurialism with lofty plans and an idealistic concept. All forms of great adjectives were used to not only describe the business plan but also the assumptions. Long story short, I listened and then probed. Letting the client imagine the dream play out and explaining the activities involved in the business plan, I developed a forecast model to set expectations of cash flow needs and the level of financial success as the client imagined the business. After a lengthy three session, I conveyed the model in numerical format after repeating the vision as told to me verbally. Unimaginably and realistically, the entrepreneur could not fathom changing the business model as told. The reality was that the business would not make much money and the entrepreneur was not willing to make it a one-woman launch. By assessing the level of profitability of the business before it even began the entrepreneur became a success because she prevented financial failure. Lessons learned and we explored a different way of launching without the retail space.
