Should you have a Plan B? The answer seems obvious: Hell yes! But it isn’t that cut and dry. The real answer, the right answer is “sort of.”
Just so we are on the same page, Plan B is the action you intend to take should Plan A (what you are doing now) doesn’t work out as you intend. But there is a problem with having a Plan B.
Plan B corners us into one solution based upon the occurrence of one negative event. If you make less than X dollars by Y date, you will do Plan B. Logically it makes sense, but life doesn’t work that way. Life, and particularly business life, has millions of variables making the cause and effect less than clear. Maybe you fell short of your revenue goal, but so did all of your competition because of a worldwide shortage of raw materials. Should you still move on to Plan B?
I have found through my, admittedly bizarre, interest in colossal pumpkin farmers that Plan B is not even a consideration. If a colossal pumpkin fails to grow, they don’t say “screw it I am going to start a chicken farm.” They simply say “it wasn’t my season” and then begin the process over again. This time with a little more knowledge and a little more understanding. But sure enough, they plant the next colossal pumpkin seed. That start Plan A again.
In business, I have found that successful entrepreneurs follow this same pattern. If Plan A doesn’t work, they try Plan A again. Maybe slightly different, maybe slightly smarter, but they try it again. Successful entrepreneurs don’t seem to have a Plan B. They just keep trying variations of Plan A, until they hit the growing season.
