Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Melissa Houston covers financial issues that affect women in business. Creating a business plan is a critical first step for any entrepreneur.

Is your organization using the operations process for planning? When planning a project, there is no shortage of moving parts ...

The primary value of your business plan is to create a written resource that evaluates most aspects of your new business including a description of your target customers and markets, profitability, ...

This inturn helps to ensure the teams are working on projects that make the most impact. What is the strategic planning process for business? Business strategic planning process is the method that ...

Do you hate thinking about writing a 20- or 30-page business plan? I don’t blame you. Writing a formal business plan can consume days, or even weeks. One entrepreneur I met said that she’d been ...

Success does not happen by chance – businesses need to plan for it. The process of business planning helps you describe the state of your business now, what you want to achieve, and the steps you will ...

And even 20 percent of companies with more than $10 million in revenue lack a formal process. "When you're trying to just bring in revenue every month, formal business planning seems like ...