I’d like to get into business for myself. But not by myself. And not really for myself either. I’d like to interact with people, do things that people value, and sometimes have money come into a bank account that I control. Sounds a little dirty when I put it like that. I’ve been writing, and I value writing. Sometimes other people seem to value it as well. Is that a business? Well, the bank account thing isn’t happening yet. Maybe I could figure out how to get that happening. Substack seems to make it pretty easy. Maybe I’ll try that out. Is this a business plan now?
I’d also like to help get a bike-based delivery cooperative going, germinate a mutual insurance company, help with a friend’s VR company, write (and maybe publish) a book, and convince a friend of mine on the West Coast to quit his job and work with me on something along with some other friends, in addition to popping in to various types of organizations and learning about them and then writing and talking about how to make them better. Is that list a business plan?
I’m also interested in climate change and air quality and having more space for nature. I think there’s ways to start businesses and help people start businesses and help people run their businesses in a way that they will help the climate, clean the air, and make more space for nature. Is that a business plan?
Maybe if I put all this stuff into a deck it will be a business plan. Maybe then I can raise money from investors to pay people and cloud services companies to make the business plan into a very profitable B2B SaaS company that sells to Salesforce the morning before its IPO for $12.5 billion in 2025. That might make the investors happy, and the trees and the people who breathe air. But would I be happy?
Maybe what I need is a happiness plan. Maybe the above is already a happiness plan. What was it that Eisenhauer said? Plans are useless, yet planning is essential. Someone said it. So this is planning. So it’s business planning, happiness planning, and friendship planning (because the purpose of businesses and the path to happiness is friendship). So really, this is a friendship planning exercise. Well that seems a lot easier than business planning all by itself. Good thing I’m spending most of the rest of the day talking to my friends. Seems like this whole planning thing is working out just fine.
Roman Ryan 