My name is Heather Allard, aka, The Mogul Mom. I actually wrote the article on How to License a Product for StartUp Princess readers. I’m so glad it’s been well received.

I love the StartUp Princess site–it’s a great resource for women entrepreneurs.

I have to agree about the Sticky Note Business Plan–when I first read about it, I thought it was a business plan on ONE sticky note. Now that’s my kind of plan, since I tend to jump right into a business without much planning. I recently sold my first business (www.2virtues.com) for a six-figure sum–which was quite lucky for me since I never had ANY formal business plan and did a shoddy job (at best) of record keeping.

So…now that I’m onto my Next Big Idea with The Mogul Mom, I thought, hmmm…I better write some kind of plan. I can tell you now that I would NEVER be able to complete a sticky note business plan that involves SIX poster boards. Six sticky notes, maybe. With 3 kids under 8 years old, my attention span ain’t what it used to be.

But kudos to those of you who DO have the attention span and foresight to complete a SNBP. More power to you.

If you’re wondering what The Mogul Mom is, it’s a place for mom entrepreneurs to come and find information, resources, ebooks (in Fall 2008), consulting and more. I’m the type of person who likes VERY SPECIFIC information, and that’s what I aim to provide for my readers. My Coaching by Email program is like a conversation—you can ask me questions, request referrals or brainstorm ideas with me. Really, almost anything goes. I feel that Coaching by Email is better than telephone consulting because you get to keep all the emails and refer back to them when you need to—you don’t have to frantically take notes or be afraid that you’ll miss anything.

Anyway, I just wanted to weigh in on the SNBP, thank you for reading my licensing article and tell you a bit about The Mogul Mom.

Keep up the great work, Kelly…StartUp Princess rocks.

Best,
Heather Allard

The address is: http://thequeensdiaries.blogspot.com/

Joe, your comment about one page communication is right on. Although I struggle with being concise, I have to remind myself of the purpose of the communication. If you just want to wet their appetite for more – one page is more than plenty.

With the sticky notes, I have just written short phrases and bullet pointed lists that will trigger a thought in my mind as I review later.

The exercise has been fun and since I did it using watercolor paints along with sticky notes – it is quite colorful. More like a Vision Board.

Paula, thanks for the plug for our post about how to license, here’s the link http://startupprincess.com/wordpress/how-to-license-a-product/

Joe, I appreciate the comment here and also on the sticky note biz plan post, I agree with Anita that really it’s a starting point, particularly great for us creative types. I was overwhelmed by the first biz plan I wrote a few years ago, I would have preferred to have started with a sticky note version and then moved to the formal plan as step 2. Right now I’m working off a sticky note BP for Startup Princess and it’s been fine because I don’t need to show a formal one to investors, it’s just for me and my partner, it works great! I highly recommend it especially for startups.

I think Deborah’s point about that approach being for “visual thinkers” is the key.

It strikes me that the sticky note business plan is almost a brainstorming and idea generation/ prioritization method.

Me, I have to approach a plan in a more linear fashion and do detailed financials. So the sticky note approach probably wouldn’t work for me, either.

But I certainly can see the appeal to some people, especially if you’re new to business planning. And as Tim Berry (creator of Business Plan Pro software) says, the important thing is to start somewhere and work it into your business processes.

Anita