10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Business Plan Writer

No, it’s not that I have anything against business plan writers for hire. I spent some years doing that, although I never just wrote the plan; I always facilitated and translated and coached planning. (Unless, of course, you’ve read my post on my worst business plan engagement, in which case you’ll know I’ve used “never” and “always” wrong in the above).

1. If you wanted to get your body in shape, would you hire somebody else to eat better and exercise regularly?
2. How would you feel about sending somebody else to the doctor to be examined to determine your health?
3. How do you feel about pre-packaged vacations?
4. What would you tell your ghost writer? How long would that take you? Could you type that out, maybe? Could you do it in YouTube?
5. How will you deal with questions that come up, after the plan is done?
6. How much good will a single one-time plan document do you?
7. What will you do about revisions later on? Will you just accept a plan done once, and never revise?
8. How long would you estimate is the average shelf life of a written business plan, before it begs for revisions?
9. What would you do about regularly reviewing and revising a business plan that some outside business plan writer had written?
10. How would you get a team of people committed to a business plan that an outsider wrote?