In all of these examples, common thread of waste is in delaying business – business gets put on hold while you “fix, adjust, redo or run a quick errand.” Add it all up and you’ve spent more than your time, you’ve spent money.

Individually, wasted dollars related to these scenarios may not add up to much. But if you start stringing them together and allowing same ones to happen over again, it suddenly turns into serious costs - costs directly related to not being ready for what you already knew was coming.

If you want to really see a change on bottom line, learn difference between "the cost of doing business" and "the cost of delaying business" by taking a little business advice from Boy Scouts: Be Prepared.

Sidebar: Two Simple Ways to Cut Wasted Time

Okay, I’ve presented potential problem areas of wasted time resulting in wasted money. So, what’s solution? The remedy isn’t complicated. In fact, I’m going to make only two simple suggestions for getting your “Be Prepared” mantra to work . . . Here they are:

1.Written procedures Help yourself by helping your employees with written instructions for important and repetitive tasks. And don’t just prepare for an employee’s planned absence. Prepare for unplanned absences, too, like a death in family or an extended illness. Make outlines of assignments, document procedures, and create a task or “to do” list for upcoming projects. A little forethought on front end will make entire project go smoother – and quicker.

2.Accountability Accountability also improves efficiency. By deciding who is responsible for what, you eliminate “finger pointing” when something doesn’t get done, and reduce chances of things falling through cracks or having to be redone.

That’s it! Use just these two suggestions to better prepare yourself and your employees, and you’ll see a remarkable difference in your efficiency rate, which will make a remarkable improvement to your bottom line.

The business plan development process includes following three steps: 1.Analyze business as it exists at this moment in time 2.Determine your 3-5 year vision for business 3.Decide what you need to do to move towards that vision

As you go through this process you will be forced to examine your business, as you have probably never done before. You will uncover your strengths and weaknesses. You will identify market opportunities and threats. You will set goals and objectives and than establish an action plan geared to achieving them.

You will take that image of your “dream house” out of your head and onto paper where it belongs.

When you finish, you will feel exhilarated and motivated like never before. You will find new confidence in your business. If this is not case, it’s time to bail out. Sell farm.

Once your business plan is completed, it than becomes your road map for leading your business. You will use it to make sure that “construction” of your business is just as you have planned for. You may even want to share it with others such as your employees, your banker, or even your family.

Just like chocolate chip cookies.