For someone who has successfully started a business and has had their operations running profitability for a period there always the temptation to launch additional enterprises and attempt to replicate the accomplishments attained in the first venture.

The option of maintaining a single business versus having multiple enterprises presents a complex decision for the owner to contend with.

Simply attending to a single business allows the owner to focus and give the operation the required attention whilst on the other hand; attempting to support multiple operations might stretch the time and monetary resources of the entrepreneur.

It is a popular and sometimes costly misconception to believe that because a person has set-up one successful enterprise further attempts at starting a business will met with the same levels of accomplishment.

In fact it is rarely the case that two business start-ups run in an identical fashion and result in the same levels of growth, reward and commercial success.

Some would therefore argue that any new project be approached in a fashion where it is viewed, appraised and executed as if it is the first and only business that the entrepreneur is engaged in.

In adopting this approach the fact that a profitable business already exists is effectively ignored and thus encouragement is given the view any new proposed projects solely on their individual merits.

In too many cases new ventures launched only to be subsidised by cash rich existing businesses. The results are that the overall profitability of the combined operations is reduced and little benefit is actually attained from the subsequent business start-ups which are introduced.

At the other end of the spectrum, in addition to financial gain, a strong motivational factor for starting new businesses might be that the entrepreneur might have grown stale with their existing commercial ventures and seek further stimulation and challenges.

The actions necessary in starting a business are very distinct from those with are required to run the venture on an ongoing basis. It is sometimes the challenge of bringing an initial business idea to fruition which is the driving force behind the sense of satisfaction which an entrepreneur feels.

Whilst this might be an important part of personal self-actualisation, the decision of whether, in which industries and how a new venture is approached should have strong bearings on commercial viability and good business sense.

When a person has what they consider to be a good idea for starting a business it can be problematic getting others to assess the prospects of success whilst keeping that idea secret enough to prevent a copycat.

Obtaining feedback form friends, relatives and colleagues can be a useful exercise in determining whether the business idea is viable and well thought-out. Indeed these participants can be active members of the project planning team and aid in formulating strategies which the start-up business can then utilise.

This approach is contradictory to the idea of keeping the business idea secret so as the avoid one of these persons engaging themselves or encouraging or suggesting to others to start a similar business.

Defining a balance between the two methodologies can be complex and nearly impossible to determine without the benefit of hindsight.

One commonsense approach might suggest that any discussions regarding the sensitive details of a business idea be kept closely guarded until such time as the person is near the launch of the enterprise. This of course limits the window of opportunity for others the replicate the idea but of course also restricts the availability of useful criticisms which might help shape the approach towards starting up.

Even in the event of a good business idea linking, this may not indeed present a problem (unless the product is specialised and patented). Others copying a business idea reinforces the initial belief that the concept is indeed to good one and may provides some level of comfort to the entrepreneur.

The opportunity also exists for the person planning to start their business and launch that product or service idea to conduct their operations better than their new competitor and thus succeed as planned beforehand.

Competition in business can not usually be avoided and whether a rival business comes in to existence before or after the entrepreneur commences their operations, to a certain degree is arbitrary.

Almost every book written on the theory of management addresses the issue and stresses the importance of project planning as a mechanism for achieving growth, profitability and efficiency within business.

Whatever the current status of the operations; be it at the stage of starting a business or conducting the activities of an established organisation, project planning has an important role to play.

The precise definition and interpretation of project planning might depend upon the type of business being analysed. Most building companies for example lend themselves to engaging in specific projects, each of which can be easily indentified. Other retail businesses which have high volume sales to a vast array of separate and individual customers might approach the concept of project planning in a different way.

Nonetheless, whether each business defines project planning based around its revenue streams or against its costs structures or both, it can be safe to say that every organisation has a range of disparate faculties. Each of these can be deeded to be projects and thereby necessitate some degree of planning and competent execution in order for the business to be efficient.

The idea of project planning is to ensure that the full spectrum of variables which relate to a particular area of the business are ascertained and considered before action is taken. Action in this context often means devoting time and monetary resources which might be wasted if the plan has to change abruptly due to unforeseen or unanticipated events or circumstances.

Essentially, proper project planning can mean that the war is won before the battle is fought.

Precise project planning can take a multitude of forms; be it formal board meetings, informal brainstorming sessions or a solitary mind map carried out by an individual at the inception stage of setting up a company or other trading vehicle.

The actual form adopted should of course centre around the current business and management structure and the importance and consequential effect of the task for which the planning is based on.

Effective project planning may utilise other well-known business management tools such as network analysis which depicts each aspect of a project and plots a critical path. It is then possible to determine the project length, when each individual segment needs to commence, when each will finish and those attributes which if not started of completed on schedule, will result in the overall delay of the project.

Mind maps are another commonly used project planning tool. Whilst not as precise as network analysis, they still attempt to determine the full scope of the venture. By creating linkages and exploring their repercussions, it is probably the full ramifications of the activity will be presented.

Financial budgets might be conceived for larger projects which require significant commercial expenditure. The important of financial budgeting is self-evident if cash is a scarce resource and the rational for beginning an undertaking without consideration of whether the appropriate funding is available is questionable.