I have lost count of how many entrepreneurs I have spoken with who have told me that the secret of their success was to throw out their carefully crafted business plan and to instead take advantage of the opportunities that came their way -- WHEN they came their way. Business plans serve a purpose: they help you determine what products and services your company might develop and deliver, who might buy them, and how much they will be willing to pay. And they can help you determine how much money you'll need to invest to achieve a particular outcome, and on what areas to spend it.

However, the reality is that none of us has a crystal ball that is 100-percent accurate. Markets change, consumer tastes change, economic conditions change. Or sometimes we can just guess wrong. And continuing to follow a flawed business plan even after all the signs point to its obsolescence is a going-out-of-business plan.

Smart businesspeople know that they should constantly have their antenna up -- searching for problems in their strategies and tactics that signal to them that they need to adjust their approach, or abandon it altogether. Today, flexibility is a key asset for any entrepreneur or business leader. You just never know where your next opportunity will come from or what it will look like.

It's quite possible that it will be something you never even imagined -- something far better.