How Business Owners Set Goals, Create Budget & Improve Forecasting

Small business is what makes our country strong! They represent 99 percent of all U.S. businesses.  However, the challenges of running a small business can be overwhelming.  Every business owner will face worry, pressure, and stress at some point.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  With proper planning, setting goals, timely budgeting and accurate financial forecasting, you can set the stage for ongoing success.

A great starting point is Goal-Setting.

Simply put, goal setting is the process of identifying goals for your business and developing strategies to reach them.  Setting goals requires taking the time to deliberately think about and write down where you want the business to go and how you will get there.

Forward thinking businesses should always be trying to improve, grow, and become more profitable. Setting goals provides the clearest path to achieve these outcomes. By setting goals, it shows employees what they need to focus on the most during the upcoming quarter, which then helps them to prioritize their tasks.

Start by breaking down your business goals. Create an action plan of how you will actually accomplish each goal by developing individual tasks that includes defined action. By thinking in terms of baby steps, it’s easy to make progress and have small accomplishments every day. You can track your progress by conducting weekly and/or monthly goal check-ins that help you evaluate what you have accomplished and where you need to focus more of your attention. Build a support team to help you reach your goals and don’t be afraid to course correct mid-way if you think the plans and goals need an adjustment.  Most importantly, don’t forget to celebrate your wins.

Create a Budget

A budget is a key financial management tool for small business owners.  Budgets are essentially plans that helps you map out where you want to be in the next 1, 2, or 5 years.

Setting and sticking to a budget is a great way to make sure that your team is always investing in the things you’ve decided will make you successful, and making real progress to that goal.  The first step in any budgeting exercise is to look backward at your existing business and find all revenue sources- not profit. Calculate your income and subtract fixed costs which may include; rent, supplies, payroll and taxes.   Next, determine variable expenses such as marketing expenses, training fees, and utilities. Be sure to set aside a contingency fund for unexpected emergencies within the business.  Once you’ve collected the above information, it’s time to put it all together to create your profit and loss statement.  Finally, calculate your projections based on this information over the course of a 12 month period.

Develop A Forecast Of Revenue

Forecasting is a decision-making tool for business owners to help in budgeting, planning, and estimating future growth. Forecasting helps predict future outcomes based on past events. An accurate forecast can establish measurements to guide management, facilitate planning and goal-setting.

The most valuable forecasts allow the business owner to identify risks and take preemptive action to plan and control cash flow, and adjust sales targets.

Forecasting entails compiling the internal and external accounting data you already use in the day-to-day management of your business. By projecting your revenue and expenses, you can get a more accurate view for how successful your business can be. Financial projections should include a forecast of the income statement, the balance sheet, and the cash flow statement.

Plus, if you are looking to fund growth or a future expansion through lines of credit with a banker or investor, they will want to see the prospective financial data that reflects expectations of revenue and profit.

In businesses – particularly those run by the founder – the responsibilities of goal setting and budgeting/forecasting reside with the CEO or business owner. A fresh perspective goes a long way.

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