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As we gear up for the New Year we’ve been working on preparing ourselves for 2010. Last week, we had a series of goal-setting posts. In goal-setting we made a list of 5 things we want to do in our businesses next year and determined SMART strategies for accomplishing these goals. It’s equally important to think about how much we want to earn in 2010 – creating a financial goal for ourselves. Without pinning down some of these numbers, you’ll have a harder time actually creating a profitable business. Our mission is to help you create a sustainable enterprise in the wedding industry.
This week we are going to work on financial plans. We are going to cover the following:
- Budgeting
- Sales Planning
- Investment/Purchase Planning
Let’s get into Budgeting today…
Knowing where you’ve been…
The first important step in budgeting is knowing your history. You must know where you’ve been to know where you are going. For this reason, it is important to keep good records of your expenses. If you haven’t been good about doing this in the past, start now. This is akin to eating healthy. I’ve been guilty of putting on a few pounds this summer, it’s time for me to get on track now. The same can be said of tracking expenses. If you haven’t been good about this, start now… before it gets worse.
Earlier this year, I wrote about some methods that I like for tracking expenses and accounting. My favorite of these is Quickbooks. They now have an online version which is easy to use and easy to access. It sounds like an intimidating program, but it is actually quite easy and user-friendly. This is especially true if you don’t plan on learning all the nitty-gritty details about debits and credits.
Once you have a system in place for tracking your expenses, determine where you spent your money in 2009. How much did you spend on the following aspects of your business:
- Advertising
- Office Supplies
- Staffing
- Professional Fees
- Marketing
- Education
- Travel & Mileage
- Other
Plan for where you want to be…
Budgeting is all about setting goals for your money. Once you know how much you spent in 2009, you can plan for what you want to do in 2010. Here are some questions to ask yourself when reviewing your 2009 expenses:
- Which expenses were too high? How can you adjust these for next year?
- Which areas would you like to spend more money on?
- How can you cut costs? Are there things you don’t need? Items that were wasteful?
- Did you have expenses that caught you by surprise? Can you plan for these in 2010?
- What do you want to do with your money?
After looking at your 2009 expenses, flesh out a plan for 2010. Here is an Excel template to help you build your budget for the new year:
Tomorrow, we’ll discuss your SALES PLAN and define how much money you want to earn in 2010.
by Michelle Loretta
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