No Time for Forecasting?

I don’t have time to worry about forecasting or budgeting

I hear from a lot of business owners that they don’t have time for forecasting or to do budgets or forecasts. I get this, I’m a busy business owner too, but that’s foolish and short sighted. But, let me ask you this – do you have time to scramble on payday to make sure there’s enough in the bank? Do you have time to waste and deliberate when you’re making a big investment? Or would you rather have the financial information to make the best decision? Do you have time to hound your customers when you really need them to pay you because you haven’t kept on top of things to start with? Do you have time to recover from making a big financial commitment that you really couldn’t afford? Do you have time to waste because you didn’t make the investment you could afford? NO? I didn’t think so!

So this is why you need to be looking ahead in your business. Yes, it takes a little time, but it saves a lot more time plus the stress and uncertainty.

I’ll tell you how I fit it in – a little at a time. Yes, it takes some time to build the initial forecast, but once that’s done (and you can get help) maintaining it is not terribly time consuming. Personally I’ve picked Friday mornings to do my “admin” work, and part of that includes updating my forecast. If you look at it weekly, and keep it up to date, it’s not a big deal. It’s also available and valid when you do need it. When you do have that big business decision to make and you’d like some insight into your financials.

Try it. And then let me know how it works for you.