Startup Basics: Do You Have A Business Forecast?

As you probably know already, in my line of work I get to meet a lot of new entrepreneurs and train them on how to grow a successful business. Today I thought I’d talk about one of their most common concerns, the business forecast .

Unfortunately, the majority of us don’t put a business plan or a forecast in place when we first get started in business. That is mainly because we are so eager to get results quickly that we completely neglect proper business planning . And I’m not going to lie - that initial enthusiasm actually does get us results in the early days in most cases, but those results are not sustainable without a forecast that’s able to give us a clear direction.

As a result, we end up getting demotivated and our business ends up failing!

To avoid that, I recommend setting up a 3-year business plan . Try and calculate what your monthly, quarterly, and annual earnings could be and save all that on a spreadsheet. After that, you can start registering your actual results next to the projections so that you can have a clear comparison and see where you’re at with hitting your goals.

To make all this work, it all comes down to being organised and working hard. Personally, the method I use to make sure I hit my goals is by following a ‘cookbook’, just as I explain in this video .

Firstly, create a forecast. Secondly, get your cookbook right. Finally, stick to the cookbook no matter what. Try this and I can assure you that, that forecast you have planned will happen!