Word Today . Budget
Oh no! I can see a whole lotta entrepreneurs running for the exits as soon as the word Budget gets into the business conversation.
Hold on! Sit down, maybe snack on some comfort food… how about a nice big piece of mouthwatering home-made pie? … and let’s rethink this budget word for a bit.
The low regard we have for the concept of budgeting as a whole makes sense. We can chalk it up solely to the distaste for structure that characterizes many entrepreneurs and independent business owners. It’s pretty well ingrained in all of us. After all, look what comes to mind instantly. Thoughts like… Tight Budget, Low budget, No Budget… pretty unpleasant stuff to contemplate.
Having an unlimited budget and unbridled optimism seems like a dusty old relic of history, lost somewhere in the last century. On the political side, governments at every level are dealing with a Broken Budget in news story after story, ad nauseam. Even venture-capitalized start-ups don’t have nearly as much free rein as they used to for their “Burn Rate.”
Is there any good news, or at least a more palatable mindset on the matter of budgets?
I Googled “Budget Examples” to see what’s out there. Well, 20,200,000 Budget Examples came up in just one quarter of a second. Wow! Clearly, a passel of people have done the work to construct can-do formulas, or offer their opinions, for keeping track of money. Do we care?
Honest answer? No! I didn’t even read the first 10 of those Example Budgets. (I feel bad for the ones buried at the end of that long Google list. I’ll bet they never see the light of day.) Every time I ask a room full of business owners what tasks they’d really like to give up, it’s always bookkeeping, accounting, and all sorts of numbers-crunching perched at the very top of their lists.
Do we we like Budgeting any better in the digital age, when a mouse click or two can “run the numbers” on your business, in depth, at a moment’s notice? Are we happy about all these digital tools? Not really! Because that creates even more pressure to “Stay on Budget,” which many feisty business owners see as cramping their style. Yech!
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So let me bottom line it for you. While you’re daydreaming about pie, remember this:
“If you count it, it will come.” If you don’t, it won’t.
Yes, I’m talking Budget, and Money, here. Revenues, cash flow, hard dollars, and profits. No kidding.
I’ve done it both ways, counting, and not counting, just like most of you entrepreneurial types. Guess which one works, and which one doesn’t? Yup, go with the counting. No matter how bad the “Economy” out there seems, or the balance sheet on your desk looks.
Oh, we could get fancy, and make a detailed list of all the reasons why budgeting is hard, and business is tough. I get it. And, I am in no way trivializing the very uncomfortable shifts many of us are tangled in, business-wise, and the ripple effect it’s having in all areas of life. Making sure to get the right support, so you don’t stay stuck or isolated budgeting traps, is essential.
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Psst. Here’s the first secret to Budgeting. Keep it basic & Keep it current.
Ever notice what happens when the subject of budgeting comes up? It’s often a scarcity-based commiseration about expenses. Costs, lack of affordable resources, loss of customers, a downsized paycheck, and shortages of all kinds, make running a business an endless challenge.
Here’s the second secret, a simple antidote to the scarcity mindset, that will cost you nothing:
“Count” the sum total of revenues to date, every single business day. Get a hold of that one number — Gross Revenues.
Every Single Day! It doesn’t take long at all, and the more you do it, the faster it gets. You will be amazed at what happens once you build that amazingly simple little habit.
Because Budgeting is not only about what you spend. It’s about what’s coming to you: product sales, royalties, commissions earned, any in-bound payments you receive. And yes, be sure to get your computer to do the heavy lifting so it’s easy and takes mere seconds to get that Gross Revenues number at will — to see what’s so.
Make that mouse click — Every Single Day. If you miss a day, just start again the next day! It’s not a punishment, or a contest. It’s a habit being built. Inside of 21, or 30, or 90 days at the outside, you’ll have created a powerful habit, deeply shifted your business perspective, and gained entry to open the gates of mogul-land.
Once you create the habit of counting your gross revenues daily (ideally first thing in the morning after last night’s bank deposits have updated), your mind will adapt. Gradually, Budgeting, with expenses included, will cease to be the icky-tasting medicine you feel forced to swallow. Gross Revenues adds the missing ingredient that enables your mind to dream up new ideas and plans for solvency and profit growth, and make a tastier pie.
Adding this one ingredient, the Daily Revenues total, sweetens the recipe, and makes baking a Budget Pie way more fun.
Imagine slipping this fresh-baked pie out of the oven for a celebratory party. And, there’s plenty more pie where that came from… because you have the recipe to bake many more such tasty pies! A Budget that tallies revenues and expenses makes your recipe whole.
Yum! I can almost taste that Plump Budget Pie right now. Will yours be À La Mode, with some extra spicy drizzle on top? Yum!
— Diane A. Curran
