📄ONE-PAGE LESSON 3
Key Points You’ll Learn
📊 Learn how a budget becomes your business roadmap
🔍 Understand the difference between planning and guessing
✅ Use budgeting to control costs, set priorities, and guide decisions
Why This Matters
A budget is not just an accounting tool — it is your business strategy in numbers.
It allows you to plan ahead, set financial targets, and control spending. Without a budget, you’re managing by instinct, which often leads to overspending, missed opportunities, or financial surprises.
With one, you can direct resources where they matter most and stay aligned with your long-term goals.
Core Insights
- Budget as a Roadmap – It shows where you’re going financially and how you’ll get there, making goals measurable and realistic.
- Revenue Planning – Start by forecasting sales based on past results and market conditions. This sets the foundation for all spending decisions.
- Expense Control – Break down costs into fixed (rent, salaries) and variable (supplies, marketing). This helps you adjust spending when revenues change.
- Monitoring & Adjusting – A budget isn’t static. Compare actual results against your budget monthly, then adjust to stay on track.
- Strategic Alignment – Use your budget to prioritize investments in growth areas (like marketing or technology) while keeping risk under control.
Quick Exercise
1) Write down your expected monthly revenue for the next three months.
2) List your top 5 expenses and mark which are fixed and which are variable.
3) Ask yourself: If revenue drops by 10%, where can I cut quickly?
4) Create a “must spend” list (critical expenses) and a “can adjust” list (flexible spending).
Call to Action
Budgeting isn’t about predicting the future perfectly — it’s about preparing for it. The more often you plan, monitor, and adjust, the stronger your business decisions become.
Face it. Plan it. Own it.