Forecast On Purpose - Business Growth Advisory for Entrepreneurs: Recent Episodes
Ben Cooper (amplify.business)
Most entrepreneurs don’t have a clear and compelling roadmap for the future. Welcome to Forecast On Purpose, where we define your purpose, build a growth plan and track progress along the way.The result is clarity, confidence and peace of mind that you are on target to hit your goals sooner.
- Objective today:
- Unit economics - like individual Lego building blocks that make up the overall profitability picture
- Revenue per unit
- Any cost during making and selling
- Connected to gross margin.
- Every % is a penny of each $ available to cover overhead
- Concept:
- What makes it improve?
- Increase price
- Decrease variable expense
- Cost of product
- produce in bulk
- cut costs where customers don’t mind (value engineering)
- shipping
- negotiate better rates
- Offer free shipping above threshold
- advertising & commission
- Sell to existing audience
- Partner with other brands to sell to their customer
- Trade-offs
- Sometimes spending more advertising dollars or offering referral or sales commission can accelerate revenues to help cover overhead but decrease our gross margin %
- Key Question + Action
- What is a unit for you?
- What costs do you incur with each creation and sale of every unit?
Want customized help building out a growth plan for your business?
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Download free pdf guide at ForecastOnPurpose.com
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- Objective today:
- Predict the revenue - Narrow the region of darkness instead of crossing fingers hoping to repeat
- Concept:
- what are the building blocks behind we make money?
- Number of Units x Revenue per Unit
- How many will I sell?
- What is the right price?
- Common mechanisms
- Product
- Service
- Subscription
- Number of Units x Revenue per Unit
- How does it change over time?
- Seasonality
- Q4 for consumer good always boosted by Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales
- Seasonality
- Organic growth
- Natural increase over previous year or month
- Driven growth
- Ad spend
- Sales efforts
- what are the building blocks behind we make money?
Want customized help building out a growth plan for your business?
Schedule a free strategy call at Amplify.Business
Download free pdf guide at ForecastOnPurpose.com
Connect on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on YouTube
How did the business start?
What problem is it solving in the world?
What are the current key decisions being considered?
Who are the decision makers?
How have revenue and expenses changed year over year?
What kind of seasonality does your business experience?
What are your current pricing methods and gross margins?
What are your current total fixed period costs per month?
Want customized help building out a growth plan for your business?
Schedule a free strategy call at Amplify.Business
Download free pdf guide at ForecastOnPurpose.com
Connect on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on YouTube
So how will we actually reach the results we want? Now it’s time to connect the dots between where we are today and where we want the business to go.
When we extrapolate historical financial patterns into the future, we are able to develop an initial baseline forecast that paints a picture of our current trajectory. This initial picture can be tailored to include known changes and upcoming investments.
However, we don’t need to just blindly accept what we see in this first initial picture–-we are able to now influence the story by making some key performance shifts under the hood of the business.
Want customized help building out a growth plan for your business?
Schedule a free strategy call at Amplify.Business
Download free pdf guide at ForecastOnPurpose.com
Connect on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on YouTube
There are a handful of ways you can think about defining success:
- What is your "flag in the distance" toward which everything should align?
- What is the “why” or purpose behind what you do and care about?
- When you get to the end of your life and look back, what do you hope to see?
(Company) will (goal) by (date), which will allow me to (result).
This is important because it means I will be able to (driving "why").
I know I will be on track along the way because I will (checkpoint) by (date).
Want customized help building out a growth plan for your business?
Schedule a free strategy call at Amplify.Business
Download free pdf guide at ForecastOnPurpose.com
Connect on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on YouTube
We will get into the specifics in more detail in future episodes, but the goal of today is to set the stage for what makes a great forecast and focus on the primary parts.
Objective today: inspire imagination about what’s possible and give permission to define purpose.
- Three P’s (see visual)
- Purpose
- The “Why”
- Custom definition of success
- What will make this all worthwhile?
- Why does it matter?
- Others will quickly offer their definition of success
- We might think it will bring us fulfillment as well, only to find out too late that it doesn’t
- Plan
- Projections and growth scenarios
- How do my current decisions either positively or negatively affect the future?
- Why does it matter?
- Can have strong purpose or desire but grow discouraged if not seeing it leading toward meaning
- Progress
- Profitability levers that can improve margins
- What can I improve to accelerate results?
- Why does it matter?
- Course correction sooner than later
- Proactive rather than reactive
- Purpose
What is it that you truly want and hope for from your business?
-
- Symptoms: - Unsure which path to take in fork in the road - Feel stuck - Don’t know where to turn
- Action: Challenge you to take time to reflect on your desires
Want customized help building out a growth plan for your business?
Schedule a free strategy call at Amplify.Business
Download free pdf guide at ForecastOnPurpose.com
Connect on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on YouTube
If you’re an entrepreneur with questions about the future like:
- How do I grow my business in a way I’ll be proud of?
- What will my cash position be 6 months from now if I hire this new person or expand my production?
- Which specific actions can I take to increase profitability and accelerate results?
Get some clarity, confidence and peace of mind by tuning into Forecast On Purpose, where we talk about how to define your purpose, build a growth plan and track progress along the way to make sure you stay on target
Go to forecastonpurpose.com to learn more, and remember: you are not alone and you don’t have to just blindly guess about the future. Keep fighting the good fight and forecast on purpose.
Want customized help building out a growth plan for your business?
Schedule a free strategy call at Amplify.Business
Download free pdf guide at ForecastOnPurpose.com
Connect on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on YouTube