Ep.037: Forecasting Your Business

Forecasting isn’t guessing; it’s preparation. In this episode, we discuss turning vision into action through clear goals, solid plans, and repeatable systems. You’ll learn practical ways to forecast across revenue streams, align your team, and make confident decisions when things change.

We also cover cash flow basics, rolling forecasts, timing, and strategies to protect growth while maintaining financial stability. Whether you lead a team or work solo, this conversation will help you plan with clarity and lead with foresight.

Transcript

Milestones And Season Update

SPEAKER_03 0:21

I think it's 37. It is 37. I'm just I'm getting excited that we're so close to 40.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

So Brady, I'm really disappointed. You had a chance right there for 6'7? 6'7?

SPEAKER_03 0:31

Well, I thought about it, but it's 3-7. Oh. This now makes two episodes in a row that y'all have made a 6-7 joke.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Maybe he maybe he trends the new 3-7. We'll see. Yeah.

Gratitude And 10,000 Downloads

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Oh gosh. I can't. In all seriousness, I can't go anywhere without my daughters making a joke. Hey, mom and dad, what time's dinner? I don't know. Oh, maybe six, seven, yeah. So bad. What in the world? But hey, before we jump into today, just a couple housekeeping things. Uh, real quick, we're on our last few episodes of season three. Um, 2025. So, listeners, we're getting ready to, we've got uh about two more episodes we're gonna record, and those will be out before the end of the year, and then um we'll be taking a little bit of a break, but it shouldn't mess up too much of uh the flow of things. You might have a couple weeks where we take off and we'll come back strong in January. Uh, but holidays get crazy, travel happens, you know. Obviously, you guys got a lot going on, so many franchises you got to visit and things, so it just gets busy. So but yeah, just just kind of know that that's coming. So we'll do that. Of course, we'll have things on social, we'll have things where you guys can kind of understand, and something that we haven't put out yet, but we will because we wanted we were ready to say it on the podcast before we did anything else. Had to. Benji, I'll let I'll let you do the honor because look, this whole thing from day one was your idea. You brought it up to me, and then you know, we did some for a while, and then uh we brought on Brady. Uh, but man, it's it's been we had a big milestone this week.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yeah, man. We're just thankful for our listeners and watchers on YouTube. And uh, we we crossed the 10,000th download of all of our podcasts. Thank you guys so much for um for for listening in each and each every other week and just appreciate the feedback that you give us. Thank you for those that reach out and just say, hey, can you help me? We we you know we're here to help you guys any way we can. Um again, we're in the big scheme of things, we're in a small business as well, just like most of you. Uh, but we also can cater to the larger businesses as well. And um just our we don't we don't shy away from it. The Christ, Christ is the center of everything that we do, and that's why we believe that we are good stewards of the business that the Lord has entrusted Brady and I with with our team. And so we just again want to thank you all for just tuning in each and every week. Uh Adam sends out the you know what where we're at in the process of downloads, and again, like you said, we just surpassed 10,000 and thank you guys so much. It means a lot to us.

Why Forecasting Matters Now

SPEAKER_03 2:59

And and did a little dive in just to kind of look before we jumped into today. But they say we could looking at a year, right? So we we really kind of rekindled this. Um, we started back roughly a year ago bringing Brady on so we could dive deeper into some of these topics. Um, but within a year, they say only roughly 25 to 30 percent of all podcasts reach that mark in a year time. You know, you would think wow, you would think it would be a little bit more just because you're like, man, that's that's that's a year, you're pumping out content. But there's just, you know, podcast world uh is a saturated market. You know, ever it seems like everybody has one. And but I mean it's great because everybody's got something to listen to. And man, we just appreciate you guys listening um to our crazy banter talking about business, talking about um just faith and how that's applied. I mean, that's a that's a big deal, and we appreciate you guys here. And just so you guys know, typically when a new episode comes out, I always check every day by the end of the day to see how things are. But we typically have anywhere from 75 to 100 and something downloads on the day it comes out, which means people are people listening day one when it comes out, subscribe and they're seeing it, and then they're picking up and just appreciate you guys sharing it and everything. It just helps. So it's it's awesome. We're excited.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah, very excited.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

So well, hey, let's jump in to uh today's episode. Um, I know this is a big one uh for you guys, especially as we're coming toward the end of the year, but we're talking a little bit about forecasting. So, Benji, why don't you jump in a little bit, kind of share with our listeners today, you know, what that kind of entails. I mean, you hear the word forecasting, you kind of know, you know, you people, hey, what where are we at? How how are we looking to end of the year? What can we do to pivot? We've talked about all these different topics. So now how do we kind of see what's coming?

GPS: Goals, Plans, Systems

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Yeah, well, I think what happens, and we we kind of did a similar episode at the end of last year, uh, Brady. Actually, I think it was the beginning of this year, Brady, if I remember right, of 2025. But um forecasting your business, you know, a lot of times when depending on where you are in business, uh you get comfortable, people get complacent, they start trying to not think about new strategies and trends and how the Google world works, and you know, whatever the case may be. We've got, I'm sure, like you, we've got all kinds of spreadsheets, you've got all kinds of spreadsheets. Um, so and and this is a this is a topic actually very near and dear to Brady's heart as well. Just how do we properly forecast? Okay, let's look back on the year, let's figure out where we've come from, the strategies that we put in place, what can we do to build on that as we move into yet another year? And um just just to kind of open it up, if you think about this, how do you how do you forecast your company? Think about a GPS system, right? If you've or a compass, for instance. If you've got a compass in your hand, if you're in the middle of the woods and you're a hunter and you don't know which way is north, south, east, and west, I mean, it could get you in trouble. You know, you don't want to don't want that to happen. So you need that navigation piece. Uh doesn't mean you're not gonna run into bumpies, bumpy situations, but you can you can definitely prepare yourself for those uh different turns. And here's a question to think about, okay? Are you running, I should say are we? I'm not I shouldn't say you, are we running our businesses based on direction or just on default, right? We've we've invested our our time, our our family's uh money. How do we make take good as we talked about being good stewards of this? How do we take this and build it each and every year? Because we're those we're those people that don't want to get comfortable and complacent, right? We don't want to just status quo. We've been there. Brady Brady could Brady could attest to that too. We've been there, we don't want to do that because we believe in growing. And it's more of about not just growing our business, it's about growing the kingdom as well. Um, so that's that's the thing. A leader without a forecast is like a pilot without a flight plan. And if you think about that, you we as leaders have to figure out a way to forecast. And no one's saying go out here and build this huge strategy that is unaccomplishable, right? One or two or three things that you can work on to help you in your business. Brady, just from a forecasting piece, what has helped us in our business from your perspective, that has helped us become each year, we're getting better and better and better at our processes. What's something you you think comes to mind?

Prepare, Don’t Predict

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah, I think that's a good question. I think, you know, when I think about GPS, you know, we we love our acronyms, right? Um so G GPS, Adam. We have one for everything. Yeah, one for everything. But when I think about GPS, and you're talking about that that um that North Star or that thing that you're looking at, I think GPS stands for goals, yep, plans, systems. So when you when you have the GPS, because things are gonna come up, like you said, things are gonna uh pop up and and we're gonna hit bumps in the road, we're gonna we're gonna hit roadblocks, we're gonna uh see down months, we're gonna see down quarters, we're gonna see up, you know, up months and up quarters. Then the GPS is the thing that it's kind of you know, when you when you get in the car, and um this is kind of funny, uh a little bit of a side note, but uh we were in Melissa's car the other day, and you know, Apple CarPlay, everybody's using that. And she had a couple saved places up on her thing that were probably from like 10 years ago. And I'll and I was like, did you not know you know where you were going? She goes, Oh no, a hundred percent. But I didn't I needed to see the traffic. I needed to see I needed to see how long it was gonna take me to get there in case I needed a different route. And I was like, oh man, that's a that's a good leadership thing right there. Um so goals, plan, systems, and I think Benji, when when you said uh thing about running your business, the thing that came to mind was really the question is are you running your business or is the business running you? Oh yeah, that's good. Because I think sometimes we get caught in the rut and the routine, and I mean, in several different circles, uh it's called the whirlwind. You know, we've got to be able to step out of that, and that's what this season's all about, and strategic planning and forecasting for 2026 is how do we look to the future and plan for so when those things come up, how do we stay on track?

SPEAKER_01 9:39

That's good. And Brady, you you just you just brought up the next point. Great leaders don't predict the future, we prepare for it. That's it. Because you you cannot predict what's coming, but you can prepare for it. Uh, I've said this for a long time, and I know people laugh at me. We control what we can. We can control the non-negotiables, we can control uh the the process, we can control the system, we can control the training. But what we can't come, what we can't control is what we don't know is coming. So that's that's a that's a good resource. Uh think about this. Forecasting isn't just a financial exercise, it's a strategic foresight, thinking about the strategy as we move forward. Um, forecasting isn't fortune telling, it's decision prepping. So think of again, if you don't remember anything else from this episode, we as leaders don't predict the future, we prepare for it. And that's important. Uh, whether and you could be, maybe you're not actually running the business, maybe you're an investor, maybe you are uh showing up consistently for your team in some form or fashion. Maybe, maybe you're a customer and you wanna you want to uh not have to have a quote broken water line. Adam, you're at what, like number eight or nine now, I think.

Five Keys To Forecasting

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Well, my wife has us going to look at a house tomorrow. It's probably the seventh house she's looked at.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Wait, sixth or the seventh. Uh-oh. There we go. There we go. But think, but think about this. If you can prepare, whether it's in your personal home, whether it's in your business, whether it's running your business in your home. And by the way, I'm I'm guilty of this as well. How often do we actually replace our water lines going to our washing machine? You know, because those things don't last forever. Um, and I probably should do that. I'll make a mental note of that. Just a couple of things. We want to talk about five key components of proper business forecasting. Okay. The first one is this know your baseline. Start with where you your past performance trends, what's predictable, what might fluctuate. Okay. If you can't, and Brady does this every single week with our team. Uh, we have a weekly cadence meeting with the leadership for about two hours on Monday morning, and it is our 12 to 24 months of clean data. That that's where you start with the baseline. Where what are the trends looking like? Are you moving in this direction or are you moving in a south? We don't like to use the word are we moving in a southeast trend. We want to move in a northeast trend. Uh so our we're constantly growing. You know, think of yeah, go ahead. Oh, go ahead, Benji.

Baseline And Realistic Goals

SPEAKER_00 12:20

No, I was just gonna say, I think I think a key component here is, you know, John Maxwell says that the first definition of a leader is to define reality. And so your your past performance defines the reality for going forward. I mean, most most people probably listening um are leaders or owners or CEOs or or or whatever the case may be. And we tend to look at 2026 and go, we're gonna knock it out of the park. You know, we're gonna have double digit, triple digit, you know, double volume, you know, whatever these things are. And uh like I'll just be transparent for us for this year. We we had some pretty significant goals that we want to try to hit. Now we've had a pretty decent year, but we're not going to hit the goals that we set for this year because we were probably a little aggressive and we weren't as realistic. And so what we've talked about with our team for this year are going into 26, is guys, we need to be a little bit more realistic. So let's set realistic goals. Not that we can't have a stretch goal, but we need to set realistic goals so that we can try to achieve those.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Yeah, it's good. Brady's used this analogy before about the rear view mirror and the glass, the window in front of you. We can't see ahead clearly if our rear view mirror is foggy. So we have to be willing to look at the trends, know what that baseline is. The second thing is this is to segment your forecast. What does that mean? Break it down by category. What are your different revenue streams, right? What are your different opportunities out there? What are your threats out there? Um, maybe it's a department that you're that you're trying to improve a process or increase productivity or increase sales or whatever those things may be. Maybe it's adding a different location. You know, maybe you have a goal out there to have more locations. Maybe it's a product that you're trying to do. So segment those forecasts. The worst thing you could do is try to do all of them, though. Pick one or two and focus on that. That is that is what will help set you up for success. And don't forecast in a one-lump number. Brady just mentioned that. Make dissect it, break it down, make it more achievable. Uh, at the end of the day, you can't have a business without being profitable unless you're a nonprofit business. And that's you, you have to you have to repeat it.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

They still have profit, uh, believe me. They do. They just they don't call it profit, but that's that's correct.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

They have to zero it out at the end of the year and they start over fresh, you know, the next year.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah, and I I think a good point here too is I I've got a friend of mine that that owns a really large financial company, and we've we've never done this before, Benji, but I think it's a um I I like the way that he thinks about it. So yeah, they pr they plan for twenty for the next year, but they almost use like the mountain analogy to where like if you're gonna climb Mount Everest, well, the peak is the goal, but at every you have to have different milestones to get to. Now I've never climbed Mount Everest, so I I'm only speaking out of what I've heard, but you have to get to a certain point and then you have to acclimate. And then you got to get to another point and you have to acclimate because the further you get up, the thinner the air gets, and you're not if you don't prepare the right way, then you won't be able to hit the next point to be able to get to the peak. And so that's the way they set their business up is to get to these, I for I forget what they call them, but uh, it's basically milestones to get to that next point, sit there for a minute, celebrate, regroup, but the the ultimate goal is the is the peak of it.

Segment By Streams And Ownership

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Yeah. And and remember this if you have a a leadership team that let's assume there's three or four managers under you owner out there, it's easier to assign the ownership and hold them accountable than it is to try to do it all yourself. Sometimes we as owners, we try to maintain everything, we try to control everything. And and it's not like Brady and I have two things that we do not let go of. We do not let go of the checkbook. Yeah, people help us make sure things are involved on making sure that our numbers are updated properly. But when it comes to banking systems and things like that, that is one thing we do not let go of. There are only two people, actually three people, that have access to quote, sign checks for us. And we do that on purpose. We don't, it's and they're all family members. We don't, if we're a family-run business, but you can assign those as you're segmenting your business out there, segment those forecasts, use your management team, but hold them accountable to the process. If you're not gonna allow them to bring ideas to the table and you're not gonna allow them to, and you're not gonna hold them accountable to the thing that they're supposed to do for that week or that month or that quarter, yeah, why do you have them? You know, use them to your advantage. The third thing is this define your assumptions. Brady just talked about this, the growth rate. If you're gonna climb the mountain, you do have to take a pause, look out, get acclimated, and then move to the next uh thing. Different seasons, right? Different seasons churn different opportunities for you. Let's be honest. In the winter times, most people stay indoors, right? When it comes to spring and summer, they're ready to go to the beach, they're ready to go to the mountains, they're ready to do this, whatever. But make sure that you know who your customer, who your customer base is and the lead time that you have for each of those customers. That's important. What are those different trigger points out there? And run you some best, what if what if scenarios? You may have a best case, a worst case, and then some people like to say here's the likely case, it's possibly gonna happen. But you could run a man, here's here's where we want to get to, here's where we don't want to go below, but at the same time, here's probably what's reasonable, what's out there. Because every forecast is a story. Your assumptions are just a plot. Adam, I'd like to stop here a second and ask you something because there there may be some people listening that are a I'm gonna I'm gonna call you a single man operation, right? You you run you run your business on the side uh of what you do for your church, and you're trying to grow that opportunity. So you don't have a wealth of people, you don't have a, you know, you can you can hire different people to help from time to time, and I've you we know you do that. But just from just from someone that might be listening, it's like, man, I'm a single man show, single woman show. I how can I get some help? What advice would you give someone like that in this planning and forecasting process?

Define Assumptions And Scenarios

SPEAKER_03 19:02

Well, one of the things we that Emily and I typically do, we try to look um ahead on what we're gonna have coming up. Like, all right, what are you know, we have retainer clients. Um, that's something that we built on. Is uh that's a big thing. I love having one-off projects, but I have retainers, so I know what's coming in monthly. Um, and so what we try to do is we meet regularly with our accountant to make sure that we look at what we're doing. Are we paying taxes right? Are we, you know, this is what we're looking to do? And then um I I really try to overly pay attention to my QuickBooks. Emily helps me with it. She's a QuickBooks wizard, thank goodness that's what she does at her job. Uh, so she fixes anything that I have. Um, but some of the things that we really try to look at is what what are our necessities? So at the beginning of the year, um, you know, and this is something that we're gonna start doing more, but we set a goal for the year financially. Hey, this is what I want to hit by the end of the calendar year. And we operate normal, so end of the year ends. Um, and I'm excited because we're about 4,000 away from that. Um, we've had some really good opportunities, the Lord blessed us with this year. Um, and so we know that, but then we also try to plan purchases because, you know, that's the tough part is that um, you know, they say anywhere from three to five years in your first business, you don't make money. And so that I wanted to change that rhetoric. How can I, and because I am positioned in a good way where I have a full-time job and I am able to do this, my job allows me to, you know, and I know not everybody's in that that place. Sure. I tried to make sure that walking into this year, we didn't spend things that we didn't have to. Um, I spent things that need to be done, but everything that I spend money on is to ensure that I can do more. For instance, the better, and I know people say obviously having the best camera gear doesn't do everything, but what it does allow me to do is charge a client more because I'm giving them a higher quality. Sure. Yeah. I'm giving them something larger, I'm giving them something bigger. And so that's some of the things that uh that we look at, but we look at what our big purchases are for the year. Typically, I have a top three purchase. Hey, this is what I want to do by the end of the year. I want to buy this item, this item, and this item. So that means I know, well, I've got to sell these certain jobs or I got to take these and then really look at it. But what I've really learned this year, and you mentioned it earlier, is leaning on other people for this, is that I have to. And um, just for instance, one of the things I do is I have a base that I charge to go do real estate photography. It's a one-man show. I walk in typically, um, I do it, uh, I take the photos and I go home. You know, typically what I would try to do is just go home and I'd edit all those those photos myself. Well, what I started doing is I started contracting that out to a company I found that does a really good job editing the photos. I'm the one taking them, so I'm getting what I want them to look like, but I've I've I've given that out to someone else that helps me. So now that time that I've spent, I'm I'm working on something else. And so I'm not spending time sitting there and editing photos for an hour and a half. I pay someone that's gonna do that, that now I can work on another project. Or, you know, I've one of the things I want to do this year is only take on projects that were large enough that I needed a crew. Because that meant what also means is when we're done, if I budget well, I can take that same person that I trust on my crew to edit the videos. Let me be there, let me project manage. So it's definitely it's a different world. It's exhausting. Um, doing it by yourself, especially in my world of media, setting up, tearing down. And so I've really had to make sure that I'm careful about who I'm choosing to be on my team. Um, one thing I've really learned, and I've I mean, you guys have always taught me this. One thing I've learned even more this year is if they're not helping me, why am I using them? Yeah. Like it, because at the end of the day, why am I paying somebody that why am I paying someone to be there if I'm just doing what they do? So I either one, they need to be quality or I need to trust them more. Right. So um, but those are some of the things that we've looked at this year. And and honestly, to be very frank with you guys, this is the first year that we've ever done this type of revenue and been profitable with it. And so, you know, it kind of puts me in that position how it's it's great, it's a great blessing. I mean, I I in in all seriousness, a lot of the things that we do through that I do through my small business is came from what you two have taught me in how to handle things, how to handle money. I mean, uh the no may not have anything to do with the episode, but I remember when we first started, Brady, I was talking to you and mentioning I joked about, you know, I can write it off, I'll do this. And you're like, if the whole point every year is to not make money, why are you doing it? And uh, so you know, and so I had to realize, all right, so now I need to be better about how do I, you know, how do I get the equipment that I need, but still get the job done. Um, because if I'm not gonna Adam, I just I got one question.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

When when do I get my royalty check? That's the best case scenario. You made all this money this year. I'm like, you know, no, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

It was it it was a lot, but it it is, I will tell you, Brad, like you're Benji, like you're saying, it's it's definitely I have to be mindful, and I'm by myself. I here's what I would tell you the biggest thing of anybody that's listening to forecast, find people that are like-minded that can be in your circle, yeah. Um, because I've always been told, you know, and I'm probably gonna mess it up, but it's like if they're not just because they're they like you or something, it's like they're not them just because they're with you doesn't mean they're for you, you know. And so I I had to make sure that I've I closed my circle this year and I wanted people that were that were champions for what I was doing and help me attribute that. How do I expand my vision? How do I expand my profit? So I don't know if that answers your question.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

No, it does. It absolutely does. And Brady, I'd have I'd have one question for you on that. So, best case scenario, worst case scenario, likely scenario. Because I'm I'm the guy that's like, man, we can go for the moon, like we can get here, we can get here. And Brady's like, hey, let's bring it back in a little bit. What would you tell the owner or manager out there who's trying to forecast with these different assumptions to think through as they're going for best, worst, and likely?

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Yeah, I mean, I think the thing that comes to mind is a lot of times, yes, we we do want to um see the best for in the forecasting model for the next year. But sometimes what that um actually makes us do is make the decisions that we know that we need to make. Okay. So for example, a lot of this comes around to people, and uh, we've talked about EOS on here a a lot, the entrepreneurial operating system. But if you're gonna hit these forecasts, you need the right people in place to be able to do it. So EOS, the the p they have a thing called the people analyzer, and the people analyzer says for each person that is in a position, do they got it? Do they want it? And do they have the capacity to do it? And so I think part of forecasting is analyzing your team and asking yourself the honest question: do you have the right team to get you where you need to go? And you don't you can't really forecast. Um, I know our dad said this a lot, and it comes from John Maxwell, but uh a lot of people hope, and hope is not a good strategy. You know, well, I hope that's a good thing. We had an episode on that. We have an episode of hope is not a good strategy. You know, I hope that that person gets better. You're not gonna hit those numbers or those profit percentages that you want to hit. You're not gonna be able to hit the goals if you don't have the right people in place. So I think as you're looking for next year, I think you got to ask the question first do you have the right people on the right seats on the right bus? Yeah. Yeah.

People, EOS, And Capacity

SPEAKER_03 27:09

And it is I think until you're I think honestly, until you're in that position, pretty, because I I used to say it a lot in our meetings. Well, that's what I hope you're doing. And you would always correct. Like, Adam, you can't like we can't live off that. Like that can't be. But I think until, and this is where anybody that's listening, then maybe they're not an owner. You have somebody that's listening that's you know, maybe they're working for someone, you've got to figure out how to accept that mentality, even though the end goal may not be your profit, right? Like it may not be, you may not be the owner of the company. And that's something I've realized this year is I can't say, Well, man, I hope, I hope they I hope they take that, you know, that estimate. I hope they do this. Man, if they do that and then start planning, man, if they do it, then I won't be able to purchase this, or I can go do that. I I I can't get into that that thinking. I've got to stay, this is where I'm at, this is what we have, this is what we know is coming in, and this is how we can improve the business. Because for us, that's where the mode that we're in right now. Every decision we make, every purchase has to improve the business. It has to be able to allow me to charge more so I can do that. Because I mean, you may look like you make a, you know, if if you're doing six figures a year or something, that's great. But I can tell you, have you looked at your expense margin? Because that's where I feel like sometimes I'm getting hit is I'm looking back and I'm realizing, man, yeah, great. We we did well this year. You know, God blessed us. We were able to bless others. But man, I look at that expense margin, I'm like, that's a lot more thin than I thought it was gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

That's the way well, yeah. Go ahead, Brady. I I was just gonna say uh another thing I was I was just thinking through here is two really two things is as we're forecasting for the next year and and talking through, you know, we can't just hope it hope for it to happen. One, and we've talked about this many, many times on the show, is you cannot, you can't give what you don't have. Yeah. So when you're when you're forecasting, you've got to be learning, you've got to be growing, you've got to be reading books, um, you've got to be um listening to podcasts. I I'll brag on my son a minute. You know, he's already read two books this year, and he he just he just texted me the other day and he goes, Okay, I'm ready for the next one. What's the next one? And I've got so many that I've churned through. I'm thinking through, like, okay, what what will be the best for him and in his season and his journey? And so um he he started reading a new book, which our leadership team is is reading called Redeeming Your Time by Jordan Raynor. Um that's a great book if if anybody is looking for like a productivity type thing. Uh the other thing is so learn and grow. The other the other thing is, Adam, you're talking about surrounding yourself with with good people, right? Um NC twelve, which we've talked a lot about too, our material uh last month was surrounding yourself in three different areas. And so we we really looked at the life of Paul. And what he did and who he was surrounded by. And he had number one, a Barnabas. So a Barnabas was a mentor to him. He he was so you've got to find a good mentor, somebody that's if we want to forecast, don't we want to talk to the people that's already been there and done that?

SPEAKER_02 30:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

Because they've because they've already gone through the mistakes and and we don't have to make some of those pitfalls that that they've already gone through. So he had a Barnabas. Number two, he had a Luke. So he had a peer of people that were that were speaking into him, holding him accountable and helping him stay on the right path. And then number three, he had a Timothy. So he was a Timothy, a Titus, you know, all these people that he was mentoring himself. And so as leaders, a lot of times I think that we we probably have the Timothy's and the Tituses, but maybe we don't have the Luke's and the Barnabases. And so, you know, a group like C12 or some other people, other groups out there can help you and find people, like I said, that's already been there and done that, and they can help you avoid a lot of mistakes. Yeah.

Learning, Mentors, And Your Circle

Cash Flow And Rolling Forecasts

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Brady, I'm gonna I'm gonna blow your mind. I was on a plane ride not too long ago, and I thought, you know what, I'm gonna actually another audio book. I've did an entire audio book there and back. It's called The Speed of Trust by Franklin Covey or Stephen Covey, excuse me. If if you haven't, that's a great, great, great book uh to do. But hey guys, we got just two more things real quick and we're gonna wrap the show up. This is one that is near and dear to every for-profit business. So I want to make that clear. Forecasting your cash flow separately. Very, very important. Profit and cash. Watch for the timing gaps in receivables and payables. Now, I know some of you may be in the service industry where you're cash on demand, right? You have a service done, you pay cash right then. So you don't have any receivables. But for the, or maybe you have a, you might have some, you might have some commercial businesses that pay on a 30-day cycle or whatever. Watch the timing gaps in those. Maintain a rolling 13-week cash forecast. We do a really good job at our organization, thanks to Brady and our team, of helping us keep keep a rolling forecast out there. I love this quote. Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, and cash is survival. I'm gonna say it again. Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, cash is survival. And then the fifth thing is this review and revise regularly. If you're gonna forecast something out there, please, please, please, we beg you, don't set it and forget it. That's the worst thing you could do. We talked about this last year when we were talking about strategic planning is leaving the booklet up on the shelf. Review it monthly, review it quarterly. Have your team bring that thing out and talk about what applies to their specific role in their department. Update it because you may accomplish something, adjust your course. Don't abandon your plan. Okay, think about this in the sports world. If we're gonna go out and we're gonna be a great offensive team and a great defensive team, we have to have a plan. We got to block, we got to tackle, we got to run, we got to protect the ball, we got to do this, we got to try to intercept the other team's ball. There's all those things. Don't abandon the plan. Whatever the coach comes up with, stay on track. Because forecasting is not about being right, it's about being ready. That's that's important. It's not about us being right, it's about us being ready because you never know what is coming. So as we as we wrap this up, just a couple leadership takeaways for you. Clarity builds your confidence. Okay, your team performs better when they know how things are going and where things are going. So keep them in the loop, keep keep each other accountable to the prospect process. Excuse me. Forecasting shows respect. It shows that we take the future seriously for them, not just for us. So keep that in mind. It shows respect to you and your team. And then decisions love deadlines. Forecasting adds the structure to win, not just what you decide. So think about those deadlines. Again, I've I've mentioned this before. It's about stewardship. It's about what the Lord has given you and being a good steward of that. Uh guys, anything you want to add as we wrap up the episode?

SPEAKER_03 34:23

Uh hope people that are watching on YouTube aren't judging me because I've been taking notes on what y'all have been saying the whole time. If I was not texting and things, so if our viewers watching, like, what is that Adam doing something? Like taking notes on what y'all are saying.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Adam, that royalty percentage just went up.

Review, Revise, And Stay Ready

SPEAKER_01 34:37

It did. It did. Well, here's just here's just a couple call to action, guys, and wrap up. Challenge yourself. Okay, pull out your current forecast, where you're at right now. Where where is it relying, or excuse me, where is it relying on hope instead of data? We just talked about that hope. Don't operate on hope, operate on data. Now, I will tell you, sometimes you can have too much data. I got I got a buddy of mine who is involved in spreadsheets and websites and all kinds of stuff. And like, dude, you got to get out from behind your desk. Like, you got to go, you got to get in the field and see what's happening. You got to talk to your people, you got to mentor. Uh, next thing, not just challenge, encourage. If you don't forecast because it feels uncertain, that's exactly why you should forecast your company. And then maybe share a tool, template, you know, with someone. Maybe, maybe you can pass it forward, so to speak. Um, and as and as we close, forecasts don't eliminate uncertainty, but they give your leadership a compass, a direction of where you're heading. And again, as Adam said, if you're the 10,000 and one listener listening in on this, we appreciate so much what you you do for our uh our show at HigherUp Podcast. You can connect with us on higheruppodcast.com if this is the first time you're tuning in. Uh, you can find all ways of social and ways you can subscribe and join our mailing list. Uh, but as always, we appreciate you guys. Go out and choose to live a higher up life. We'll see you next time.