Since this Saturday, September 21st is World Gratitude Day, I wanted to take a quick moment and thank you all! Thank you for being a purpose-driven leader who is creating good in the world and making a positive impact on people around the globe. Thank you for being a part of this little tribe of leaders who care about financial sustainability and understand that knowing your numbers is the only way you’ll still be around in a decade. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for supporting this business of mine.
Well then. Excuse me while I wipe away my tears of gratitude.
A couple weeks ago I shared a primer on building a forecast for Q4. As October 1st looms closer, I want to make sure you’re set up for success, especially if you’re feeling a little stuck. So I thought I’d pop in and give a couple more tips on forecasting.
1. Stop striving for perfection. Don’t worry about trying to accurately predict, to the penny, what’s going to happen in Q4. One of my favorite goal-setting gurus, Lara Casey at Cultivate What Matters, always says: Progress not perfection. And in this case, put some educated numbers on paper and then get hustling!
2. Recruit the team. If you have a team leading different functions of your organization, recruit them to create your forecast. We do this with one nonprofit client of ours – each quarter, the department heads all review their own budgets, create their quarterly forecasts, and then we compile everything together. Recruiting your team ensures greater accuracy and buy-in.
3. Use a consistent model. In other words, don’t reinvent the wheel with a brand new spreadsheet. Use the same template as your financial statements or budget and make this process easy on yourself.
I love forecasting because it gives us an opportunity each month or quarter to relook at
our goals and start fresh. Go forth and conquer Q4!
