5 Steps for Online Business Financial Planning


“You can’t hit a target you can’t see!”

I read that once and have always remembered it when setting goals – in my personal life and in my business.

These days, I am paying particular attention to money-planning. That is, I am giving special attention to “planning to get money.”

Every entrepreneur struggles with financial planning at one point or another. Usually, the difficulty results from a lack of planning rather than planning itself. As the axiom reminds us all – “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

While I’m at it, here’s another quote that relates to this discussion on financial planning: “There’s no such thing as unrealistic goals, only unrealistic deadlines.”

Here are five easy steps I am applying in my own online business financial planning:

Step 1: Create a Financial Projection
If you don’t already have a financial planning system in place for your business, it’s time to start planning NOW. The best way to get started is with an “Operating Projection” for one year. Use a spreadsheet program to calculate percentage increases in specific categories.

Step 2: Set Financial Goals
This step is connected to the previous directions. In order to determine where you’ll go (your “projection”), you need to know where you want to go. Set clear financial goals for each category of income you want to grow.

Website advertising income is a perfect example for “setting goals.” Play around with the numbers until you arrive at something satisfying. With Google Adsense, you might shoot for 25% to 50% each month.

Save this file as “Read Only” to resist the temptation to constantly make changes.

Step 3: Track Your Actual Results
Create a separate spreadsheet to plug in the daily and weekly numbers as time passes. You might call this file “Operating Report.” Now that you’ve finished dreaming, it’s time to start facing reality.

Step 4: Match Your Goals with Reality
Okay… The numbers are in. You know where you are, and you know where you want to go. It’s time for the tough question: Are you meeting your goals?

If the answer is yes, congratulations! Keep up the good work!

If the answer is no, you’ve got some work to do. It may take some effort to resolve this discrepancy, but the answer is usually readily apparent and most likely is very connected to time management. Again, absolute honesty is critical here.

Step 5: Revise Your Goals as Necessary
Sometimes we don’t meet goals because they are just a bit too high. It takes a little work to figure out which goals inspire you and which lack that motivating factor.

My personal requirement is that goals must be actionable, timely, and motivating. If I set a goal to make $25k next year, I probably won’t be motivated by the drop in income. But if I set a goal to make $25 million – I might be overwhelmed. The key is figuring out what works for you!

Get started with Step #1 today!

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