Small business plan

When putting together a business plan for starting a small business, projecting the startup cash flow is typically done with a spreadsheet. There is a plethora of templates available. After a small business opens, updating the cash flow projection periodically is recommended, but that chore is often neglected. The pressure of day-to-day operations gets in the way of doing any business planning with manually prepared documents.

The advance plan feature in A Real Budget overcomes the disadvantages of having to create and maintain a static business plan spreadsheet.

When first preparing the small business plan, an advance plan budget space is added in A Real Budget with a start date of opening day. The cash flow plan for the first twelve months of business operations is created by doing the "Detailed start-up" except for "Pay bills." (The group name “Allowance” could optionally be changed to something like “Petty Cash.”)

On opening day, the advance plan checkbox is unchecked and "Pay Bills" for the budget space "Detailed start-up" is completed. Using the budget space thereafter to manage daily cash provides a dynamic business plan that is driven by day-to-day operations. Planning cash flow for the coming year becomes a natural part of doing business.