March 14, 2025 • 13 mins
Join us for another episode of Full Throttle Finance™️ as we dive into the aspects of budgeting and cash flow management for race teams, athletes, and entrepreneurs. Discover why careful planning is essential, learn how to navigate upfront sponsorship money, and find out practical steps to maximize every dollar. We’ll discuss building a detailed budget, conducting regular financial reviews, and managing the inevitable peaks and valleys in spending—all while keeping your ultimate performance goals in sight.
Topics Covered:
📃Crafting a comprehensive, season-long budget
💸Strategies for handling upfront sponsorship funds
📊Importance of regular financial reviews and adjustments
🗻Managing spending peaks and valleys for optimal performance
🛣️Aligning your financial plan with on-track and business objectives
Don't miss an episode, subscribe and join us every Friday. Remember to like, share, and subscribe, we will see you next time. 👊✊
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Hello everyone and welcome back toFull Throttle Finance, a financial
literacy podcast that's geared towardsdissecting complex financial topics
into fun, relatable discussions.
My name is Felicia and I am yourCEO at CleanBee Consulting, and with
me is Allison, who isour senior bookkeeper.
Together we focus on revving up thefinancial foundations for athletes,
(00:29):
entrepreneurs, and leaders in business.
Regardless if you are operating froman established program already, or if
you are just getting started, we arehere to help you make small shifts that
drive better financial performance.
So, before we actually get intoeverything today, I wanted to
take a couple of moments to do alittle bit of housekeeping, and
(00:50):
thank the OrangeCat Racing Crew.
my other half just got back fromtesting And he brought me back a
hat that is signed freaking cool.
By all of the racers so I just wantedto say thank you, Andrew, Brenden
Jayson and Mikayla I think that thiswas really, really rad of you guys.
(01:11):
So thank you.
That is so incredibly nice of them.
Like, this is literally whywe are doing this podcast.
We are literally fans of motorcyclesand people and athletes, like so cool.
It is.
All right, that's enough of housekeeping.
So, Allison, what's on thedocket for today's episode?
(01:33):
Yeah, so, this week we're actually goingto shift back to talking about budgeting,
finances, and cash flow managementbecause these are both very complex
topics that you're not going to get thefirst time around when we talk about it.
So, we'll continue talking aboutsome fundamental concepts surrounding
the cash flows to help you stay ontrack literally and financially.
So, Felicia, let's start with the basics.
(01:55):
Race teams and athletes receiveand create their budgets at the
beginning of the season, right?
They are getting theirsponsorship money, too, then.
What kind of challenges could this create?
Yeah, getting all the money upfront feels great, sounds great,
it's lovely, gives you stability.
But I think it actually, insome situations, might create
(02:16):
a false sense of security.
You might think to yourself, like,wow, I have plenty of money for
the program this, this season.
But in reality, this money does needto last you the entire race season.
And in some cases, emergencies, thingswe didn't plan for, that come up.
And this means that you actually need toplan out how you're going to spend every
(02:41):
single dollar if you want to last theentire season and make sure that you're
showing up to the grid every single race.
And, you know, for a lot ofpeople, the gut reaction to
money in the bank is to spend it.
Especially if you're a preparer.
Like, you want to make sure you haveenough stock on hand, and parts, and
(03:02):
backups, and extras, and you want tomake sure that you have enough staff
that's out there at the track to makesure that you're not overwhelmed and
that you're making it to every raceon time with all the things you need.
And I totally, totally get it, right?
But that, in its own, isexactly why you need to budget.
and why you need to have a plan andwhy you need to be thoughtful in
(03:24):
how you choose to spend that moneywhen it actually hits the bank.
And that's such a good point.
As a reference for our listeners,podcast 7 Budgets that Go the Distance.
We talked about budgets andhow multiple bank accounts for
different expenses is super helpful.
Think about creating an accountfor each large expense type that
(03:47):
you regularly spend your money on,like parts, tires, fuel, travel.
It's much easier to managethese expenses when you have the
respective allocated funds separated.
This ensures that you're notstealing money that should have
been saved away for emergencies.
For travel expenses, becauseyou didn't plan properly.
You haven't had the chance to listento that episode yet, we highly
(04:09):
recommend it as a supplementalresource to today's episode.
Episode 7.
episode 7.
Felicia, we talked about thepeaks and valleys on financial
reports and how preferably we liketo see them flatlined expenses.
but for a race team, that isgenerally not going to be the case
because busy season, off season,not going to really be flatlined.
(04:33):
Nope.
you know, right, Allison?
Racing is probably anything but steady.
you definitely have peaks andvalleys in your spending and in
your revenues when you are operatinga race team in a race program.
And the reason behind those peaks andthose valleys, is that, like, you might
have two or three events plus testing inone month, right, but maybe the following
(04:58):
month you just have one single race.
If you don't plan for thoseswings, those high activity
months can drain your resources.
Super fast because you'rejust go go go go go
That's where proactivebudgeting comes into play.
If you know in advance, let's say thatJune is heavy with races and heavy with
(05:19):
travel, you can budget accordingly forthat when you get all of your money up
front at the beginning of the season.
During your lighter months, setaside funds that are extras in your
budget and try to replenish yourreserves before your next surge.
Maybe in July or August you haveanother multi race month on.
(05:41):
Schedule, You always want to belooking one or two months ahead of
real time to make sure that you'restaying on top of everything.
That's the only way that you'regoing to ensure that you don't
drain your budget too quickly.
And on that note, Regular reviews are key.
Each month or even each week, if you'redealing with large sums or like how we
(06:05):
handle our clients, we do all of theircheck ins weekly, sit down and compare
the budget to what's actually beenspent, what's actually cleared the bank
as of this day, this week, this month.
If you see a big jump, investigate it, itmight be justified, like, Maybe an extra
testing opportunity came up last minute,And it wasn't on the original plan, so
(06:28):
it wasn't in the original budget, ormaybe it's Yeah, that big spike, right?
Maybe it's due to an impulse purchase.
The key is asking Does this spikealign with our overall goal?
Or is it a red flag that we need toaddress in our program right now?
Getting ahead of the problem before itruns away from you, is my biggest piece
(06:52):
of advice for managing inconsistentdata and inconsistent budgets.
And to do that, you needreal time, accurate data,
analyzed and strategized often.
Plain and simple.
Yeah, definitely.
And so, talking about red flags,can you talk us through the red
(07:13):
flags teams might see if theirspending doesn't match the plan?
Yup.
On.
So if, for example, you forecasted maybea certain amount for travel, but maybe
it ends up doubling in a heavy racemonth rate, that might be okay if you
added an extra tip for that testing, Yourperformance gains are tangible and you
(07:34):
can tie the benefit to those dollars,But if you see a big overage in travel
expenses that don't really have any clearstrategic ties or sporting a benefit?
Like that's a red flag, Was that travelnecessary with the race budget in its
current state, The point is not topanic over every single spike that you
(07:57):
see, or every odyssey that you see,against your projected budget to real
actual expenses, but every single spikeneeds to have rationale behind it.
So you should be asking yourself,does this make sense for our goals?
Does this help us out on the track?
Is this necessary for us to go faster?
(08:18):
If you can't answer yes, With confidenceto these questions, then that's
probably a very good key indicatorthat you need to cut back on your
expenses and that you maybe need toreallocate some funds in your budget.
The constant check ins, the constantrealignments with your budget in relation
(08:39):
to your actual spending is going to bekey in managing your actual cash flow.
So, Let's say that you needed anextra testing trip, But you ended up
having a sponsor drop out during thelast quarter of your race season.
It might be too late to chase newsponsorship dollars that late in
(09:00):
the season and in your program.
So now you need to figure out whereyou have to cut expenses during the
remainder of your season to make surethat you can still make it to every
round because you're justifying thatthis extra testing is going to yield a
tangible result out on the track to getyou faster, to get you up on the podium.
You might need to cut laborcosts or, and look at running.
(09:25):
You might need to hire a lean crew, oryou might need to borrow from your rainy
day funds that you have saved away for anengine repair that might not have actually
happened yet, but is very well still apossibility before the end of the season.
But to make those decisionsconfidently, and to not run your
budget into the ground, you have totrack everything in real time, analyze
(09:48):
often, and realign strategy on the go.
So, so true, Felicia.
okay, so I wanted to shift gearsand talk about some practical
steps that someone could take awayright now and apply to the program.
start by creating a detailed budget.
You can use a spreadsheet,or a budgeting template.
(10:09):
Sure
Our Revving Up for Financial coursehas a downloadable budget tool ready
for you to plug your information into.
this week anyways, okay.
Make sure that you are having at thevery least monthly snapshot meetings
(10:31):
to go over your finances with yourbookkeeper or setting aside time to
do it yourself this allows you tocheck in that your actual spending.
for your tax bill at the end of the year.
One of the best practices is to tieeach major expense to a clear objective.
Improving lap times, increasingreliability, enhancing logistics.
If you can't articulate how a purchaseor expenditure helps you compete
(10:53):
better, it's probably not essential.
By linking money spent to tangibleperformance metrics, you ensure you're
investing in real progress rather thanjust convenience or nice two halves.
These are all relatively straightforwardtasks that you can take the
reins on in your own program.
Immediately.
(11:14):
So, can we connect thedots for our listeners?
How does this all relate directlyto better performance on the track?
So, when your finances are in orderOne of the biggest ones is that there's
less stress involved , with whetheror not you can afford that next set
of tires, or whether or not you'regoing to have to skip an important
testing session, or even a race round.
(11:36):
It gives The program Peace of Mind, andit lets the team focus on race strategy,
vehicle setup, overall performance,the things that really matter.
It gives your professionals thatyou've hired the space to do their
jobs to the best of their abilities.
And it makes sure that you havethe right tools and that you
(11:58):
have the right resources at hand.
For your race team, and a well managedbudget also means you can justify spending
and investing money in areas that reallymove the needle for your program, like
better data analysis equipment, or hiringthat extra crew member that you need
to alleviate stress in your paddock.
(12:19):
Rather than wasting resources on impulsebuys or inefficient travel plans that
result from poor planning and poor cashflow management, When you have all of
your finances in order, when they are upto date in real time, really, like, you
just, you can operate better on the track,it, it's not your strength, probably.
(12:40):
You probably don't want to deal withit anyways, so get it out of the way
and get it handled so that you havethat confidence to go and do the
things that you really care about,that you really, really want to do.
So, you know, I think that that'sactually a good wrapping point for
today's episode of Full Throttle Finance.
We really appreciate that you have tunedin and that you are taking steps to
(13:01):
strengthen your financial foundations.
If you found today's insightsvaluable, be sure to join us next week.
And don't forget, our course,Revving Up for Financial Success, is
available for purchase on our website.
Literally, it has Everything that youneed to get started on budgeting and
(13:22):
planning for a race season like a pro.
You can always learn more aboutour course at cleanbeeconsulting.
com slash full throttle finance.
That's C L E A N B E E consulting.
com slash Full Throttle Finance.
And of course, if you are interested inworking with us directly, you can still
(13:43):
schedule a consultation for services.
Be sure to subscribe and join usnext week as we continue to break
down finance with a motorsport twist.
We'll see you next Friday.
Hello everyone and welcome back toFull Throttle Finance, a financial
literacy podcast that's geared towardsdissecting complex financial topics
into fun, relatable discussions.
My name is Felicia and I am yourCEO at CleanBee Consulting, and with
me is Allison, who isour senior bookkeeper.
Together we focus on revving up thefinancial foundations for athletes,
(00:29):
entrepreneurs, and leaders in business.
Regardless if you are operating froman established program already, or if
you are just getting started, we arehere to help you make small shifts that
drive better financial performance.
So, before we actually get intoeverything today, I wanted to
take a couple of moments to do alittle bit of housekeeping, and
(00:50):
thank the OrangeCat Racing Crew.
my other half just got back fromtesting And he brought me back a
hat that is signed freaking cool.
By all of the racers so I just wantedto say thank you, Andrew, Brenden
Jayson and Mikayla I think that thiswas really, really rad of you guys.
(01:11):
So thank you.
That is so incredibly nice of them.
Like, this is literally whywe are doing this podcast.
We are literally fans of motorcyclesand people and athletes, like so cool.
It is.
All right, that's enough of housekeeping.
So, Allison, what's on thedocket for today's episode?
(01:33):
Yeah, so, this week we're actually goingto shift back to talking about budgeting,
finances, and cash flow managementbecause these are both very complex
topics that you're not going to get thefirst time around when we talk about it.
So, we'll continue talking aboutsome fundamental concepts surrounding
the cash flows to help you stay ontrack literally and financially.
So, Felicia, let's start with the basics.
(01:55):
Race teams and athletes receiveand create their budgets at the
beginning of the season, right?
They are getting theirsponsorship money, too, then.
What kind of challenges could this create?
Yeah, getting all the money upfront feels great, sounds great,
it's lovely, gives you stability.
But I think it actually, insome situations, might create
(02:16):
a false sense of security.
You might think to yourself, like,wow, I have plenty of money for
the program this, this season.
But in reality, this money does needto last you the entire race season.
And in some cases, emergencies, thingswe didn't plan for, that come up.
And this means that you actually need toplan out how you're going to spend every
(02:41):
single dollar if you want to last theentire season and make sure that you're
showing up to the grid every single race.
And, you know, for a lot ofpeople, the gut reaction to
money in the bank is to spend it.
Especially if you're a preparer.
Like, you want to make sure you haveenough stock on hand, and parts, and
(03:02):
backups, and extras, and you want tomake sure that you have enough staff
that's out there at the track to makesure that you're not overwhelmed and
that you're making it to every raceon time with all the things you need.
And I totally, totally get it, right?
But that, in its own, isexactly why you need to budget.
and why you need to have a plan andwhy you need to be thoughtful in
(03:24):
how you choose to spend that moneywhen it actually hits the bank.
And that's such a good point.
As a reference for our listeners,podcast 7 Budgets that Go the Distance.
We talked about budgets andhow multiple bank accounts for
different expenses is super helpful.
Think about creating an accountfor each large expense type that
(03:47):
you regularly spend your money on,like parts, tires, fuel, travel.
It's much easier to managethese expenses when you have the
respective allocated funds separated.
This ensures that you're notstealing money that should have
been saved away for emergencies.
For travel expenses, becauseyou didn't plan properly.
You haven't had the chance to listento that episode yet, we highly
(04:09):
recommend it as a supplementalresource to today's episode.
Episode 7.
episode 7.
Felicia, we talked about thepeaks and valleys on financial
reports and how preferably we liketo see them flatlined expenses.
but for a race team, that isgenerally not going to be the case
because busy season, off season,not going to really be flatlined.
(04:33):
Nope.
you know, right, Allison?
Racing is probably anything but steady.
you definitely have peaks andvalleys in your spending and in
your revenues when you are operatinga race team in a race program.
And the reason behind those peaks andthose valleys, is that, like, you might
have two or three events plus testing inone month, right, but maybe the following
(04:58):
month you just have one single race.
If you don't plan for thoseswings, those high activity
months can drain your resources.
Super fast because you'rejust go go go go go
That's where proactivebudgeting comes into play.
If you know in advance, let's say thatJune is heavy with races and heavy with
(05:19):
travel, you can budget accordingly forthat when you get all of your money up
front at the beginning of the season.
During your lighter months, setaside funds that are extras in your
budget and try to replenish yourreserves before your next surge.
Maybe in July or August you haveanother multi race month on.
(05:41):
Schedule, You always want to belooking one or two months ahead of
real time to make sure that you'restaying on top of everything.
That's the only way that you'regoing to ensure that you don't
drain your budget too quickly.
And on that note, Regular reviews are key.
Each month or even each week, if you'redealing with large sums or like how we
(06:05):
handle our clients, we do all of theircheck ins weekly, sit down and compare
the budget to what's actually beenspent, what's actually cleared the bank
as of this day, this week, this month.
If you see a big jump, investigate it, itmight be justified, like, Maybe an extra
testing opportunity came up last minute,And it wasn't on the original plan, so
(06:28):
it wasn't in the original budget, ormaybe it's Yeah, that big spike, right?
Maybe it's due to an impulse purchase.
The key is asking Does this spikealign with our overall goal?
Or is it a red flag that we need toaddress in our program right now?
Getting ahead of the problem before itruns away from you, is my biggest piece
(06:52):
of advice for managing inconsistentdata and inconsistent budgets.
And to do that, you needreal time, accurate data,
analyzed and strategized often.
Plain and simple.
Yeah, definitely.
And so, talking about red flags,can you talk us through the red
(07:13):
flags teams might see if theirspending doesn't match the plan?
Yup.
On.
So if, for example, you forecasted maybea certain amount for travel, but maybe
it ends up doubling in a heavy racemonth rate, that might be okay if you
added an extra tip for that testing, Yourperformance gains are tangible and you
(07:34):
can tie the benefit to those dollars,But if you see a big overage in travel
expenses that don't really have any clearstrategic ties or sporting a benefit?
Like that's a red flag, Was that travelnecessary with the race budget in its
current state, The point is not topanic over every single spike that you
(07:57):
see, or every odyssey that you see,against your projected budget to real
actual expenses, but every single spikeneeds to have rationale behind it.
So you should be asking yourself,does this make sense for our goals?
Does this help us out on the track?
Is this necessary for us to go faster?
(08:18):
If you can't answer yes, With confidenceto these questions, then that's
probably a very good key indicatorthat you need to cut back on your
expenses and that you maybe need toreallocate some funds in your budget.
The constant check ins, the constantrealignments with your budget in relation
(08:39):
to your actual spending is going to bekey in managing your actual cash flow.
So, Let's say that you needed anextra testing trip, But you ended up
having a sponsor drop out during thelast quarter of your race season.
It might be too late to chase newsponsorship dollars that late in
(09:00):
the season and in your program.
So now you need to figure out whereyou have to cut expenses during the
remainder of your season to make surethat you can still make it to every
round because you're justifying thatthis extra testing is going to yield a
tangible result out on the track to getyou faster, to get you up on the podium.
You might need to cut laborcosts or, and look at running.
(09:25):
You might need to hire a lean crew, oryou might need to borrow from your rainy
day funds that you have saved away for anengine repair that might not have actually
happened yet, but is very well still apossibility before the end of the season.
But to make those decisionsconfidently, and to not run your
budget into the ground, you have totrack everything in real time, analyze
(09:48):
often, and realign strategy on the go.
So, so true, Felicia.
okay, so I wanted to shift gearsand talk about some practical
steps that someone could take awayright now and apply to the program.
start by creating a detailed budget.
You can use a spreadsheet,or a budgeting template.
(10:09):
Sure
Our Revving Up for Financial coursehas a downloadable budget tool ready
for you to plug your information into.
this week anyways, okay.
Make sure that you are having at thevery least monthly snapshot meetings
(10:31):
to go over your finances with yourbookkeeper or setting aside time to
do it yourself this allows you tocheck in that your actual spending.
for your tax bill at the end of the year.
One of the best practices is to tieeach major expense to a clear objective.
Improving lap times, increasingreliability, enhancing logistics.
If you can't articulate how a purchaseor expenditure helps you compete
(10:53):
better, it's probably not essential.
By linking money spent to tangibleperformance metrics, you ensure you're
investing in real progress rather thanjust convenience or nice two halves.
These are all relatively straightforwardtasks that you can take the
reins on in your own program.
Immediately.
(11:14):
So, can we connect thedots for our listeners?
How does this all relate directlyto better performance on the track?
So, when your finances are in orderOne of the biggest ones is that there's
less stress involved , with whetheror not you can afford that next set
of tires, or whether or not you'regoing to have to skip an important
testing session, or even a race round.
(11:36):
It gives The program Peace of Mind, andit lets the team focus on race strategy,
vehicle setup, overall performance,the things that really matter.
It gives your professionals thatyou've hired the space to do their
jobs to the best of their abilities.
And it makes sure that you havethe right tools and that you
(11:58):
have the right resources at hand.
For your race team, and a well managedbudget also means you can justify spending
and investing money in areas that reallymove the needle for your program, like
better data analysis equipment, or hiringthat extra crew member that you need
to alleviate stress in your paddock.
(12:19):
Rather than wasting resources on impulsebuys or inefficient travel plans that
result from poor planning and poor cashflow management, When you have all of
your finances in order, when they are upto date in real time, really, like, you
just, you can operate better on the track,it, it's not your strength, probably.
(12:40):
You probably don't want to deal withit anyways, so get it out of the way
and get it handled so that you havethat confidence to go and do the
things that you really care about,that you really, really want to do.
So, you know, I think that that'sactually a good wrapping point for
today's episode of Full Throttle Finance.
We really appreciate that you have tunedin and that you are taking steps to
(13:01):
strengthen your financial foundations.
If you found today's insightsvaluable, be sure to join us next week.
And don't forget, our course,Revving Up for Financial Success, is
available for purchase on our website.
Literally, it has Everything that youneed to get started on budgeting and
(13:22):
planning for a race season like a pro.
You can always learn more aboutour course at cleanbeeconsulting.
com slash full throttle finance.
That's C L E A N B E E consulting.
com slash Full Throttle Finance.
And of course, if you are interested inworking with us directly, you can still
(13:43):
schedule a consultation for services.
Be sure to subscribe and join usnext week as we continue to break
down finance with a motorsport twist.
We'll see you next Friday.
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