November 10, 2025 • 36 mins
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.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:21):
I think it's 37.
It is 37.
I'm just I'm getting excitedthat we're so close to 40.
SPEAKER_01 (00:26):
So Brady, I'm really disappointed.
You had a chance right there for6'7?
6'7?
SPEAKER_03 (00:31):
Well, I thought about it, but it's 3-7.
Oh.
This now makes two episodes in arow that y'all have made a 6-7
joke.
SPEAKER_01 (00:37):
Maybe he maybe he trends the new 3-7.
We'll see.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (00:40):
Oh gosh.
I can't.
In all seriousness, I can't goanywhere without my daughters
making a joke.
Hey, mom and dad, what time'sdinner?
I don't know.
Oh, maybe six, seven, yeah.
So bad.
What in the world?
But hey, before we jump intotoday, just a couple
housekeeping things.
Uh, real quick, we're on ourlast few episodes of season
(01:01):
three.
Um, 2025.
So, listeners, we're gettingready to, we've got uh about two
more episodes we're gonnarecord, and those will be out
before the end of the year, andthen um we'll be taking a little
bit of a break, but it shouldn'tmess up too much of uh the flow
of things.
You might have a couple weekswhere we take off and we'll come
back strong in January.
(01:22):
Uh, but holidays get crazy,travel happens, you know.
Obviously, you guys got a lotgoing on, so many franchises you
got to visit and things, so itjust gets busy.
So but yeah, just just kind ofknow that that's coming.
So we'll do that.
Of course, we'll have things onsocial, we'll have things where
you guys can kind of understand,and something that we haven't
put out yet, but we will becausewe wanted we were ready to say
(01:44):
it on the podcast before we didanything else.
Had to.
Benji, I'll let I'll let you dothe honor because look, this
whole thing from day one wasyour idea.
You brought it up to me, andthen you know, we did some for a
while, and then uh we brought onBrady.
Uh, but man, it's it's been wehad a big milestone this week.
SPEAKER_01 (02:00):
Yeah, man.
We're just thankful for ourlisteners and watchers on
YouTube.
And uh, we we crossed the10,000th download of all of our
podcasts.
Thank you guys so much for umfor for listening in each and
each every other week and justappreciate the feedback that you
give us.
Thank you for those that reachout and just say, hey, can you
(02:20):
help me?
We we you know we're here tohelp you guys any way we can.
Um again, we're in the bigscheme of things, we're in a
small business as well, justlike most of you.
Uh, but we also can cater to thelarger businesses as well.
And um just our we don't wedon't shy away from it.
The Christ, Christ is the centerof everything that we do, and
that's why we believe that weare good stewards of the
(02:42):
business that the Lord hasentrusted Brady and I with with
our team.
And so we just again want tothank you all for just tuning in
each and every week.
Uh Adam sends out the you knowwhat where we're at in the
process of downloads, and again,like you said, we just surpassed
10,000 and thank you guys somuch.
It means a lot to us.
SPEAKER_03 (02:59):
And and did a little dive in just to kind of look
before we jumped into today.
But they say we could looking ata year, right?
So we we really kind ofrekindled this.
Um, we started back roughly ayear ago bringing Brady on so we
could dive deeper into some ofthese topics.
Um, but within a year, they sayonly roughly 25 to 30 percent of
all podcasts reach that mark ina year time.
(03:22):
You know, you would think wow,you would think it would be a
little bit more just becauseyou're like, man, that's that's
that's a year, you're pumpingout content.
But there's just, you know,podcast world uh is a saturated
market.
You know, ever it seems likeeverybody has one.
And but I mean it's greatbecause everybody's got
something to listen to.
And man, we just appreciate youguys listening um to our crazy
banter talking about business,talking about um just faith and
(03:45):
how that's applied.
I mean, that's a that's a bigdeal, and we appreciate you guys
here.
And just so you guys know,typically when a new episode
comes out, I always check everyday by the end of the day to see
how things are.
But we typically have anywherefrom 75 to 100 and something
downloads on the day it comesout, which means people are
people listening day one when itcomes out, subscribe and they're
seeing it, and then they'repicking up and just appreciate
(04:07):
you guys sharing it andeverything.
It just helps.
So it's it's awesome.
We're excited.
SPEAKER_01 (04:11):
Yeah, very excited.
SPEAKER_03 (04:13):
So well, hey, let's jump in to uh today's episode.
Um, I know this is a big one uhfor you guys, especially as
we're coming toward the end ofthe year, but we're talking a
little bit about forecasting.
So, Benji, why don't you jump ina little bit, kind of share with
our listeners today, you know,what that kind of entails.
I mean, you hear the wordforecasting, you kind of know,
you know, you people, hey, whatwhere are we at?
(04:33):
How how are we looking to end ofthe year?
What can we do to pivot?
We've talked about all thesedifferent topics.
So now how do we kind of seewhat's coming?
SPEAKER_01 (04:42):
Yeah, well, I think what happens, and we we kind of
did a similar episode at the endof last year, uh, Brady.
Actually, I think it was thebeginning of this year, Brady,
if I remember right, of 2025.
But um forecasting yourbusiness, you know, a lot of
times when depending on whereyou are in business, uh you get
comfortable, people getcomplacent, they start trying to
(05:03):
not think about new strategiesand 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 allkinds of spreadsheets.
Um, so and and this is a this isa topic actually very near and
dear to Brady's heart as well.
Just how do we properlyforecast?
Okay, let's look back on theyear, let's figure out where
(05:24):
we've come from, the strategiesthat we put in place, what can
we do to build on that as wemove into yet another year?
And um just just to kind of openit up, if you think about this,
how do you how do you forecastyour company?
Think about a GPS system, right?
If you've or a compass, forinstance.
If you've got a compass in yourhand, if you're in the middle of
(05:45):
the woods and you're a hunterand you don't know which way is
north, south, east, and west, Imean, it could get you in
trouble.
You know, you don't want todon't want that to happen.
So you need that navigationpiece.
Uh doesn't mean you're not gonnarun into bumpies, bumpy
situations, but you can you candefinitely prepare yourself for
those uh different turns.
And here's a question to thinkabout, okay?
(06:07):
Are you running, I should sayare we?
I'm not I shouldn't say you, arewe running our businesses based
on direction or just on default,right?
We've we've invested our ourtime, our our family's uh money.
How do we make take good as wetalked about being good stewards
of this?
How do we take this and build iteach and every year?
(06:29):
Because we're those we're thosepeople that don't want to get
comfortable and complacent,right?
We don't want to just statusquo.
We've been there.
Brady Brady could Brady couldattest to that too.
We've been there, we don't wantto do that because we believe in
growing.
And it's more of about not justgrowing our business, it's about
growing the kingdom as well.
Um, so that's that's the thing.
(06:50):
A leader without a forecast islike a pilot without a flight
plan.
And if you think about that, youwe as leaders have to figure out
a way to forecast.
And no one's saying go out hereand build this huge strategy
that is unaccomplishable, right?
One or two or three things thatyou can work on to help you in
(07:12):
your business.
Brady, just from a forecastingpiece, what has helped us in our
business from your perspective,that has helped us become each
year, we're getting better andbetter and better at our
processes.
What's something you you thinkcomes to mind?
SPEAKER_00 (07:27):
Yeah, I think that's a good question.
I think, you know, when I thinkabout 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, andyou're talking about that that
um that North Star or that thingthat you're looking at, I think
(07:49):
GPS stands for goals, yep,plans, systems.
So when you when you have theGPS, because things are gonna
come up, like you said, thingsare gonna uh pop up and and
we're gonna hit bumps in theroad, we're gonna we're gonna
hit roadblocks, we're gonna uhsee down months, we're gonna see
down quarters, we're gonna seeup, you know, up months and up
(08:11):
quarters.
Then the GPS is the thing thatit's kind of you know, when you
when you get in the car, and umthis is kind of funny, uh a
little bit of a side note, butuh we were in Melissa's car the
other day, and you know, AppleCarPlay, everybody's using that.
And she had a couple savedplaces up on her thing that were
(08:32):
probably from like 10 years ago.
And I'll and I was like, did younot know you know where you were
going?
She goes, Oh no, a hundredpercent.
But I didn't I needed to see thetraffic.
I needed to see I needed to seehow long it was gonna take me to
get there in case I needed adifferent route.
(08:52):
And I was like, oh man, that's athat's a good leadership thing
right there.
Um so goals, plan, systems, andI think Benji, when when you
said uh thing about running yourbusiness, the thing that came to
mind was really the question isare you running your business or
is the business running you?
Oh yeah, that's good.
(09:14):
Because I think sometimes we getcaught in the rut and the
routine, and I mean, in severaldifferent circles, uh it's
called the whirlwind.
You know, we've got to be ableto step out of that, and that's
what this season's all about,and strategic planning and
forecasting for 2026 is how dowe look to the future and plan
(09:35):
for so when those things comeup, how do we stay on track?
SPEAKER_01 (09:39):
That's good.
And Brady, you you just you justbrought up the next point.
Great leaders don't predict thefuture, we prepare for it.
That's it.
Because you you cannot predictwhat's coming, but you can
prepare for it.
Uh, I've said this for a longtime, and I know people laugh at
me.
We control what we can.
We can control thenon-negotiables, we can control
uh the the process, we cancontrol the system, we can
(10:02):
control the training.
But what we can't come, what wecan't control is what we don't
know is coming.
So that's that's a that's a goodresource.
Uh think about this.
Forecasting isn't just afinancial exercise, it's a
strategic foresight, thinkingabout the strategy as we move
forward.
Um, forecasting isn't fortunetelling, it's decision prepping.
(10:24):
So think of again, if you don'tremember anything else from this
episode, we as leaders don'tpredict the future, we prepare
for it.
And that's important.
Uh, whether and you could be,maybe you're not actually
running the business, maybeyou're an investor, maybe you
are uh showing up consistentlyfor your team in some form or
fashion.
Maybe, maybe you're a customerand you wanna you want to uh not
(10:46):
have to have a quote brokenwater line.
Adam, you're at what, likenumber eight or nine now, I
think.
SPEAKER_03 (10:54):
Well, my wife has us going to look at a house
tomorrow.
It's probably the seventh houseshe'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'sin your personal home, whether
it's in your business, whetherit's running your business in
your home.
And by the way, I'm I'm guiltyof this as well.
How often do we actually replaceour water lines going to our
(11:21):
washing machine?
You know, because those thingsdon't last forever.
Um, and I probably should dothat.
I'll make a mental note of that.
Just a couple of things.
We want to talk about five keycomponents of proper business
forecasting.
Okay.
The first one is this know yourbaseline.
Start with where you your pastperformance trends, what's
predictable, what mightfluctuate.
(11:43):
Okay.
If you can't, and Brady doesthis every single week with our
team.
Uh, we have a weekly cadencemeeting with the leadership for
about two hours on Mondaymorning, and it is our 12 to 24
months of clean data.
That that's where you start withthe baseline.
Where what are the trendslooking like?
(12:05):
Are you moving in this directionor are you moving in a south?
We don't like to use the wordare we moving in a southeast
trend.
We want to move in a northeasttrend.
Uh so our we're constantlygrowing.
You know, think of yeah, goahead.
Oh, go ahead, Benji.
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 todefine reality.
And so your your pastperformance defines the reality
for going forward.
I mean, most most peopleprobably listening um are
leaders or owners or CEOs or oror whatever the case may be.
(12:41):
And we tend to look at 2026 andgo, we're gonna knock it out of
the park.
You know, we're gonna havedouble digit, triple digit, you
know, double volume, you know,whatever these things are.
And uh like I'll just betransparent for us for this
year.
We we had some prettysignificant goals that we want
to try to hit.
Now we've had a pretty decentyear, but we're not going to hit
(13:04):
the goals that we set for thisyear because we were probably a
little aggressive and we weren'tas realistic.
And so what we've talked aboutwith our team for this year are
going into 26, is guys, we needto be a little bit more
realistic.
So let's set realistic goals.
Not that we can't have a stretchgoal, but we need to set
(13:25):
realistic goals so that we cantry to achieve those.
SPEAKER_01 (13:29):
Yeah, it's good.
Brady's used this analogy beforeabout the rear view mirror and
the glass, the window in frontof you.
We can't see ahead clearly ifour rear view mirror is foggy.
So we have to be willing to lookat the trends, know what that
baseline is.
The second thing is this is tosegment your forecast.
(13:50):
What does that mean?
Break it down by category.
What are your different revenuestreams, right?
What are your differentopportunities out there?
What are your threats out there?
Um, maybe it's a department thatyou're that you're trying to
improve a process or increaseproductivity or increase sales
or whatever those things may be.
Maybe it's adding a differentlocation.
(14:12):
You know, maybe you have a goalout there to have more
locations.
Maybe it's a product that you'retrying to do.
So segment those forecasts.
The worst thing you could do istry to do all of them, though.
Pick one or two and focus onthat.
That is that is what will helpset you up for success.
And don't forecast in a one-lumpnumber.
(14:33):
Brady just mentioned that.
Make dissect it, break it down,make it more achievable.
Uh, at the end of the day, youcan't have a business without
being profitable unless you're anonprofit business.
And that's you, you have to youhave to repeat it.
SPEAKER_00 (14:45):
They still have profit, uh, believe me.
They do.
They just they don't call itprofit, 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 thatowns a really large financial
company, and we've we've neverdone this before, Benji, but I
think it's a um I I like the waythat he thinks about it.
So yeah, they pr they plan fortwenty for the next year, but
they almost use like themountain analogy to where like
(15:16):
if you're gonna climb MountEverest, well, the peak is the
goal, but at every you have tohave different milestones to get
to.
Now I've never climbed MountEverest, so I I'm only speaking
out of what I've heard, but youhave to get to a certain point
and then you have to acclimate.
And then you got to get toanother point and you have to
acclimate because the furtheryou get up, the thinner the air
(15:40):
gets, and you're not if youdon't prepare the right way,
then you won't be able to hitthe next point to be able to get
to the peak.
And so that's the way they settheir business up is to get to
these, I for I forget what theycall them, but uh, it's
basically milestones to get tothat next point, sit there for a
minute, celebrate, regroup, butthe the ultimate goal is the is
(16:02):
the peak of it.
SPEAKER_01 (16:03):
Yeah.
And and remember this if youhave a a leadership team that
let's assume there's three orfour managers under you owner
out there, it's easier to assignthe ownership and hold them
accountable than it is to try todo it all yourself.
Sometimes we as owners, we tryto maintain everything, we try
(16:23):
to control everything.
And and it's not like Brady andI have two things that we do not
let go of.
We do not let go of thecheckbook.
Yeah, people help us make surethings are involved on making
sure that our numbers areupdated properly.
But when it comes to bankingsystems and things like that,
that is one thing we do not letgo of.
There are only two people,actually three people, that have
(16:46):
access to quote, sign checks forus.
And we do that on purpose.
We don't, it's and they're allfamily members.
We don't, if we're a family-runbusiness, but you can assign
those as you're segmenting yourbusiness out there, segment
those forecasts, use yourmanagement team, but hold them
accountable to the process.
(17:06):
If you're not gonna allow themto bring ideas to the table and
you're not gonna allow them to,and you're not gonna hold them
accountable to the thing thatthey're supposed to do for that
week or that month or thatquarter, yeah, why do you have
them?
You know, use them to youradvantage.
The third thing is this defineyour assumptions.
Brady just talked about this,the growth rate.
If you're gonna climb themountain, you do have to take a
(17:28):
pause, look out, get acclimated,and then move to the next uh
thing.
Different seasons, right?
Different seasons churndifferent opportunities for you.
Let's be honest.
In the winter times, most peoplestay indoors, right?
When it comes to spring andsummer, they're ready to go to
the beach, they're ready to goto the mountains, they're ready
(17:49):
to do this, whatever.
But make sure that you know whoyour customer, who your customer
base is and the lead time thatyou have for each of those
customers.
That's important.
What are those different triggerpoints out there?
And run you some best, what ifwhat if scenarios?
You may have a best case, aworst case, and then some people
like to say here's the likelycase, it's possibly gonna
(18:11):
happen.
But you could run a man, here'shere's where we want to get to,
here's where we don't want to gobelow, but at the same time,
here's probably what'sreasonable, what's out there.
Because every forecast is astory.
Your assumptions are just aplot.
Adam, I'd like to stop here asecond and ask you something
because there there may be somepeople listening that are a I'm
(18:35):
gonna I'm gonna call you asingle man operation, right?
You you run you run yourbusiness on the side uh of what
you do for your church, andyou're trying to grow that
opportunity.
So you don't have a wealth ofpeople, you don't have a, you
know, you can you can hiredifferent people to help from
time to time, and I've you weknow you do that.
But just from just from someonethat might be listening, it's
like, man, I'm a single manshow, single woman show.
(18:56):
I how can I get some help?
What advice would you givesomeone like that in this
planning and forecastingprocess?
SPEAKER_03 (19:02):
Well, one of the things we that Emily and I
typically do, we try to look umahead on what we're gonna have
coming up.
Like, all right, what are youknow, we have retainer clients.
Um, that's something that webuilt 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 iswe meet regularly with our
(19:24):
accountant to make sure that welook at what we're doing.
Are we paying taxes right?
Are we, you know, this is whatwe're looking to do?
And then um I I really try tooverly pay attention to my
QuickBooks.
Emily helps me with it.
She's a QuickBooks wizard, thankgoodness that's what she does at
her job.
Uh, so she fixes anything that Ihave.
(19:44):
Um, but some of the things thatwe 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 startdoing more, but we set a goal
for the year financially.
Hey, this is what I want to hitby the end of the calendar year.
And we operate normal, so end ofthe year ends.
Um, and I'm excited becausewe're about 4,000 away from
(20:06):
that.
Um, we've had some really goodopportunities, the Lord blessed
us with this year.
Um, and so we know that, butthen we also try to plan
purchases because, you know,that's the tough part is that
um, you know, they say anywherefrom three to five years in your
first business, you don't makemoney.
And so that I wanted to changethat rhetoric.
How can I, and because I ampositioned in a good way where I
(20:28):
have a full-time job and I amable to do this, my job allows
me to, you know, and I know noteverybody's in that that place.
Sure.
I tried to make sure thatwalking into this year, we
didn't spend things that wedidn't have to.
Um, I spent things that need tobe done, but everything that I
spend money on is to ensure thatI can do more.
(20:52):
For instance, the better, and Iknow people say obviously having
the best camera gear doesn't doeverything, but what it does
allow me to do is charge aclient more because I'm giving
them a higher quality.
Sure.
Yeah.
I'm giving them somethinglarger, I'm giving them
something bigger.
And so that's some of the thingsthat uh that we look at, but we
look at what our big purchasesare for the year.
Typically, I have a top threepurchase.
(21:13):
Hey, this is what I want to doby the end of the year.
I want to buy this item, thisitem, and this item.
So that means I know, well, I'vegot to sell these certain jobs
or I got to take these and thenreally look at it.
But what I've really learnedthis year, and you mentioned it
earlier, is leaning on otherpeople for this, is that I have
to.
And um, just for instance, oneof the things I do is I have a
(21:36):
base that I charge to go do realestate photography.
It's a one-man show.
I walk in typically, um, I doit, uh, I take the photos and I
go home.
You know, typically what I wouldtry to do is just go home and
I'd edit all those those photosmyself.
Well, what I started doing is Istarted contracting that out to
a company I found that does areally good job editing the
(21:56):
photos.
I'm the one taking them, so I'mgetting what I want them to look
like, but I've I've I've giventhat out to someone else that
helps me.
So now that time that I'vespent, I'm I'm working on
something else.
And so I'm not spending timesitting there and editing photos
for an hour and a half.
I pay someone that's gonna dothat, that now I can work on
(22:17):
another project.
Or, you know, I've one of thethings I want to do this year is
only take on projects that werelarge enough that I needed a
crew.
Because that meant what alsomeans is when we're done, if I
budget well, I can take thatsame person that I trust on my
crew to edit the videos.
Let me be there, let me projectmanage.
(22:38):
So it's definitely it's adifferent 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 makesure that I'm careful about who
I'm choosing to be on my team.
Um, one thing I've reallylearned, and I've I mean, you
guys have always taught me this.
One thing I've learned even morethis year is if they're not
(23:00):
helping me, why am I using them?
Yeah.
Like it, because at the end ofthe day, why am I paying
somebody that why am I payingsomeone to be there if I'm just
doing what they do?
So I either one, they need to bequality or I need to trust them
more.
Right.
So um, but those are some of thethings that we've looked at this
year.
And and honestly, to be veryfrank with you guys, this is the
first year that we've ever donethis type of revenue and been
(23:24):
profitable with it.
And so, you know, it kind ofputs me in that position how
it's it's great, it's a greatblessing.
I mean, I I in in allseriousness, a lot of the things
that we do through that I dothrough my small business is
came from what you two havetaught me in how to handle
things, how to handle money.
I mean, uh the no may not haveanything to do with the episode,
(23:45):
but I remember when we firststarted, Brady, I was talking to
you and mentioning I jokedabout, you know, I can write it
off, I'll do this.
And you're like, if the wholepoint every year is to not make
money, why are you doing it?
And uh, so you know, and so Ihad to realize, all right, so
now I need to be better abouthow do I, you know, how do I get
the equipment that I need, butstill get the job done.
(24:06):
Um, because if I'm not gonnaAdam, 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 thisyear.
I'm like, you know, no, I'm justkidding.
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 youthe 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 beentold, you know, and I'm probably
(24:39):
gonna mess it up, but it's likeif they're not just because
they're they like you orsomething, it's like they're not
them just because they're withyou doesn't mean they're for
you, you know.
And so I I had to make sure thatI've I closed my circle this
year and I wanted people thatwere that were champions for
what I was doing and help meattribute that.
How do I expand my vision?
How do I expand my profit?
(25:00):
So I don't know if that answersyour question.
SPEAKER_01 (25:02):
No, it does.
It absolutely does.
And Brady, I'd have I'd have onequestion for you on that.
So, best case scenario, worstcase scenario, likely scenario.
Because I'm I'm the guy that'slike, man, we can go for the
moon, like we can get here, wecan get here.
And Brady's like, hey, let'sbring it back in a little bit.
What would you tell the owner ormanager out there who's trying
(25:22):
to forecast with these differentassumptions 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, wewe do want to um see the best
for in the forecasting model forthe next year.
But sometimes what that umactually makes us do is make the
(25:50):
decisions that we know that weneed to make.
Okay.
So for example, a lot of thiscomes around to people, and uh,
we've talked about EOS on here aa lot, the entrepreneurial
operating system.
But if you're gonna hit theseforecasts, you need the right
people in place to be able to doit.
So EOS, the the p they have athing called the people
(26:11):
analyzer, and the peopleanalyzer says for each person
that is in a position, do theygot it?
Do they want it?
And do they have the capacity todo it?
And so I think part offorecasting is analyzing your
team and asking yourself thehonest question: do you have the
right team to get you where youneed to go?
(26:32):
And you don't you can't reallyforecast.
Um, I know our dad said this alot, and it comes from John
Maxwell, but uh a lot of peoplehope, and hope is not a good
strategy.
You know, well, I hope that's agood thing.
We had an episode on that.
We have an episode of hope isnot a good strategy.
You know, I hope that thatperson gets better.
You're not gonna hit thosenumbers or those profit
(26:55):
percentages that you want tohit.
You're not gonna be able to hitthe goals if you don't have the
right people in place.
So I think as you're looking fornext year, I think you got to
ask the question first do youhave the right people on the
right seats on the right bus?
Yeah.
Yeah.
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'redoing.
And you would always correct.
Like, Adam, you can't like wecan't live off that.
Like that can't be.
But I think until, and this iswhere anybody that's listening,
then maybe they're not an owner.
You have somebody that'slistening that's you know, maybe
they're working for someone,you've got to figure out how to
(27:29):
accept that mentality, eventhough the end goal may not be
your profit, right?
Like it may not be, you may notbe the owner of the company.
And that's something I'verealized this year is I can't
say, Well, man, I hope, I hopethey I hope they take that, you
know, that estimate.
I hope they do this.
Man, if they do that and thenstart planning, man, if they do
it, then I won't be able topurchase this, or I can go do
(27:50):
that.
I I I can't get into that thatthinking.
I've got to stay, this is whereI'm at, this is what we have,
this is what we know is comingin, and this is how we can
improve the business.
Because for us, that's where themode that we're in right now.
Every decision we make, everypurchase has to improve the
business.
It has to be able to allow me tocharge more so I can do that.
(28:11):
Because I mean, you may looklike you make a, you know, if if
you're doing six figures a yearor something, that's great.
But I can tell you, have youlooked at your expense margin?
Because that's where I feel likesometimes 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 expensemargin, I'm like, that's a lot
(28:31):
more thin than I thought it wasgonna be.
SPEAKER_00 (28:34):
That's the way well, yeah.
Go ahead, Brady.
I I was just gonna say uhanother thing I was I was just
thinking through here is tworeally two things is as we're
forecasting for the next yearand and talking through, you
know, we can't just hope it hopefor it to happen.
One, and we've talked about thismany, many times on the show, is
(28:55):
you cannot, you can't give whatyou don't have.
Yeah.
So when you're when you'reforecasting, you've got to be
learning, you've got to begrowing, you've got to be
reading books, um, you've got tobe um listening to podcasts.
I I'll brag on my son a minute.
You know, he's already read twobooks this year, and he he just
he just texted me the other dayand he goes, Okay, I'm ready for
(29:16):
the next one.
What's the next one?
And I've got so many that I'vechurned through.
I'm thinking through, like,okay, what what will be the best
for him and in his season andhis journey?
And so um he he started readinga new book, which our leadership
team is is reading calledRedeeming Your Time by Jordan
Raynor.
Um that's a great book if ifanybody is looking for like a
productivity type thing.
(29:37):
Uh the other thing is so learnand grow.
The other the other thing is,Adam, you're talking about
surrounding yourself with withgood people, right?
Um NC twelve, which we've talkeda lot about too, our material uh
last month was surroundingyourself in three different
areas.
And so we we really looked atthe life of Paul.
(30:00):
And what he did and who he wassurrounded by.
And he had number one, aBarnabas.
So a Barnabas was a mentor tohim.
He he was so you've got to finda good mentor, somebody that's
if we want to forecast, don't wewant to talk to the people
that's already been there anddone that?
SPEAKER_02 (30:17):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (30:17):
Because they've because they've already gone
through the mistakes and and wedon't have to make some of those
pitfalls that that they'vealready gone through.
So he had a Barnabas.
Number two, he had a Luke.
So he had a peer of people thatwere that were speaking into
him, holding him accountable andhelping him stay on the right
path.
And then number three, he had aTimothy.
(30:38):
So he was a Timothy, a Titus,you know, all these people that
he was mentoring himself.
And so as leaders, a lot oftimes I think that we we
probably have the Timothy's andthe Tituses, but maybe we don't
have the Luke's and theBarnabases.
And so, you know, a group likeC12 or some other people, other
groups out there can help youand find people, like I said,
(30:59):
that's already been there anddone that, and they can help you
avoid a lot of mistakes.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (31:03):
Brady, I'm gonna I'm gonna blow your mind.
I was on a plane ride not toolong ago, and I thought, you
know what, I'm gonna actuallyanother audio book.
I've did an entire audio bookthere and back.
It's called The Speed of Trustby Franklin Covey or Stephen
Covey, excuse me.
If if you haven't, that's agreat, great, great book uh to
do.
But hey guys, we got just twomore things real quick and we're
(31:25):
gonna wrap the show up.
This is one that is near anddear to every for-profit
business.
So I want to make that clear.
Forecasting your cash flowseparately.
Very, very important.
Profit and cash.
Watch for the timing gaps inreceivables and payables.
Now, I know some of you may bein the service industry where
(31:45):
you're cash on demand, right?
You have a service done, you paycash right then.
So you don't have anyreceivables.
But for the, or maybe you havea, you might have some, you
might have some commercialbusinesses that pay on a 30-day
cycle or whatever.
Watch the timing gaps in those.
Maintain a rolling 13-week cashforecast.
We do a really good job at ourorganization, thanks to Brady
and our team, of helping us keepkeep a rolling forecast out
(32:08):
there.
I love this quote.
Revenue is vanity, profit issanity, and cash is survival.
I'm gonna say it again.
Revenue is vanity, profit issanity, cash is survival.
And then the fifth thing is thisreview and revise regularly.
If you're gonna forecastsomething out there, please,
(32:30):
please, please, we beg you,don't set it and forget it.
That's the worst thing you coulddo.
We talked about this last yearwhen we were talking about
strategic planning is leavingthe booklet up on the shelf.
Review it monthly, review itquarterly.
Have your team bring that thingout and talk about what applies
to their specific role in theirdepartment.
(32:51):
Update it because you mayaccomplish something, adjust
your course.
Don't abandon your plan.
Okay, think about this in thesports world.
If we're gonna go out and we'regonna be a great offensive team
and a great defensive team, wehave to have a plan.
We got to block, we got totackle, we got to run, we got to
protect the ball, we got to dothis, we got to try to intercept
the other team's ball.
(33:11):
There's all those things.
Don't abandon the plan.
Whatever the coach comes upwith, stay on track.
Because forecasting is not aboutbeing 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 iscoming.
So as we as we wrap this up,just a couple leadership
(33:33):
takeaways for you.
Clarity builds your confidence.
Okay, your team performs betterwhen they know how things are
going and where things aregoing.
So keep them in the loop, keepkeep each other accountable to
the prospect process.
Excuse me.
Forecasting shows respect.
It shows that we take the futureseriously for them, not just for
(33:53):
us.
So keep that in mind.
It shows respect to you and yourteam.
And then decisions lovedeadlines.
Forecasting adds the structureto win, not just what you
decide.
So think about those deadlines.
Again, I've I've mentioned thisbefore.
It's about stewardship.
(34:14):
It's about what the Lord hasgiven you and being a good
steward of that.
Uh guys, anything you want toadd 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 beentaking 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 doingsomething?
Like taking notes on what y'allare saying.
SPEAKER_00 (34:35):
Adam, that royalty percentage just went up.
SPEAKER_01 (34:37):
It did.
It did.
Well, here's just here's just acouple call to action, guys, and
wrap up.
Challenge yourself.
Okay, pull out your currentforecast, where you're at right
now.
Where where is it relying, orexcuse me, where is it relying
on hope instead of data?
We just talked about that hope.
Don't operate on hope, operateon data.
Now, I will tell you, sometimesyou can have too much data.
(34:59):
I got I got a buddy of mine whois involved in spreadsheets and
websites and all kinds of stuff.
And like, dude, you got to getout from behind your desk.
Like, you got to go, you got toget in the field and see what's
happening.
You got to talk to your people,you got to mentor.
Uh, next thing, not justchallenge, encourage.
If you don't forecast because itfeels uncertain, that's exactly
(35:19):
why you should forecast yourcompany.
And then maybe share a tool,template, you know, with
someone.
Maybe, maybe you can pass itforward, so to speak.
Um, and as and as we close,forecasts don't eliminate
uncertainty, but they give yourleadership a compass, a
direction of where you'reheading.
And again, as Adam said, ifyou're the 10,000 and one
(35:42):
listener listening in on this,we appreciate so much what you
you do for our uh our show atHigherUp Podcast.
You can connect with us onhigheruppodcast.com if this is
the first time you're tuning in.
Uh, you can find all ways ofsocial and ways you can
subscribe and join our mailinglist.
Uh, but as always, we appreciateyou guys.
Go out and choose to live ahigher up life.
(36:03):
We'll see you next time.
I think it's 37.
It is 37.
I'm just I'm getting excitedthat we're so close to 40.
SPEAKER_01 (00:26):
So Brady, I'm really disappointed.
You had a chance right there for6'7?
6'7?
SPEAKER_03 (00:31):
Well, I thought about it, but it's 3-7.
Oh.
This now makes two episodes in arow that y'all have made a 6-7
joke.
SPEAKER_01 (00:37):
Maybe he maybe he trends the new 3-7.
We'll see.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (00:40):
Oh gosh.
I can't.
In all seriousness, I can't goanywhere without my daughters
making a joke.
Hey, mom and dad, what time'sdinner?
I don't know.
Oh, maybe six, seven, yeah.
So bad.
What in the world?
But hey, before we jump intotoday, just a couple
housekeeping things.
Uh, real quick, we're on ourlast few episodes of season
(01:01):
three.
Um, 2025.
So, listeners, we're gettingready to, we've got uh about two
more episodes we're gonnarecord, and those will be out
before the end of the year, andthen um we'll be taking a little
bit of a break, but it shouldn'tmess up too much of uh the flow
of things.
You might have a couple weekswhere we take off and we'll come
back strong in January.
(01:22):
Uh, but holidays get crazy,travel happens, you know.
Obviously, you guys got a lotgoing on, so many franchises you
got to visit and things, so itjust gets busy.
So but yeah, just just kind ofknow that that's coming.
So we'll do that.
Of course, we'll have things onsocial, we'll have things where
you guys can kind of understand,and something that we haven't
put out yet, but we will becausewe wanted we were ready to say
(01:44):
it on the podcast before we didanything else.
Had to.
Benji, I'll let I'll let you dothe honor because look, this
whole thing from day one wasyour idea.
You brought it up to me, andthen you know, we did some for a
while, and then uh we brought onBrady.
Uh, but man, it's it's been wehad a big milestone this week.
SPEAKER_01 (02:00):
Yeah, man.
We're just thankful for ourlisteners and watchers on
YouTube.
And uh, we we crossed the10,000th download of all of our
podcasts.
Thank you guys so much for umfor for listening in each and
each every other week and justappreciate the feedback that you
give us.
Thank you for those that reachout and just say, hey, can you
(02:20):
help me?
We we you know we're here tohelp you guys any way we can.
Um again, we're in the bigscheme of things, we're in a
small business as well, justlike most of you.
Uh, but we also can cater to thelarger businesses as well.
And um just our we don't wedon't shy away from it.
The Christ, Christ is the centerof everything that we do, and
that's why we believe that weare good stewards of the
(02:42):
business that the Lord hasentrusted Brady and I with with
our team.
And so we just again want tothank you all for just tuning in
each and every week.
Uh Adam sends out the you knowwhat where we're at in the
process of downloads, and again,like you said, we just surpassed
10,000 and thank you guys somuch.
It means a lot to us.
SPEAKER_03 (02:59):
And and did a little dive in just to kind of look
before we jumped into today.
But they say we could looking ata year, right?
So we we really kind ofrekindled this.
Um, we started back roughly ayear ago bringing Brady on so we
could dive deeper into some ofthese topics.
Um, but within a year, they sayonly roughly 25 to 30 percent of
all podcasts reach that mark ina year time.
(03:22):
You know, you would think wow,you would think it would be a
little bit more just becauseyou're like, man, that's that's
that's a year, you're pumpingout content.
But there's just, you know,podcast world uh is a saturated
market.
You know, ever it seems likeeverybody has one.
And but I mean it's greatbecause everybody's got
something to listen to.
And man, we just appreciate youguys listening um to our crazy
banter talking about business,talking about um just faith and
(03:45):
how that's applied.
I mean, that's a that's a bigdeal, and we appreciate you guys
here.
And just so you guys know,typically when a new episode
comes out, I always check everyday by the end of the day to see
how things are.
But we typically have anywherefrom 75 to 100 and something
downloads on the day it comesout, which means people are
people listening day one when itcomes out, subscribe and they're
seeing it, and then they'repicking up and just appreciate
(04:07):
you guys sharing it andeverything.
It just helps.
So it's it's awesome.
We're excited.
SPEAKER_01 (04:11):
Yeah, very excited.
SPEAKER_03 (04:13):
So well, hey, let's jump in to uh today's episode.
Um, I know this is a big one uhfor you guys, especially as
we're coming toward the end ofthe year, but we're talking a
little bit about forecasting.
So, Benji, why don't you jump ina little bit, kind of share with
our listeners today, you know,what that kind of entails.
I mean, you hear the wordforecasting, you kind of know,
you know, you people, hey, whatwhere are we at?
(04:33):
How how are we looking to end ofthe year?
What can we do to pivot?
We've talked about all thesedifferent topics.
So now how do we kind of seewhat's coming?
SPEAKER_01 (04:42):
Yeah, well, I think what happens, and we we kind of
did a similar episode at the endof last year, uh, Brady.
Actually, I think it was thebeginning of this year, Brady,
if I remember right, of 2025.
But um forecasting yourbusiness, you know, a lot of
times when depending on whereyou are in business, uh you get
comfortable, people getcomplacent, they start trying to
(05:03):
not think about new strategiesand 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 allkinds of spreadsheets.
Um, so and and this is a this isa topic actually very near and
dear to Brady's heart as well.
Just how do we properlyforecast?
Okay, let's look back on theyear, let's figure out where
(05:24):
we've come from, the strategiesthat we put in place, what can
we do to build on that as wemove into yet another year?
And um just just to kind of openit up, if you think about this,
how do you how do you forecastyour company?
Think about a GPS system, right?
If you've or a compass, forinstance.
If you've got a compass in yourhand, if you're in the middle of
(05:45):
the woods and you're a hunterand you don't know which way is
north, south, east, and west, Imean, it could get you in
trouble.
You know, you don't want todon't want that to happen.
So you need that navigationpiece.
Uh doesn't mean you're not gonnarun into bumpies, bumpy
situations, but you can you candefinitely prepare yourself for
those uh different turns.
And here's a question to thinkabout, okay?
(06:07):
Are you running, I should sayare we?
I'm not I shouldn't say you, arewe running our businesses based
on direction or just on default,right?
We've we've invested our ourtime, our our family's uh money.
How do we make take good as wetalked about being good stewards
of this?
How do we take this and build iteach and every year?
(06:29):
Because we're those we're thosepeople that don't want to get
comfortable and complacent,right?
We don't want to just statusquo.
We've been there.
Brady Brady could Brady couldattest to that too.
We've been there, we don't wantto do that because we believe in
growing.
And it's more of about not justgrowing our business, it's about
growing the kingdom as well.
Um, so that's that's the thing.
(06:50):
A leader without a forecast islike a pilot without a flight
plan.
And if you think about that, youwe as leaders have to figure out
a way to forecast.
And no one's saying go out hereand build this huge strategy
that is unaccomplishable, right?
One or two or three things thatyou can work on to help you in
(07:12):
your business.
Brady, just from a forecastingpiece, what has helped us in our
business from your perspective,that has helped us become each
year, we're getting better andbetter and better at our
processes.
What's something you you thinkcomes to mind?
SPEAKER_00 (07:27):
Yeah, I think that's a good question.
I think, you know, when I thinkabout 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, andyou're talking about that that
um that North Star or that thingthat you're looking at, I think
(07:49):
GPS stands for goals, yep,plans, systems.
So when you when you have theGPS, because things are gonna
come up, like you said, thingsare gonna uh pop up and and
we're gonna hit bumps in theroad, we're gonna we're gonna
hit roadblocks, we're gonna uhsee down months, we're gonna see
down quarters, we're gonna seeup, you know, up months and up
(08:11):
quarters.
Then the GPS is the thing thatit's kind of you know, when you
when you get in the car, and umthis is kind of funny, uh a
little bit of a side note, butuh we were in Melissa's car the
other day, and you know, AppleCarPlay, everybody's using that.
And she had a couple savedplaces up on her thing that were
(08:32):
probably from like 10 years ago.
And I'll and I was like, did younot know you know where you were
going?
She goes, Oh no, a hundredpercent.
But I didn't I needed to see thetraffic.
I needed to see I needed to seehow long it was gonna take me to
get there in case I needed adifferent route.
(08:52):
And I was like, oh man, that's athat's a good leadership thing
right there.
Um so goals, plan, systems, andI think Benji, when when you
said uh thing about running yourbusiness, the thing that came to
mind was really the question isare you running your business or
is the business running you?
Oh yeah, that's good.
(09:14):
Because I think sometimes we getcaught in the rut and the
routine, and I mean, in severaldifferent circles, uh it's
called the whirlwind.
You know, we've got to be ableto step out of that, and that's
what this season's all about,and strategic planning and
forecasting for 2026 is how dowe look to the future and plan
(09:35):
for so when those things comeup, how do we stay on track?
SPEAKER_01 (09:39):
That's good.
And Brady, you you just you justbrought up the next point.
Great leaders don't predict thefuture, we prepare for it.
That's it.
Because you you cannot predictwhat's coming, but you can
prepare for it.
Uh, I've said this for a longtime, and I know people laugh at
me.
We control what we can.
We can control thenon-negotiables, we can control
uh the the process, we cancontrol the system, we can
(10:02):
control the training.
But what we can't come, what wecan't control is what we don't
know is coming.
So that's that's a that's a goodresource.
Uh think about this.
Forecasting isn't just afinancial exercise, it's a
strategic foresight, thinkingabout the strategy as we move
forward.
Um, forecasting isn't fortunetelling, it's decision prepping.
(10:24):
So think of again, if you don'tremember anything else from this
episode, we as leaders don'tpredict the future, we prepare
for it.
And that's important.
Uh, whether and you could be,maybe you're not actually
running the business, maybeyou're an investor, maybe you
are uh showing up consistentlyfor your team in some form or
fashion.
Maybe, maybe you're a customerand you wanna you want to uh not
(10:46):
have to have a quote brokenwater line.
Adam, you're at what, likenumber eight or nine now, I
think.
SPEAKER_03 (10:54):
Well, my wife has us going to look at a house
tomorrow.
It's probably the seventh houseshe'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'sin your personal home, whether
it's in your business, whetherit's running your business in
your home.
And by the way, I'm I'm guiltyof this as well.
How often do we actually replaceour water lines going to our
(11:21):
washing machine?
You know, because those thingsdon't last forever.
Um, and I probably should dothat.
I'll make a mental note of that.
Just a couple of things.
We want to talk about five keycomponents of proper business
forecasting.
Okay.
The first one is this know yourbaseline.
Start with where you your pastperformance trends, what's
predictable, what mightfluctuate.
(11:43):
Okay.
If you can't, and Brady doesthis every single week with our
team.
Uh, we have a weekly cadencemeeting with the leadership for
about two hours on Mondaymorning, and it is our 12 to 24
months of clean data.
That that's where you start withthe baseline.
Where what are the trendslooking like?
(12:05):
Are you moving in this directionor are you moving in a south?
We don't like to use the wordare we moving in a southeast
trend.
We want to move in a northeasttrend.
Uh so our we're constantlygrowing.
You know, think of yeah, goahead.
Oh, go ahead, Benji.
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 todefine reality.
And so your your pastperformance defines the reality
for going forward.
I mean, most most peopleprobably listening um are
leaders or owners or CEOs or oror whatever the case may be.
(12:41):
And we tend to look at 2026 andgo, we're gonna knock it out of
the park.
You know, we're gonna havedouble digit, triple digit, you
know, double volume, you know,whatever these things are.
And uh like I'll just betransparent for us for this
year.
We we had some prettysignificant goals that we want
to try to hit.
Now we've had a pretty decentyear, but we're not going to hit
(13:04):
the goals that we set for thisyear because we were probably a
little aggressive and we weren'tas realistic.
And so what we've talked aboutwith our team for this year are
going into 26, is guys, we needto be a little bit more
realistic.
So let's set realistic goals.
Not that we can't have a stretchgoal, but we need to set
(13:25):
realistic goals so that we cantry to achieve those.
SPEAKER_01 (13:29):
Yeah, it's good.
Brady's used this analogy beforeabout the rear view mirror and
the glass, the window in frontof you.
We can't see ahead clearly ifour rear view mirror is foggy.
So we have to be willing to lookat the trends, know what that
baseline is.
The second thing is this is tosegment your forecast.
(13:50):
What does that mean?
Break it down by category.
What are your different revenuestreams, right?
What are your differentopportunities out there?
What are your threats out there?
Um, maybe it's a department thatyou're that you're trying to
improve a process or increaseproductivity or increase sales
or whatever those things may be.
Maybe it's adding a differentlocation.
(14:12):
You know, maybe you have a goalout there to have more
locations.
Maybe it's a product that you'retrying to do.
So segment those forecasts.
The worst thing you could do istry to do all of them, though.
Pick one or two and focus onthat.
That is that is what will helpset you up for success.
And don't forecast in a one-lumpnumber.
(14:33):
Brady just mentioned that.
Make dissect it, break it down,make it more achievable.
Uh, at the end of the day, youcan't have a business without
being profitable unless you're anonprofit business.
And that's you, you have to youhave to repeat it.
SPEAKER_00 (14:45):
They still have profit, uh, believe me.
They do.
They just they don't call itprofit, 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 thatowns a really large financial
company, and we've we've neverdone this before, Benji, but I
think it's a um I I like the waythat he thinks about it.
So yeah, they pr they plan fortwenty for the next year, but
they almost use like themountain analogy to where like
(15:16):
if you're gonna climb MountEverest, well, the peak is the
goal, but at every you have tohave different milestones to get
to.
Now I've never climbed MountEverest, so I I'm only speaking
out of what I've heard, but youhave to get to a certain point
and then you have to acclimate.
And then you got to get toanother point and you have to
acclimate because the furtheryou get up, the thinner the air
(15:40):
gets, and you're not if youdon't prepare the right way,
then you won't be able to hitthe next point to be able to get
to the peak.
And so that's the way they settheir business up is to get to
these, I for I forget what theycall them, but uh, it's
basically milestones to get tothat next point, sit there for a
minute, celebrate, regroup, butthe the ultimate goal is the is
(16:02):
the peak of it.
SPEAKER_01 (16:03):
Yeah.
And and remember this if youhave a a leadership team that
let's assume there's three orfour managers under you owner
out there, it's easier to assignthe ownership and hold them
accountable than it is to try todo it all yourself.
Sometimes we as owners, we tryto maintain everything, we try
(16:23):
to control everything.
And and it's not like Brady andI have two things that we do not
let go of.
We do not let go of thecheckbook.
Yeah, people help us make surethings are involved on making
sure that our numbers areupdated properly.
But when it comes to bankingsystems and things like that,
that is one thing we do not letgo of.
There are only two people,actually three people, that have
(16:46):
access to quote, sign checks forus.
And we do that on purpose.
We don't, it's and they're allfamily members.
We don't, if we're a family-runbusiness, but you can assign
those as you're segmenting yourbusiness out there, segment
those forecasts, use yourmanagement team, but hold them
accountable to the process.
(17:06):
If you're not gonna allow themto bring ideas to the table and
you're not gonna allow them to,and you're not gonna hold them
accountable to the thing thatthey're supposed to do for that
week or that month or thatquarter, yeah, why do you have
them?
You know, use them to youradvantage.
The third thing is this defineyour assumptions.
Brady just talked about this,the growth rate.
If you're gonna climb themountain, you do have to take a
(17:28):
pause, look out, get acclimated,and then move to the next uh
thing.
Different seasons, right?
Different seasons churndifferent opportunities for you.
Let's be honest.
In the winter times, most peoplestay indoors, right?
When it comes to spring andsummer, they're ready to go to
the beach, they're ready to goto the mountains, they're ready
(17:49):
to do this, whatever.
But make sure that you know whoyour customer, who your customer
base is and the lead time thatyou have for each of those
customers.
That's important.
What are those different triggerpoints out there?
And run you some best, what ifwhat if scenarios?
You may have a best case, aworst case, and then some people
like to say here's the likelycase, it's possibly gonna
(18:11):
happen.
But you could run a man, here'shere's where we want to get to,
here's where we don't want to gobelow, but at the same time,
here's probably what'sreasonable, what's out there.
Because every forecast is astory.
Your assumptions are just aplot.
Adam, I'd like to stop here asecond and ask you something
because there there may be somepeople listening that are a I'm
(18:35):
gonna I'm gonna call you asingle man operation, right?
You you run you run yourbusiness on the side uh of what
you do for your church, andyou're trying to grow that
opportunity.
So you don't have a wealth ofpeople, you don't have a, you
know, you can you can hiredifferent people to help from
time to time, and I've you weknow you do that.
But just from just from someonethat might be listening, it's
like, man, I'm a single manshow, single woman show.
(18:56):
I how can I get some help?
What advice would you givesomeone like that in this
planning and forecastingprocess?
SPEAKER_03 (19:02):
Well, one of the things we that Emily and I
typically do, we try to look umahead on what we're gonna have
coming up.
Like, all right, what are youknow, we have retainer clients.
Um, that's something that webuilt 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 iswe meet regularly with our
(19:24):
accountant to make sure that welook at what we're doing.
Are we paying taxes right?
Are we, you know, this is whatwe're looking to do?
And then um I I really try tooverly pay attention to my
QuickBooks.
Emily helps me with it.
She's a QuickBooks wizard, thankgoodness that's what she does at
her job.
Uh, so she fixes anything that Ihave.
(19:44):
Um, but some of the things thatwe 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 startdoing more, but we set a goal
for the year financially.
Hey, this is what I want to hitby the end of the calendar year.
And we operate normal, so end ofthe year ends.
Um, and I'm excited becausewe're about 4,000 away from
(20:06):
that.
Um, we've had some really goodopportunities, the Lord blessed
us with this year.
Um, and so we know that, butthen we also try to plan
purchases because, you know,that's the tough part is that
um, you know, they say anywherefrom three to five years in your
first business, you don't makemoney.
And so that I wanted to changethat rhetoric.
How can I, and because I ampositioned in a good way where I
(20:28):
have a full-time job and I amable to do this, my job allows
me to, you know, and I know noteverybody's in that that place.
Sure.
I tried to make sure thatwalking into this year, we
didn't spend things that wedidn't have to.
Um, I spent things that need tobe done, but everything that I
spend money on is to ensure thatI can do more.
(20:52):
For instance, the better, and Iknow people say obviously having
the best camera gear doesn't doeverything, but what it does
allow me to do is charge aclient more because I'm giving
them a higher quality.
Sure.
Yeah.
I'm giving them somethinglarger, I'm giving them
something bigger.
And so that's some of the thingsthat uh that we look at, but we
look at what our big purchasesare for the year.
Typically, I have a top threepurchase.
(21:13):
Hey, this is what I want to doby the end of the year.
I want to buy this item, thisitem, and this item.
So that means I know, well, I'vegot to sell these certain jobs
or I got to take these and thenreally look at it.
But what I've really learnedthis year, and you mentioned it
earlier, is leaning on otherpeople for this, is that I have
to.
And um, just for instance, oneof the things I do is I have a
(21:36):
base that I charge to go do realestate photography.
It's a one-man show.
I walk in typically, um, I doit, uh, I take the photos and I
go home.
You know, typically what I wouldtry to do is just go home and
I'd edit all those those photosmyself.
Well, what I started doing is Istarted contracting that out to
a company I found that does areally good job editing the
(21:56):
photos.
I'm the one taking them, so I'mgetting what I want them to look
like, but I've I've I've giventhat out to someone else that
helps me.
So now that time that I'vespent, I'm I'm working on
something else.
And so I'm not spending timesitting there and editing photos
for an hour and a half.
I pay someone that's gonna dothat, that now I can work on
(22:17):
another project.
Or, you know, I've one of thethings I want to do this year is
only take on projects that werelarge enough that I needed a
crew.
Because that meant what alsomeans is when we're done, if I
budget well, I can take thatsame person that I trust on my
crew to edit the videos.
Let me be there, let me projectmanage.
(22:38):
So it's definitely it's adifferent 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 makesure that I'm careful about who
I'm choosing to be on my team.
Um, one thing I've reallylearned, and I've I mean, you
guys have always taught me this.
One thing I've learned even morethis year is if they're not
(23:00):
helping me, why am I using them?
Yeah.
Like it, because at the end ofthe day, why am I paying
somebody that why am I payingsomeone to be there if I'm just
doing what they do?
So I either one, they need to bequality or I need to trust them
more.
Right.
So um, but those are some of thethings that we've looked at this
year.
And and honestly, to be veryfrank with you guys, this is the
first year that we've ever donethis type of revenue and been
(23:24):
profitable with it.
And so, you know, it kind ofputs me in that position how
it's it's great, it's a greatblessing.
I mean, I I in in allseriousness, a lot of the things
that we do through that I dothrough my small business is
came from what you two havetaught me in how to handle
things, how to handle money.
I mean, uh the no may not haveanything to do with the episode,
(23:45):
but I remember when we firststarted, Brady, I was talking to
you and mentioning I jokedabout, you know, I can write it
off, I'll do this.
And you're like, if the wholepoint every year is to not make
money, why are you doing it?
And uh, so you know, and so Ihad to realize, all right, so
now I need to be better abouthow do I, you know, how do I get
the equipment that I need, butstill get the job done.
(24:06):
Um, because if I'm not gonnaAdam, 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 thisyear.
I'm like, you know, no, I'm justkidding.
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 youthe 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 beentold, you know, and I'm probably
(24:39):
gonna mess it up, but it's likeif they're not just because
they're they like you orsomething, it's like they're not
them just because they're withyou doesn't mean they're for
you, you know.
And so I I had to make sure thatI've I closed my circle this
year and I wanted people thatwere that were champions for
what I was doing and help meattribute that.
How do I expand my vision?
How do I expand my profit?
(25:00):
So I don't know if that answersyour question.
SPEAKER_01 (25:02):
No, it does.
It absolutely does.
And Brady, I'd have I'd have onequestion for you on that.
So, best case scenario, worstcase scenario, likely scenario.
Because I'm I'm the guy that'slike, man, we can go for the
moon, like we can get here, wecan get here.
And Brady's like, hey, let'sbring it back in a little bit.
What would you tell the owner ormanager out there who's trying
(25:22):
to forecast with these differentassumptions 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, wewe do want to um see the best
for in the forecasting model forthe next year.
But sometimes what that umactually makes us do is make the
(25:50):
decisions that we know that weneed to make.
Okay.
So for example, a lot of thiscomes around to people, and uh,
we've talked about EOS on here aa lot, the entrepreneurial
operating system.
But if you're gonna hit theseforecasts, you need the right
people in place to be able to doit.
So EOS, the the p they have athing called the people
(26:11):
analyzer, and the peopleanalyzer says for each person
that is in a position, do theygot it?
Do they want it?
And do they have the capacity todo it?
And so I think part offorecasting is analyzing your
team and asking yourself thehonest question: do you have the
right team to get you where youneed to go?
(26:32):
And you don't you can't reallyforecast.
Um, I know our dad said this alot, and it comes from John
Maxwell, but uh a lot of peoplehope, and hope is not a good
strategy.
You know, well, I hope that's agood thing.
We had an episode on that.
We have an episode of hope isnot a good strategy.
You know, I hope that thatperson gets better.
You're not gonna hit thosenumbers or those profit
(26:55):
percentages that you want tohit.
You're not gonna be able to hitthe goals if you don't have the
right people in place.
So I think as you're looking fornext year, I think you got to
ask the question first do youhave the right people on the
right seats on the right bus?
Yeah.
Yeah.
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'redoing.
And you would always correct.
Like, Adam, you can't like wecan't live off that.
Like that can't be.
But I think until, and this iswhere anybody that's listening,
then maybe they're not an owner.
You have somebody that'slistening that's you know, maybe
they're working for someone,you've got to figure out how to
(27:29):
accept that mentality, eventhough the end goal may not be
your profit, right?
Like it may not be, you may notbe the owner of the company.
And that's something I'verealized this year is I can't
say, Well, man, I hope, I hopethey I hope they take that, you
know, that estimate.
I hope they do this.
Man, if they do that and thenstart planning, man, if they do
it, then I won't be able topurchase this, or I can go do
(27:50):
that.
I I I can't get into that thatthinking.
I've got to stay, this is whereI'm at, this is what we have,
this is what we know is comingin, and this is how we can
improve the business.
Because for us, that's where themode that we're in right now.
Every decision we make, everypurchase has to improve the
business.
It has to be able to allow me tocharge more so I can do that.
(28:11):
Because I mean, you may looklike you make a, you know, if if
you're doing six figures a yearor something, that's great.
But I can tell you, have youlooked at your expense margin?
Because that's where I feel likesometimes 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 expensemargin, I'm like, that's a lot
(28:31):
more thin than I thought it wasgonna be.
SPEAKER_00 (28:34):
That's the way well, yeah.
Go ahead, Brady.
I I was just gonna say uhanother thing I was I was just
thinking through here is tworeally two things is as we're
forecasting for the next yearand and talking through, you
know, we can't just hope it hopefor it to happen.
One, and we've talked about thismany, many times on the show, is
(28:55):
you cannot, you can't give whatyou don't have.
Yeah.
So when you're when you'reforecasting, you've got to be
learning, you've got to begrowing, you've got to be
reading books, um, you've got tobe um listening to podcasts.
I I'll brag on my son a minute.
You know, he's already read twobooks this year, and he he just
he just texted me the other dayand he goes, Okay, I'm ready for
(29:16):
the next one.
What's the next one?
And I've got so many that I'vechurned through.
I'm thinking through, like,okay, what what will be the best
for him and in his season andhis journey?
And so um he he started readinga new book, which our leadership
team is is reading calledRedeeming Your Time by Jordan
Raynor.
Um that's a great book if ifanybody is looking for like a
productivity type thing.
(29:37):
Uh the other thing is so learnand grow.
The other the other thing is,Adam, you're talking about
surrounding yourself with withgood people, right?
Um NC twelve, which we've talkeda lot about too, our material uh
last month was surroundingyourself in three different
areas.
And so we we really looked atthe life of Paul.
(30:00):
And what he did and who he wassurrounded by.
And he had number one, aBarnabas.
So a Barnabas was a mentor tohim.
He he was so you've got to finda good mentor, somebody that's
if we want to forecast, don't wewant to talk to the people
that's already been there anddone that?
SPEAKER_02 (30:17):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (30:17):
Because they've because they've already gone
through the mistakes and and wedon't have to make some of those
pitfalls that that they'vealready gone through.
So he had a Barnabas.
Number two, he had a Luke.
So he had a peer of people thatwere that were speaking into
him, holding him accountable andhelping him stay on the right
path.
And then number three, he had aTimothy.
(30:38):
So he was a Timothy, a Titus,you know, all these people that
he was mentoring himself.
And so as leaders, a lot oftimes I think that we we
probably have the Timothy's andthe Tituses, but maybe we don't
have the Luke's and theBarnabases.
And so, you know, a group likeC12 or some other people, other
groups out there can help youand find people, like I said,
(30:59):
that's already been there anddone that, and they can help you
avoid a lot of mistakes.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (31:03):
Brady, I'm gonna I'm gonna blow your mind.
I was on a plane ride not toolong ago, and I thought, you
know what, I'm gonna actuallyanother audio book.
I've did an entire audio bookthere and back.
It's called The Speed of Trustby Franklin Covey or Stephen
Covey, excuse me.
If if you haven't, that's agreat, great, great book uh to
do.
But hey guys, we got just twomore things real quick and we're
(31:25):
gonna wrap the show up.
This is one that is near anddear to every for-profit
business.
So I want to make that clear.
Forecasting your cash flowseparately.
Very, very important.
Profit and cash.
Watch for the timing gaps inreceivables and payables.
Now, I know some of you may bein the service industry where
(31:45):
you're cash on demand, right?
You have a service done, you paycash right then.
So you don't have anyreceivables.
But for the, or maybe you havea, you might have some, you
might have some commercialbusinesses that pay on a 30-day
cycle or whatever.
Watch the timing gaps in those.
Maintain a rolling 13-week cashforecast.
We do a really good job at ourorganization, thanks to Brady
and our team, of helping us keepkeep a rolling forecast out
(32:08):
there.
I love this quote.
Revenue is vanity, profit issanity, and cash is survival.
I'm gonna say it again.
Revenue is vanity, profit issanity, cash is survival.
And then the fifth thing is thisreview and revise regularly.
If you're gonna forecastsomething out there, please,
(32:30):
please, please, we beg you,don't set it and forget it.
That's the worst thing you coulddo.
We talked about this last yearwhen we were talking about
strategic planning is leavingthe booklet up on the shelf.
Review it monthly, review itquarterly.
Have your team bring that thingout and talk about what applies
to their specific role in theirdepartment.
(32:51):
Update it because you mayaccomplish something, adjust
your course.
Don't abandon your plan.
Okay, think about this in thesports world.
If we're gonna go out and we'regonna be a great offensive team
and a great defensive team, wehave to have a plan.
We got to block, we got totackle, we got to run, we got to
protect the ball, we got to dothis, we got to try to intercept
the other team's ball.
(33:11):
There's all those things.
Don't abandon the plan.
Whatever the coach comes upwith, stay on track.
Because forecasting is not aboutbeing 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 iscoming.
So as we as we wrap this up,just a couple leadership
(33:33):
takeaways for you.
Clarity builds your confidence.
Okay, your team performs betterwhen they know how things are
going and where things aregoing.
So keep them in the loop, keepkeep each other accountable to
the prospect process.
Excuse me.
Forecasting shows respect.
It shows that we take the futureseriously for them, not just for
(33:53):
us.
So keep that in mind.
It shows respect to you and yourteam.
And then decisions lovedeadlines.
Forecasting adds the structureto win, not just what you
decide.
So think about those deadlines.
Again, I've I've mentioned thisbefore.
It's about stewardship.
(34:14):
It's about what the Lord hasgiven you and being a good
steward of that.
Uh guys, anything you want toadd 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 beentaking 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 doingsomething?
Like taking notes on what y'allare saying.
SPEAKER_00 (34:35):
Adam, that royalty percentage just went up.
SPEAKER_01 (34:37):
It did.
It did.
Well, here's just here's just acouple call to action, guys, and
wrap up.
Challenge yourself.
Okay, pull out your currentforecast, where you're at right
now.
Where where is it relying, orexcuse me, where is it relying
on hope instead of data?
We just talked about that hope.
Don't operate on hope, operateon data.
Now, I will tell you, sometimesyou can have too much data.
(34:59):
I got I got a buddy of mine whois involved in spreadsheets and
websites and all kinds of stuff.
And like, dude, you got to getout from behind your desk.
Like, you got to go, you got toget in the field and see what's
happening.
You got to talk to your people,you got to mentor.
Uh, next thing, not justchallenge, encourage.
If you don't forecast because itfeels uncertain, that's exactly
(35:19):
why you should forecast yourcompany.
And then maybe share a tool,template, you know, with
someone.
Maybe, maybe you can pass itforward, so to speak.
Um, and as and as we close,forecasts don't eliminate
uncertainty, but they give yourleadership a compass, a
direction of where you'reheading.
And again, as Adam said, ifyou're the 10,000 and one
(35:42):
listener listening in on this,we appreciate so much what you
you do for our uh our show atHigherUp Podcast.
You can connect with us onhigheruppodcast.com if this is
the first time you're tuning in.
Uh, you can find all ways ofsocial and ways you can
subscribe and join our mailinglist.
Uh, but as always, we appreciateyou guys.
Go out and choose to live ahigher up life.
(36:03):
We'll see you next time.
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