#461:Why Budgets Fail Without Economic Context | Alan Beaulieu & Kim Clark | Budget Season 2026, Part 1

Budgeting season is here. But most owners build budgets in a vacuum — starting with last year’s numbers and layering on guesses. The result? Fantasy budgets that collapse by Q2. 

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That’s why I’m kicking off a three-part Budget Season Series. Each episode will build on the last to give you a step-by-step process to create a budget you can actually run your company with. 
 
We start with the big picture. I sat down with Alan Beaulieu and Kim Clark to talk about where the economy is heading, what the data says about demand, inflation, and interest rates, and how to translate those signals into real targets for your business. Alan (previously with ITR Economics) has spent decades forecasting with 94% accuracy. Kim works with owners every day on capital and operations. Together, they’ll help you orient before you open Excel.  
 
This isn’t about predicting the future perfectly. It’s about setting guardrails, defining risks and opportunities, and making sure your budget starts with reality — not wishful thinking. 
 

What We Covered 

• Why most budgets fail before they start (and how to avoid it) 

• Translating economic signals into volume, price, and capital targets 

• Building scenarios (Base, Upside, Downside) that actually matter 

• Creating a simple risk/opportunity register to carry into your plan 

• Why orientation first is the key to protecting margins and avoiding mid-year chaos 

Kim Clark is a sales and marketing strategist who helped scale ITR Economics from a founder-led advisory firm to a professionally managed company that exited at eight figures. As head of sales and marketing, she built the firm’s first CRM, content strategy, and inbound engine—moving the company from personality-based selling to a system built on data, automation, and strategic execution. Today, she works with business owners to build marketing engines that align with their strategy, team, and long-term cash flow goals—so they can grow without chaos and delegate without losing visibility. Her frameworks are directly aligned with the "Maximize Growth" track inside the Build a Valuable Business module of the iBD™ Magic Model.  
 
Alan Beaulieu is a globally recognized economist and partner at ITR Economics, a firm with 94.7% forecasting accuracy over 80 years. For more than three decades, Alan has guided executives worldwide through all economic cycles, providing clear, actionable insights on markets, strategy, and investment. A respected speaker, author, and advisor, his data-driven approach helps companies anticipate change, protect value, and maximize profitability. 

Chapters:  

• (00:00) Introduction to Budget Season Series and why economic orientation comes first 

• (05:57) Why GDP headlines don't help and the data quality crisis 

• (10:05) Finding leading indicators and the three-cycle learning curve 

• (13:55) The train analogy for understanding where you are in business cycles 

• (20:04) Money supply expansion, inflation trap, and the 2026-2027 outlook 

• (24:07) Time, talent, and money: the only three resources that matter 

Chapters

• (00:00:00) - Independence by Design: Budgeting
• (00:02:51) - Quarterly Budget Update With Kim and Alan
• (00:05:18) - Alan Greenspan on the Macroeconomic Environment
• (00:11:39) - The Business Cycle
• (00:15:38) - Macroeconomic Growth outlook
• (00:18:03) - Top 10% Spending
• (00:24:01) - Three Things in the World That Matter
• (00:25:14) - The Need for a Business Strategy
• (00:27:20) - Top Executives: The Need for Bottom-Up Forecasting
• (00:30:11) - Macro Focus: Manufacturing and Services
• (00:36:15) - Small Business Coach: The Business Cycle
• (00:40:44) - How To Find The Right People For Your Business
• (00:44:39) - Prosperity in the Age of Decline