FIRST QUARTER 2019 23 ALL ABOUT THE NUMBERS: Drive Your Finances Before They Drive You By Mike Nesbit PLANNING AND BUDGETING ARE THE KEYS TO SUCCESS. This is true for any business, no matter if you’re a small, one storefront operation or a million- dollar, multi-store company. THE PLAN Before you can begin developing your plan, you first must know where you are going. Otherwise, you may develop a great plan and be disappointed in the results because you did not achieve what you expected. Your plan should be: • Strategic and Measurable. It makes no sense having an element of the plan that cannot be assessed. If you can’t measure it, how will you know if it is being achieved? • Communicated with everyone in your organization. You cannot hope to succeed by doing it all yourself. How can others help you achieve your goals if they have no idea what you are trying to achieve? You need your staff to understand the plan and, if possible, have key staff members help develop the plan. It is a lot easier to work toward something if you understand it and believe in it. You need your staff to buy into and believe in the plan as well. • Reviewed with your organization routinely. Your staff needs to know the results on a regular basis. If you are asking them to help you achieve something, they need feedback. How are they doing? Where are they falling short? Where are they excelling? The more feedback the better. It will also give you a continued on page 24 FE ATURE