There’s no special sauce

Jul 10

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Hello, there!

Over the past few weeks I’ve overhauled and expanded the budget template I’ve been offering for about a year into a full-blown cash flow planner. (I’m really happy with how it turned out, if I do say so myself!)

AND.

Multiple times while working on it, filming the walk-through video, and doing all other things to get it ready for people to purchase, I kept thinking “There’s nothing groundbreaking about this planner. What am I even doing?!?!”

To be sure, some of this is the “curse of the expert”. What is easy for me isn’t easy for everyone, and I get that.

But mostly, I think it’s this: I know that there’s no special sauce involved with creating a budget or cash flow plan.

It’s not AT ALL ground-breaking. There are no sophisticated analyses. No complicated data mining or number crunching. It’s all rather simple, really. A budget is simply balancing your revenue with your expenses. A cash flow forecast is simply looking back over the past few months of said revenue and expenses and using that info to make an educated guess at what the next few months will look like.

(If you want to throw a shoe at me and yell “Wtf, Stephanie, it’s not AT ALL that simple”, that’s okay. I promise I won’t be offended and I’m certainly not going to just finish the email here.)

What I keep telling myself (because while my brain understands this, my emotional self isn’t fully on board yet) is this:

Just because it’s SIMPLE doesn’t mean that it’s a.) EASY or b.) not impactful.

It’s not easy on multiple fronts:

Maybe starting from a blank spreadsheet/document/scrap piece of paper makes you freeze you just can’t get going.
Maybe you’ve had bad lived experiences with money and looking at your finances that closely feels super uncomfortable.
Maybe you think you’re “bad with numbers”
Maybe you truly are “bad with numbers” (whatever that means to you!)

For whatever reason, sitting down to look at your finances feels like Too Much and maybe it’s better to simply Not. And I get that. I TRULY do.

And hey, I fully admit that it’s harder for me to look at my cash flow when my business revenue isn’t quite where I need it to be. I have one hundred percent, full-on SOBBED to friends about business money feelings. It’s hella shitty sometimes. (Wow, I am NOT doing a good job at making this planner sound appealing, am I? Oh well… no turning back now!)

And yet.

I fully, wholeheartedly, with-my-whole-entire-being believe that you and your business will gain SO MUCH from completing some sort of budget and cash flow plan. Whether you create one from scratch, use mine, or buy one from someone else, it doesn’t matter. It’s the doing of it that matters.

Having a clear picture of where your money is coming from and where it’s going is so unbelievably freeing. For better or worse, you can see the whole picture clearly. There’s no more hiding in denial about ANYTHING.

If the numbers aren’t where you want them to be you can then make a solid plan for how to turn things around, making sure to also give yourself some love and let yourself feel any disappointment, frustration, or shame that might be bubbling up.

If you realize you really CAN start paying yourself more, you can go ahead and increase that owner’s draw at the end of the month, making sure to give yourself a high-five, and also letting yourself feel any uncomfortable feelings about success or worthiness that might come up.

It’s about gifting yourself that clarity. That confidence. That feeling of “I’m no longer operating in a vacuum”. It’s seriously a game-changer. (I’m tempted to put in a joke here about “operating in vacuums is so dusty and loud, and just not very much fun at all”, but it feels awkward, so I’ll just leave this even more awkward non-joke here instead… Yup. I’m ridiculous like that. 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️)

So is working your way through creating a cash flow plan simple? Yes, it is. (Especially when I tell you you don’t have to do it all at once. And even more especially when I tell you you don’t have to get it “right” on the first try. Or the second. Or the fifth.)

Is it easy? Not necessarily. (Feelings will probably come up. Quite possibly some BIG ones. And that’s okay.)

But is it worth its (metaphorical) weight in gold? It really and truly is.

If you’re interested in checking out the new Low-Stress Cash Flow Planner, you can get all the details here. It’s $35 and I think you’re going to really like it.

All the consensual money hugs,