When business feels like a rollercoaster…try this.

Last month I presented a series of webinars for the National Association of REALTORS® on budgeting for life changes. 

One of the themes that stood out with attendees was overcoming uncertainty in a business that’s famously unpredictable.

Struggling to manage uncertainty with business finances isn’t unique to real estate, though. 

In any business, some things are predictable. (For example, the landlord will always expect the rent payment on the 1st of every month)

And many are unpredictable. (You know, that client that has been *this close* to signing on…and providing a big sales bump…for the past year…)

The best way I’ve found to navigate that tricky space where amounts are unpredictable is to create certainty with percentages.

I help clients with rollercoaster incomes divvy up each sale and earmark funds for specific purposes using percentages. It works like this.

Say we’ve determined expenses averaged 30% of sales for the past few years. 

For every check that comes in, we take out 30% and put it in an account that is solely used for business expenses. 

If $100 comes in, $30 gets saved for expenses. If $100,000 comes in, $30,000 gets saved for expenses. 

As time goes by, it gets less and less important for specific checks to arrive at specific times, because the expense pot is always being fed. 

I’ve lost count of the number of people over the years who’ve told me this simple shift has transformed their business and created incredible peace of mind!

Makes sense in theory, right? But so many people get stuck and never start using this method for one reason: agonizing over how to pick the right percentage to make it work.

That’s where a numbers nerd like me comes in! I love getting into the details and making these decisions easy.

If you try this tip, let me know how it works for you! 

If you’re stuck on the details, hit reply so we can find a time to talk.