Complete Guide to Financial Planning for Your Business
Master the fundamentals of business’ finances and learn to create a comprehensive three-year financial forecast for your business.
Duration
4 weeksWeekly study
3 hours
Complete Guide to Financial Planning for Your Business
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Build a robust financial plan and forecast the growth potential of your business
Having a credible financial plan lets you determine how viable a business idea is and is ultimately key to long-term business success.
On this four-week business course from The EntrepreneurNOW! Network, you’ll gain an in-depth insight into how to create a complete financial model that will cover your entire financial plan.
Develop a revenue model to forecast for any type of business
The revenue forecast anchors your entire business model, helping you manage everything from cash flow and staffing to expansion and seasonal fluctuations.
You’ll look at several different revenue models and, using examples of best practices, you’ll learn to build a model suited to your business.
By the end of this course, you’ll have created a model that lets you enter the numbers and watch the plan emerge organically, allowing you to plan for your business and prepare for success.
Discover how to build and track your staffing plan and expenses
As you create your three-year financial forecast, you’ll start looking at your business costs. This course will guide you through building your staffing model, allowing you to plan out positions and salaries, as well as any contractors required.
You’ll then move on to work through the non-staffing expenses that your business will incur with everything flowing into your financial statements and making sure you’re staying tax compliant.
Explore your financial statements for income and cash flow
Once you’ve built your financial model, you’ll be able to automatically generate income and cash flow statements, helping you to view and assess the entire business.
The final week of this course will guide you through these financial statements, helping you to better understand them so you can use your model to see the results of different financial forecasts.
Syllabus
Week 1
Create a Robust Financial Plan - The Fundamentals
Welcome!
Welcome to the Create a Robust Financial Plan Class
Business Financials Explained
Entrepreneurs tend to avoid financial planning. Don't wait until you run out of cash or find yourself unable to pay employees—learn basic business financials today. This week provides an overview of tools and considerations.
Overcome Roadblocks to Financial Planning
Learn tricks and techniques to overcoming roadblocks that will undoubtedly come up while developing your financial plan.
Create Your Financial Plan - Overview
This activity will review all the components to building a great financial plan for your business.
Download All Course Spreadsheets
Now is a great time to download all the spreadsheet files for this course. Each week will reference different spreadsheets that we will be using to work through the financial model.
Workshop - Setting Up Your Financial Model
Let's get started on working through the financial model for your business. In this step we will cover the basics of the model and some helpful tricks and tips.
Discuss How to Create a Financial Plan
Let's discuss some of the fundamentals around our financial plan and how to apply this to your business or business idea.
End of Week Quiz
Here is your chance to test your knowledge. Take the end-of-week quiz and celebrate your learning so far.
Week 2
Your Revenue Model
Revenue Models Explained
This activity provides an overview of revenue drivers, tips for forecasting, and business-specific models for estimating your revenue.
Revenue Model Walk-Through
Let's walk step-by-step through each of the revenue models so you can determine which ones will work best for your business.
Workshop - Revenue Model
Time to get started on building out your revenue model
Discuss Building a Revenue Model
Let's discuss how to build a great revenue model for your business.
Quiz
Here is your chance to test your knowledge. Take this week's final quiz and celebrate your learning successes.
Week 3
Your Staffing and Expense Model
Staffing Model Explained
Let's take a look at how to build a staffing model which takes into account both employees as well as contractors.
Staffing Model Walk-Through
Ken will walk you step-by-step through the staffing model so you understand exactly how to apply this to your business.
Expense Model Explained
Categorizing your expenses is extremely important in order to get an accurate income statement. Ken will review the different types of expenses with you.
Expense Model Walk-Through
Ken will walk you through the expense model and how to work with each type of expense in a business.
Workshop - Staffing and Expense Models
Let's jump right in and start creating the staffing and expense models for your business or business idea.
Discuss Building a Staffing and Expense Model
Let's discuss further how to build an accurate staffing plan and expense plan for your business or business idea.
End of Week 3
Here is your chance to test your knowledge. Take this week's final quiz and celebrate your learning so far.
Week 4
Your Financial Statements
Income Statement Explained
Let's understand each section on your income statement and the implications to running your business.
Income Statement Walk-Through
Ken will walk you through a completed income statement and help you understand what it all means.
Cash Flow Statement Explained
It's time to understand how to build and interpret the all important cash flow statement.
3 Ways to Model Your Financial Statements
Ken explains the 3 Ways to Model Your Financial Statements
Workshop - Understanding Your Financial Statements
Now let's dig into our financial statements and see what all this means to your business.
Discuss How to Interrupt Financial Statements
Let's discuss how to read and fully understand financial statements both in our examples and the ones you create for your own business or business idea.
Take Quiz
This week ends with a quiz about financial statements
Congratulations!!!
Celebrate Your Success
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Create a justified revenue forecast that will stand up to investor scrutiny.
- Explain what Gross Margin is and why it’s vitally important to understanding.
- Build a staffing plan, and assess when to use contractors and hire staff.
- Accurately predict your Max Negative Cash Flow and why it’s important to track it closely.
- Explain the difference between Operating Profit and Gross Margin and how each plays into the long term health and growth potential of your business.
- Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in order to drive your business forward and scale.
- Reflect on how to eliminate any fears you may have about dealing with business financials.
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for entrepreneurs who already own a business or are looking to start one.
You will also find it useful if you’re a business owner or executive wanting to brush up on concepts such as financial strategy, revenue forecasting, and financial modelling. Students considering future career prospects in business or finance will also benefit from this course.
What software or tools do you need?
Excel or Google Sheets would be helpful to use for this course but is not essential. The course contains a significant amount of video content.
Who will you learn with?
Ken Burke, the founder of EntrepreneurNOW, is a serial entrepreneur in the high-tech industry and recently sold his eCommerce software company which generated 2 billion in online sales per year.
Who developed the course?
The EntrepreneurNOW! Network (ENN)
The EntrepreneurNOW! Network (ENN) is dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and corporate business managers on starting, running and growing successful businesses. Our mission is to positively impact the lives of entrepreneurs by allowing them to learn a wide range of business strategies that are key to running a successful business. All of these strategies come directly from very experienced entrepreneurs who have run successful businesses and learned so much in the process.
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
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