Idea Cafe's Exclusive Instant All-in-One First Year Budget Worksheet

This is as easy as budgeting gets. All you have to do is:

• For business expenses you'll have to pay in advance just to "open your doors," type those figures into the "Startup Cost" column. (Note: Replace the zeros we've put in with your actual amounts. Forget the pennies -- just type in even dollars -- no decimal point)
• For ongoing expenses, type in what you know the actual cost will be each month or your best estimate in the "Monthly Cost" columns under "Business: Monthly Cost," then under "Personal: Monthly Cost."
• Now type in your Estimated First Year Business Income (Tip: underestimate, don't overestimate.) and Other Household Income (like from your spouse's income and other jobs you may continue to work at for awhile)
• Finally, show how much cash you have available now. Type those figures into:
  • Cash Available from Savings and Other on the business side, and
  • Cash Available from Savings and Other on the personal side

Now hit the Calculate button to magically see your results pop up on a new page.

You'll see all your expense totals and your "Year End Balance."If that balance is a negative, this number is the minimum amount of additional financing you must come up with to survive your first year in business. (You may need financing even if this is a positive, due to cash flow considerations.)

Printing Out: Print out and save your results page showing your calculations. (And print out this page with your estimates too. If your printout doesn't show what you typed in, try printing from a different browser... like if you're in Netscape, try Explorer, or vice-versa.)

Now play around and look at more "what if" scenarios. After viewing your first totals, go back, reset values, and put in different figures -- like what if you pay less rent, what if you don't take a salary after all, etc. -- you can use this instant budget worksheet to look at as many "what if" scenarios as you want. Then you can plug these figures into your business plan to show others.

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