Let's talk budget. Come on don’t groan, rather smile. A budget is a tool that gives direction to the moneys in your business. In essence it tells the dollars where they belong. The budget gets a lot of bad rap as its often viewed as restricting and annoying. Let flip the script. A budget is freeing and empowering.

Let's say you have a personal budget. In this budget you assign $50 to a weekly date breakfast. These are dollars that you know you create and this is how you are deciding ahead of time to use them. Now each week as you are planning your weekly date breakfast you know what you have available to spend. You know that by spending this $50 on a date with your significant other you are not hindering the mortgage from being paid of the electric bill being covered. You know that you have the $50 to spend however you would like on that date. Now your creativity can flow with out any hindrance from nagging thoughts around that $50.

The same works in a business. Having an advertising budget empowers you to know if you have the funds for a full page spread in a special edition of the advertisement you normally advertise in.  By the budget giving the permission for the extra advertisement you can focus your efforts on creating that outstanding ad that will create a great ROI rather than be stressing about how you are going to pay for this expenses. If the budget doesn’t allow for the extra advertisement, you can say no resting in the fact that you made the best decision for the financial stability of your company.

 In the wide west where cowgirls ride, cattle are branded so everyone knows to whom they belong. As a smart business owner, you will want to brand your numbers, so that you know where they belong.

Own those numbers and tell them who they belong to.

And remember when you see the brand icon around these parts you are about to be imparted some wisdom surrounding budgeting.

Cowgirl Jo