Does Your 90 Day Plan Have Any Numbers?

Most 90 day plans I see are lists of words.

Goals. Priorities. Actions.

They sound organised. But ask the owner one question: "If you do everything on this list, how much cash will be in the bank at the end of 90 days?"

Most can't answer. They find out by waiting, and by then the money is spent.

Here's how it usually plays out.

You start with enough cash to get going. The plan looks fine.

But the plan only works if money keeps coming in from customers. Then sales slow down, or a big customer pays late.

Now you have two options:

Cut costs. Which usually means dropping the very actions the plan was built on.

Borrow in a hurry. Overdraft, credit card. The plan survives, but so does the debt, and so does the stress.

Both are worse than they need to be, because you're deciding with no time left.

It doesn't take a weekend.

It takes about an hour, and a simple method: the 3 Margin Framework.

You start with an average month for the next quarter. Take your sales, then what it costs you to deliver: Product, People and Promotion. What's left is your Customer Margin. That's the first margin.

Take off your overheads and you have your Profit Margin. That's the second.

Then look at what the business is holding: cash, stock, and what customers owe you, less what you owe suppliers and the tax office. That's your Cash Flow Margin, the third, and it shows how much of a bump you can absorb.

Each margin has a benchmark to measure yourself against. Whether you run a service, product or trade business, Customer Margin is 20%. What differs is how the costs split between Product, People and Promotion, and together we find the sweet spot for each. Profit Margin is 10%, and working capital is 5% of annual sales.

In our demo company, a product business, Customer Margin is 16.9% and Profit Margin is 5.6%. Both are below benchmark. Cash Flow Margin is 7.6%, above it.

Averages are why it fits in an hour. The three margins are why the numbers hang together.

If you'd like the whole method, it's in my book, 3 Months Forward: Stop Running on Empty. Start Building Margin. It's an Amazon best seller.

One reader told me that most business books she's read went over her head, but this one was simple and easy to understand.

Get it here (a quick sign-up on the way to Amazon): https://3mf.mykajabi.com/3mf-book

But profit alone won't tell you if you're ok. A plan can show $6,750 of profit and leave you with $849 in the bank. Next week I'll show you why.

Want hands-on help? Comment below or DM me.

#3MonthsForward #90DayPlan