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Home About Us B2B Club Breaking News Contact Donate Events / Programs Feedback Ideas Incubator Industry Clusters Links / Resources Progess Funds Progress Teams Public Art / Murals Publications		Breaking News November 10, 2005 - Club to offer budgeting class By Steve Lewallen for the Daily Tribune Do you know what time of year this is? Some might say it's fall or hunting season or winter's coming. These are all correct answers, but it's also planning season for 2006 - time for seeing what worked well in 2005, examining what didn't work so well, and fixing it. This is budget season. It's time to put together next year's budget and to set new goals. The sad thing is most business owners don't take time to budget, and the only time they know if they make money is when the accountant tells them the results at the end of the year. I was once one of those business people. I truly thought a budget wouldn't work for me and that I couldn't control the number of jobs we did each week or year. One day a friend asked me if I had my budget ready for the next year. When I told him that a budget wouldn't work for me, he asked if I'd like to go to a Packers game. I said yes without hesitation. He then asked if I would like to watch both teams play without keeping score and with no time limit. Of course that would be a foolish way to play football. He said businesses do it every day when they operate without a budget. You aren't keeping score, and you don't have a goal. How do you and your employees know if you're a winning team or not? So I worked hard and put together a budget. I found that I could truly control my costs better and plan for expansion and new materials. It helped me know how much work we needed to do daily, weekly and monthly. Making a budget takes time, but it's well worth it. It will guide you through the next year, and if you check your monthly profit and loss statement, you can stay on top of business. The Small Business Cluster's survey of local businesses 18 months ago indicated that they want assistance with budgeting. Today I'm proud to say we have a great class on business budgeting planned for noon Dec. 7 at the Wood County Courthouse auditorium. It will be hosted by the Business to Business (B2B) Entrepreneur Club and led by Bob Miller, CPA, Wipfli LLP. The class is free and open to the public. You may register by calling 423-1830. Please join this free workshop for a great lesson on budgeting, or as Bob puts it, the "game plan." Steve Lewallen is a member of the Small Business Development Cluster.
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