Fall is one of my favorite times of year. The weather starts to change, the holidays are approaching—and football season is underway.
As a big Houston Texans fan, I look forward to getting back into football season every year. But in my world, fall also means something else:
It’s budget season.
I realize that may not generate quite the same excitement as kickoff on Sunday. But if you want your pet care business to have a successful 2027, creating your annual budget is one of the most valuable things you can do this fall.
Think about it this way: No football team starts a season by simply walking onto the field and hoping the scoreboard works out in their favor.
They have a game plan.
Your business needs one, too.
A Budget Is Your Financial Game Plan
Too often, business owners think of a budget as something their accountant wants—or a spreadsheet that predicts exactly what will happen next year.
Neither is really the point.
Your budget is a financial game plan for the business you want to operate next year.
It helps you answer questions like:
- How much revenue do we need to generate?
- Where will that growth come from?
- How much can we afford to spend on payroll?
- What expenses are likely to increase?
- What investments do we want to make?
- What level of profit should the business produce?
- Can the business support the amount I want to pay myself?
Without a budget, you’re largely waiting for the financial results to happen and then reacting to them.
With one, you have a plan to compare those results against.
Start With the Scoreboard You Want
Before a coach develops the game plan, they know what they’re trying to accomplish.
The same should be true when you build your budget.
Before you start filling in revenue and expense numbers, establish a few financial goals for 2027.
I recommend starting with three:
- Revenue Growth: How much do you realistically want the business to grow?
- Profit Percentage: What percentage of your revenue do you want to keep as profit?
- Owner Pay: What do you want the business to provide for you financially?
Those three goals give your budget direction.
If you want to increase profit, for example, simply projecting higher revenue isn’t enough. Your payroll and other expenses need to support that profit goal too.
Your budget lets you see whether all the pieces of your financial plan actually work together.
Build the Plan One Play at a Time
Creating an annual budget can feel overwhelming when you look at an empty spreadsheet and think, Now I have to predict everything that’s going to happen next year.
You don’t.
Instead, break the process into manageable pieces.
Start with revenue. Look at where you expect revenue to come from by service and what assumptions you’re making about pricing, demand, capacity and growth.
Next, plan payroll. What team will you need to deliver that revenue? What raises, new positions or staffing changes should be included? Does your projected payroll stay within a healthy percentage of revenue?
Then review your operating expenses. Which costs are likely to change? Are there new investments you’re planning? Are there expenses you could reduce or eliminate?
Finally, step back and look at the result.
Does the plan produce the profit you were targeting? Does it support your owner pay goal? If not, you can adjust the plan before the year begins rather than discovering the problem months later.
That’s one of the biggest benefits of budgeting.
The Game Plan Will Change—and That’s Okay
Here’s another thing budgets and football have in common: the original game plan rarely survives the entire game unchanged.
Something unexpected happens. Conditions change. One strategy works better than anticipated, while another doesn’t.
Good teams adjust.
Good financial leaders do, too.
Your budget isn’t something you create this fall, file away and pull out again next October. Use it throughout the year to compare your actual performance to the plan.
Are you ahead or behind on revenue? Is payroll creeping higher than expected? Did an expense increase significantly? Is profit tracking toward your goal?
Those differences aren’t evidence that your budget was wrong. They’re information that helps you decide whether you need to make an adjustment.
Think of it as your financial halftime review.
Don’t Wait Until January
January may feel like the logical time to start thinking about the new year, but by then you’re already playing the game.
Fall gives you time to set your goals, think through your priorities, build your budget and make important decisions before January arrives.
Over the next several weeks, we’ll break the budgeting and annual planning process into smaller pieces—including how to plan revenue, payroll and expenses realistically.
For now, your first assignment is simple:
Put budget season on your calendar.
Block the time you need this fall to build your 2027 financial game plan.
And if you’d like a head start, our Budget Builder Toolkit walks you through the process with templates designed specifically to help pet care business owners plan revenue, payroll and expenses.
Because whether you’re running a football team or a pet care business, it’s a whole lot easier to reach your goals when you start with a game plan.