as·TER·o·pre·NEUR (noun) A growth-focused founder who starts and operates a profitable business while mastering the key drivers and KPIs.
"Astero Group helps high-potential companies upgrade their financial information through tech-driven processes and accounting services."
Your 12-Month Budget Sucks
If you're a true Asteropreneur, you know we don't budget or use that term. 🤢Budgets are nothing more than licenses for your team to spend. Instead, we are dynamic forecasters and huge proponents of forecasting the forthcoming 9-months, every month. The calendar year is irrelevant.
While many founders right now are focused on closing out 2024 strong, you should already pretty much know where you're going to land. Your mind, as the leader, needs to be in 2025. We're entering Q4 and my readers, intelligent Asteropreneurs, should now be moving focus into Q2 of 2025.
That is how you position your business for growth and success. Live nine months in the future. Much further than that and the accuracy diminishes.
- Secure Necessary Resources: Whether it's hiring new talent, investing in technology, or securing additional funding, planning ahead gives you time to gather the resources needed to achieve your objectives.
- Avoid Last-Minute Rush: By starting your planning before others, you can avoid the stress and potential pitfalls of trying to cram everything into the forthcoming weeks or guessing a year out.
- Align Goals with Market Trends: Stay ahead of the curve by analyzing industry trends and consumer behavior to ensure your goals are aligned with market demand.
- Build Momentum for the Rest of the Year: A strong 9-month plan can set the tone for the entire year, creating a positive and forward-thinking atmosphere within your organization.
By living 9 months in the future, you position your business for growth and success beyond others. This will help you win.
If your business is approaching or exceeding $2 million in annualized revenue, you also shouldn't be doing the forecasting. Get yourself a fractional CFO to help with planing so you can focus on revenue and growth. ✅
A Video That You Should Watch
In case you missed it last month, I did a guest spot on the StartHub podcast, "The Funding Blueprint: Unlocking Startup Success," where I discussed the hidden gems of startup finance that founders might be overlooking, including insights on strategies for profit first models, investments, tax savings, KPIs, and wealth growth. Click below and share with your network. 📢
If you're on the go or just don't want to see my face, you can listen to the conversation on Apple Podcasts as well.
Top Articles
Here are the top four news articles from the last thirty days to help YOU:
💡 AI for Small Businesses: Benefits and Tools to Drive Growth
Many of us are still figuring out how to incorporate artificial intelligence into our products, but we can already start
leveraging existing AI tools to help our companies in big and small ways.
🏆 Co-Founder Equity Mistakes to Avoid
In order to get your startup off the ground it's critical to keep your co-founders motivated. One of the best ways to do that is to figure out a fair co-founder equity split.
In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Michael Seibel explains the ins and outs of co-founder equity.
📈 Why Customer Experience Is Critical for Business Success
Customer experience (CX) is
more than just customer service; it includes every interaction a customer has with a brand, shaping their overall perception and loyalty. Discover the impact of CX, which reaches beyond your business.
✔️ Decaying Job Market Becomes the Economy's Biggest Threat
A few months ago, inflation was the biggest threat to the economy. Now, it's the rapidly cooling job market. In August,
only 142,000 new jobs were added, with prior months' gains revised downward. The last three months have seen the smallest job growth since the 2020 pandemic.
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Click the image below or use this link to get a $500 bonus just for trying them out. It doesn't hit your credit to apply or anything like that either.
We hope you and your business are genuinely stronger after reading and implementing some of this. If you have questions, just reply to this email or reach out to us on social media.
Your Friend and Fan,
P.S. - We're growing and helping more clients than ever right now. This means we're hiring talented CFOs with strong communication skills. Click here to visit our careers page and please share with your network.
