Financial Projections

I knew the numbers side of the business wasn't going to be fun but I never realised it would be quite so boring.

I attended my first Hackney Enterprise Network seminar on Friday. I overslept and ended up 10 minutes late but still managed to get most of the info I need for filling out a financial projection. From what I can tell this is how you prove to the bank that they'll get their money back; despite the fact that the most important part, sales, can't be worked out beforehand.

Sales are worked out on assumptions. The assumption I'm working to is that 30 shops will take the collection twice (each t-shirt in each size) or 60 shops will take it once. I'm hoping this is a conservative estimate!

To back up this assumption I have to show that I'll be promoting the range properly, that I'll be approaching a lot more stockists than I require and that the amount I hope to sell is a relatively small share of the market (I need financial reports on other company's to show this, which are available from companies house for a price or free from the British library).

As well as proving to the bank that I should be able to pay back their loan it will enable me to budget for the business as well as my personal life.

Things seem to take longer than I'd hoped, plus I took the last two weeks easy. The real work starts NOW!