Ready to Make Your Life Awesome as a Local News Publisher? Create a Budget.

A local news publisher told me recently that they didn't have a budget for their organization because they'd been doing it for a long time (which is true), and they "know their numbers." I replied that "knowing your numbers" isn't the only reason to have a budget. A budget can be a crucial tool to help you fund your aspirations and allow your publication to grow.

That same publisher told me something I always hear—they need help. Like most local publishers, they do too much and want to hire an assistant, reporter, accountant, or salesperson, but they "can't afford them now."

My answer? Create a budget.

A budget has two parts to it. Yes, there are the Expenses—what lots of folks think of when they think "budgeting." (I'm sure they also think "boring," "awful," and "gouge my eyes out" when they think "budgeting.") But, crucially, a budget also has Revenues at the top. Balancing those two—not just fretting over the pain of the expenses—is the most important part of aspirational budgeting.

Want to pay yourself? Add your salary to the Expenses rows in your budget, and then see what revenues you need to make that happen. At the same time, look at your current expenses and see if you can cut anything to help you get to that salary quicker. The same goes for covering the salary of an assistant or a draw for a new salesperson. Put it in the budget and see what revenues you need to make it happen.

Now, craft a plan to increase your revenues enough to cover that expense. Set sales or reader revenue goals, work on grant funding, or ask a rich person for money. Work those goals weekly until you get your revenue where needed to cover that new expense—your salary, your assistant, your newsletter editor—and then pull the trigger.

Suddenly, a budget isn't an awful, tedious chore that limits your ability to get something done—it's an aspirational, intentional tool that helps you make something extraordinary happen. Try it.