A three-year growth plan that funds itself

Start with the questions, not the spreadsheet

• Where do you want the business to be in three years, in revenue, profit, people and your own involvement?
• What has to be true for that to happen: customers, capacity, systems, cash, people?
• What would stop it, and what would you do if it did?
• What do you personally want out of it: income, time, a sale, succession?

Build an integrated model

Revenue, gross margin, overheads, headcount, capital expenditure and cash in one model, monthly for year one and quarterly after that. Integrated means that when you add a salesperson in month four, the salary, the on-costs, the equipment and the lag before they produce revenue all flow through to cash automatically. A plan that shows profit without showing cash is not a plan.

Sequence capacity ahead of demand

Growth fails in a predictable order: the owner runs out of hours, then the systems break, then cash tightens, then good people leave. The plan should add capacity just before each of those points, not after. Hiring, premises, systems and working capital each get a trigger: when revenue or order book reaches a level, the next step starts.

Stress-test the model with sales 20% lower, costs 10% higher and customers paying 15 days later. If it still works, it is a plan. If it does not, you have found the real risk.

Funding

If the model needs external money, say so early. Lenders and investors fund plans with evidence: three years of clean accounts, a model with sensible assumptions and a management team that can execute. Prepare that pack before you need it. Fortis prepares the case and introduces independent brokers and funders; we do not arrange finance ourselves.

Keep it alive

Review quarterly. Update the model with actuals, re-forecast the next four quarters, check the milestones and agree the next quarter's actions. A plan reviewed four times a year gets delivered. A plan reviewed once gets forgotten.