Budgets, Bloody Budgets

It's that time of year again.  I know what you're thinking...the holidays. Wrong!  It's the dreaded season of budgeting.  While most people are enjoying this short week, looking forward to quality time with family and friends, I am knee deep in our annual fiscal planning for the winery.   Oh joy!  As someone who generally loves her job, the budgeting season is more like a painful trip to the dentist.  Endless meetings, haggling over this and that and presentations to our Board of Directors are pretty much how the budgeting process goes.  And while it's obvious this is not my cup of tea, I do appreciate the process and understand its importance to our business.

You see, 2012 is an especially important year for our family winery.  As the calendar turns to January 1, 2012, it will mark our 40th year in business.  That means we have big plans that are going to require some significant marketing and sales investments.  In putting our budget together there are a lot of considerations - how much wine do we think we will sell?  What is our selling strategy?  How does our Direct-to-Consumer business look for next year?  All of these are key questions - after all, we don't have a money tree in our backyard from which we can pluck marketing dollars.  Everything needs to balance out and come together like a big puzzle.  It's a system of give and take, pros and cons, and ultimately doing what gives us the most bang for our buck.

So, I'm off again to yet another budget meeting.  There is light at the end of the tunnel though.  Come Thursday, I'm shutting down, grabbing a glass of Heritage Zinfandel and putting my feet up by the fire.  Even this wife, mother, marketer, business owner, and blogger needs some R&R!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

| | Comments (2)

2 Comments


CHUCK JOHNSON Author Profile Page said:
November 29, 2011 2:54 PM

Congrads on your 40th year in business Kim! This calls for a toast of your best DCV Fume Blanc paired perfectly fresh Halibut! Being a wife, mother, marketer, business owner, and blogger needs more than R&R Kim - it requires being Superwoman LOL!


Kim (aka Wilma) Author Profile Page said:
December 2, 2011 9:29 PM

Well another week went by and we're still working on budgets-ugh! Hoping to be done with this soon so I can start celebrating that 40th...
Thank goodness for our wine club dinner at Dry Creek Kitchen tomorrow night--guaranteed fun and a nice break from realty.

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Kim published on November 23, 2011 11:01 AM.

Excuses, Excuses and then Inspiration was the previous entry in this blog.

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