Independence by Design™ is a framework to help owner-operators get out of the weeds and lead from the boardroom.
I built it because I lived this trap. In 2009, I joined my dad in our $21M family business. We turned it around and sold it for eight figures in 2014 — enough to pay off debt, cover taxes, let my dad retire, and leave me with a chunk of cash at 27.
But the sale gutted our team, systems, and identity. It looked like a win, but it didn’t feel like freedom. I bawled in the driveway.
After 450+ interviews, thousands of owners, and multiple ventures, I saw the real issue: we didn’t know the difference between being owners and operators. Our goals weren’t aligned. And we had no framework to guide us.
That’s why I built iBD — to help owners avoid regret, reclaim their time, grow real equity value, and build a business that gives them freedom — whether they stay, scale, or sell.
This show is the one I wish I had.
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Independence by Design™ is a framework to help owner-operators get out of the weeds and lead from the boardroom.
I built it because I lived this trap. In 2009, I joined my dad in our $21M family business. We turned it around and sold it for eight figures in 2014 — enough to pay off debt, cover taxes, let my dad retire, and leave me with a chunk of cash at 27.
But the sale gutted our team, systems, and identity. It looked like a win, but it didn’t feel like freedom. I bawled in the driveway.
After 450+ interviews, thousands of owners, and multiple ventures, I saw the real issue: we didn’t know the difference between being owners and operators. Our goals weren’t aligned. And we had no framework to guide us.
That’s why I built iBD — to help owners avoid regret, reclaim their time, grow real equity value, and build a business that gives them freedom — whether they stay, scale, or sell.
This show is the one I wish I had.
#463: The 12-Step Revenue Forecast | Kim Clark | Budget Season 2026, Part 3
Independence by Design™
1 hour 23 minutes 56 seconds
1 month ago
#463: The 12-Step Revenue Forecast | Kim Clark | Budget Season 2026, Part 3
Most revenue budgets start with a top-down number: add 10%, push sales harder, and hope the math works out. That’s why so many plans collapse by spring. Watch on YouTube In Part 3 of our Budget Season 2026 Series, I sat down with Kim Clark to break down how to build revenue the right way: from the bottom up. Kim shares her 12-step revenue forecasting process and shows how to build by product, segment, and pipeline. We talk about aligning sales, marketing, and operations so the plan is deliverable — and how to connect the revenue build-up directly into the budget model from Part 2. This isn’t about sales stretch goals or wishful percentages. It’s about creating a clear, defensible revenue plan that finance can trust and owners can use to make boardroom decisions about hiring, capacity, and cash. In this episode, Kim and I screen-share and walk through the 12 steps. If you want to see the forecast in action, check out the video version on YouTube or Spotify.
What We Covered
Top-down vs. bottom-up forecasting → why most owners default to “just add 10%” and how that fails.
Kim’s 12-step process → very tangible, step-by-step structure owners can follow.
Revenue build-up mechanics → segments, products, pricing, pipeline, win rates, seasonality.
Operational alignment → connecting sales, marketing, and delivery so revenue forecasts don’t break capacity or margin.
Integration with Pat’s model → feeding clean revenue assumptions directly into the budgeting model.
Trust & credibility → how finance, leadership, and owners can finally use the same numbers and stop arguing about “whose forecast is right.
Kim Clark is a sales and marketing strategist who helped scale ITR Economics from a founder-led advisory firm to a professionally managed company that exited at eight figures. As head of sales and marketing, she built the firm’s first CRM, content strategy, and inbound engine—moving the company from personality-based selling to a system built on data, automation, and strategic execution. Today, she works with business owners to build marketing engines that align with their strategy, team, and long-term cash flow goals—so they can grow without chaos and delegate without losing visibility. Her frameworks are directly aligned with the "Predictable Revenue" module within the iBD Ownership Operating System.
Chapters:
(00:00) Overview of the three-part podcast series and revenue buildup process
(05:45) Kim's background at ITR Economics and systematic revenue forecasting approach
(16:36) Introduction to Kim's 12-chapter revenue forecasting framework
(22:29) Chapter 1: Understanding rates of change and business cycle positioning
(27:10) Chapter 2: Economic indicators and their impact on business planning
(34:55) Chapter 3: Market mix analysis and customer psychology strategies
(40:01) Chapter 4: Bottom-up forecasting with averages and historical data
(48:38) Chapters 5-12: Competitive analysis, pricing strategy, and execution planning<...
Independence by Design™
Independence by Design™ is a framework to help owner-operators get out of the weeds and lead from the boardroom.
I built it because I lived this trap. In 2009, I joined my dad in our $21M family business. We turned it around and sold it for eight figures in 2014 — enough to pay off debt, cover taxes, let my dad retire, and leave me with a chunk of cash at 27.
But the sale gutted our team, systems, and identity. It looked like a win, but it didn’t feel like freedom. I bawled in the driveway.
After 450+ interviews, thousands of owners, and multiple ventures, I saw the real issue: we didn’t know the difference between being owners and operators. Our goals weren’t aligned. And we had no framework to guide us.
That’s why I built iBD — to help owners avoid regret, reclaim their time, grow real equity value, and build a business that gives them freedom — whether they stay, scale, or sell.
This show is the one I wish I had.
