ProjectionSmart Growth Case Study: Nic Gianino

Jan 20, 2021 by Roger Scherping

Nic Gianino has been an ops guy his entire career, managing manufacturing operations for sheet metal fabrication, precision machining, and electro mechanical device assembly companies. Early in 2020 he wanted to go out on his own and purchase a manufacturing company, but talking with a banker quickly made him realize that the middle of the COVID crisis was not the time to try to raise $2M. “All we’re doing right now is processing PPP loans,” his banker told him.

A friend in the recruiting space planted a seed in Nic’s mind about his industry, and Nic’s research brought him to the Global Recruiters Network, an executive recruiting franchise that specializes in the manufacturing industry. At first Nic scoffed at the idea of becoming a recruiter, but eventually he realized it would be a great way to use his many years of manufacturing experience in a business of his own.

He launched his franchise mid-year and found success quickly, generating his first sale in just four months. He was fired up by his success and eager to grow his business.

Then he began to learn many of the things that all first-time entrepreneurs learn once they make the leap. He had only a basic understanding of his finances, so he wasn’t clear what his financial future looked like. He also had to make quarterly income tax payments for the first time in his career. Finally, he wanted a system similar to what he had used in manufacturing to help him with the financial management of his growing new business.

“At my core, I’m a planner, and I don’t like surprises,” Nic said. “I knew I needed financial controls.” He was going to use QuickBooks, but he didn’t know how he was going to look forward. “My expenses are predictable. My revenue, less so. I tried to keep track of things in Excel, but Excel is not where I want to spend my time.”

Enter ProjectionSmart Growth

That’s when he learned about ProjectionSmart Growth. “Growth saves me a lot of time. I like the structure. I just follow the process, and I can’t screw it up. I download my history from QuickBooks, enter a budget, and answer a few questions, and I very quickly have a clear vision of where my business will be in 12 months.”

“Now every month I reforecast 12 months out. I make changes to my budget based on what’s happened in the previous 30 days, and everything flows through automatically to the cash flow and the balance sheet. I’m always looking 12 months ahead. It’s not just a calendar year. It can be July, and I can see all the way to next July. I’m always looking forward, and I like that.”

Another thing that Nic likes about Growth is how it helps him model his business decisions. He said that if he was considering adding a new sales employee, he’d change his budget to reflect the increased cost and then add the expected revenue. Growth would then show him the expected profit and cash flow from making this hire. In this way, the manufacturing guy found what he had been looking for: a system to model his business decisions and show him their financial impact.

Growth makes it easy

“The beauty is its simplicity,” Nic said. “I’m just a manufacturing guy, but Growth gives me everything I need to make informed business decisions. Growth only includes the critical pieces that you need to drive your decisions. It’s simple business modeling.”

Now that his business is growing, Nic is using Growth to keep an eye on his cash flow, especially those quarterly tax payments. “Cash flow is huge. I don’t want to get into a pinch. Growth is great. It tells me everything I need. It makes me focus on what’s important.”

When Nic learned about ProjectionSmart’s other product, Startup, which is designed for entrepreneurs considering starting a business, he just shook his head. “I did it all in Excel. If I had used Startup, I could have done it in one quarter of the time. Entrepreneurs like me don’t know what we don’t know. It would have been great to have Startup walk me through the process so I didn’t miss anything.”

“ProjectionSmart Growth is simple and effective,” Nic said. “You’ve taken a huge weight off me. I was in the middle of the ocean, and you threw me a life preserver. Thanks, ProjectionSmart!”




Nic Gianino / Owner       
Global Recruiters of Saint Paul
612.405.4966
http://www.grnsaintpaul.com

Nic provides recruiting services for operations, engineering, and supply chain positions at custom manufacturing companies with $25-$250 million in sales and anywhere from 50-400+ employees. Typical clients are in the contract metals fabrication, precision machining, and device assembly industries. He likes to work with growth-minded companies and help them build a team that will drive their growth.




 

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