How do you project how much your business will make in the first year?

Answer 1

Many different ways, no single method. It is an art, not a science. Examples: A small business: might estimate sales for all major events during the year (e.g. spring-break, easter, Thanksgiving, x-mas) and add them up may look at recent weekly sales and simply project weekly sales x 52 may look at new customers it can acquire and how much business each customer would generate may ask around to similar business owners what they made A big corporation: usually polls all their Sales VPs for next quarter sales estimate, who then poll their subordinate, who then ask each individual sales rep for how much they think they will be selling next quarter. It's an interesting negotiation process. Ultimately, one has to look at specifically the type of business, business cycle, and customer buying patterns to arrive at an estimate.