How to Try Any Change Yourself With a Custom Scenario

By the end you'll have a copy of your business with your own change in it, and the effect on annual cash flow laid out next to today's numbers.

Before You Start

A Custom Scenario uses no credits, and it's the one Play open to free accounts. The free plan includes one scenario at a time; Solo and Advisory allow as many as you like.

You need:

• Your numbers in My Business, imported or entered by hand.
• Plays unlocked. They open once you finish, or dismiss, the Score Card's tour.
• One change in mind. A scenario reads best when it tests one idea at a time.

Steps

1. Open "Plays" in the navbar and click "Start New".
2. Choose "Custom Scenario".
3. Pick the areas you'll change: "Revenue", "Direct Costs", "Marketing Expenses", "Administrative Expenses". Tick only the ones your idea touches.
4. Click "Create Scenario". You get an identical copy of your current business, with a frozen "Current" snapshot to compare against.
5. Edit the copy by hand in the scenario's "Edits" tab. Change the numbers in the areas you picked.
6. Read the result (below).

What You'll See

The results page shows your "Edits" and the "Cash Flow Impact" in three columns: Current, Change and Scenario. Amounts are annual (or monthly, if you enter your numbers monthly), with no month-by-month timing. There's also an "Implementation Plan", a task board; regenerating it costs 1 credit.

An example with the hypothetical Greenline Landscaping. Its local ads run $1,500 a month in season and bring about 40 inquiries a month, a quarter of which become customers, at $150 per new customer. The owner wonders what happens if the ads run one month less. A Custom Scenario with "Marketing Expenses" and "Revenue" ticked lets the owner take $1,500 off the year's ad spend, lower revenue by the work those ten customers would have brought, and read the net in the Change column.

Nothing in the scenario touches My Business. If the result looks right, you make the change in the real business yourself.

Common Questions

Is a Custom Scenario really free?
Yes. It uses no credits, and the free plan includes one at a time: delete it and the slot is free for a new one. Solo and Advisory lift the limit.

What's the difference between a Custom Scenario and the other Plays?
The other Plays are AI Plays: they propose changes for you, need Solo or Advisory, and cost 1 credit per run. A Custom Scenario is a copy you edit yourself.

Can I change cash timing or loans in a Custom Scenario?
The areas it offers are "Revenue", "Direct Costs", "Marketing Expenses" and "Administrative Expenses". Changes to how fast clients pay or to your debt have their own AI Plays, "Cash Timing" (which needs the Cash Timing step filled in) and "Debt Restructuring" (which needs your loans in Funding).