How to create a financial roadmap for your small business in 2025

SMEs account for over 99% of the British business population, making their continued success an essential part of our thriving economy. But with 5.5 million other small businesses in existence, how can you work towards stable growth for your company? A financial roadmap could be the key to helping you achieve a successful 2025. 

What is a financial roadmap? 

A financial roadmap is a plan or set of steps that outlines how you will strategically achieve your financial goals. It helps you understand where you are in your business journey, what the next steps are to achieve financial success, and how you plan to get there. 

Having your thoughts and next steps written down in this way can help keep you from veering off the most strategic path when new opportunities present themselves – not all opportunities will contribute to furthering your overarching goals. It can also help you more accurately position and spot beneficial opportunities as they arise. 

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How to create a small business financial roadmap for 2025 

There are many different ways to create a financial roadmap, and the best strategy for you will depend heavily on your industry, goals, and current situation. Here are some general best practices for building a financial roadmap. 

Consider your goals 

Take an honest look at where you are positioned right now and what you could reasonably achieve in the next year. Then consider what you’d like to achieve. Some popular examples of possible financial goals include increasing revenue by 20%, making enough to onboard 3 new members of staff, and growing profitability by 30%. 

Some people like to form more than one financial goal. 

For instance, you might decide to make good, better, and best goals – three separate goals that increase in amounts, defining what you’d like to achieve this year. 

The “good” goal could be a financial marker that sits a little above what you made in 2024, or it could be the point at which your business would break even after paying you, whereas the “best” goal could be a dream amount – something that would make a big difference to you and your business.

Outline how you will achieve those goals 

Now that you’ve got your goals in mind, break them down into a few separate projects. One example of a suitable project might be a marketing activation that lasts from March to August, with the purpose of launching an influencer campaign. 

To ensure a project is successful, you should consider whether you have the appropriate resources (both financial and personnel) available to complete the project. Seeing things through this lens enables you to effectively allocate resources in line with what you’d truly like to achieve, rather than just doing the work required on a given day. 

Break those projects down into bitsized tasks 

You would then break those projects down further into tasks and allocate those tasks to team members. Following the above example, some appropriate tasks might include researching the most suitable influencers to work with, creating a budget with appropriate cost breakdowns, reaching out to influencers, and tracking the performance of your campaign. 

Consider what’s worked well historically 

Did a specific marketing campaign perform particularly well last year? Has a certain sales executive consistently hit their targets – could they potentially do even better if they were given more budget? Looking back can help you understand where there may be some great low hanging fruit in terms of financial performance. If you do spot anything, consider implementing more of what’s been proven to work for 2025. 

Optimise expenses wherever possible 

Financial performance isn’t only about growth, it’s also about reducing any redundant expenses wherever possible. Consider whether you have any lingering software licenses that you could do without, review any bills that could potentially be reduced, and have a look at your monthly outgoings to see if there are any costs you could slash for 2025. 

Invest and grow

Have you reviewed your total expenditures and future incoming cash and realised you have a surplus? You might like to consider using some of this excess cash as a way to grow. Popular growth initiatives include onboarding new sales staff, investing in a new product launch, or running a paid marketing campaign. 

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Please note that the information above is not intended to be financial advice. You should seek independent financial advice before making any decisions about your financial future.

It’s important to remember that all loans and credit agreements come with risks. These risks include non-payment and late-payment of the agreed repayment plan, which could affect your business credit score and impact your ability to find future funding. Always read the terms and conditions of every loan or credit agreement before you proceed. Contact us for support if you ever face difficulties making your repayments.

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