that a very aggressive sales increase alone brings her a small profit, but believes that the sales increase of $150,000 is very high. The profit resulting from that sales increase is probably not enough to justify the risk of that high an increase in the sales forecast.     If a sales increase of $40,000 or $50,000 would show that profit, she would be more comfortable increasing sales. She just isnt sure she can do as well as the most established womens clothing store in the mall in her first year. After all, the range of womens clothing sales per square foot per year is $200 to $250, and she used the $250 figure to project sales of $500,000 in the second year.     As a second thought, and even though she has no idea how to accomplish it, she wonders what would happen to profits if she reduced fixed costs by $50,000 per year (about one-quarter of the current total) and left the sales forecast at $400,000 and her gross profit at 38.2%.     Lets see what would happen.             Break-Even Sales Revenue Forecast for Antoinettes Dress Shop   That fixed cost reduction shows a profit of $10,200, but it requires a reduction of one-quarter of the fixed costs. Antoinette believes it will be very difficult to reduce fixed costs that much. Perhaps a combination of fixed cost reduction and sales increase will improve the profits enough and still be possible. Before she thinks about that option, though, she completes the break-even forecast analysis by seeing what will happen if she can increase the average gross profit to 50% while leaving the sales revenue and the fixed costs the same. She doesnt know if she can really do it, but wants to see what will happen to the numbers.     Break-Even Sales Revenue Forecast for Antoinettes Dress Shop     Revision 3:   It seems that Antoinette needs to find some combination of higher sales estimates, lower fixed costs and higher gross profit margin that will improve profits so that she can make a living wage. But the really critical part is this: She must be absolutely sure that she can meet all the forecast changes she makes.     Antoinette was sure of her first forecasts; unfortunately, those forecasts produced a loss for the first year of business. Now, while she can manipulate the numbers to show a profit, the danger is that the numbers may not be achievable. She may be able to create a good-looking business plan but may be unable to meet those revised projections. Or, just as dangerous, she may become uneasy about the projects success. A lack of confidence may just be enough to take the edge off her drive and dedication and enough to make the project fail.     WarningMake sure that you have the same level of confidence in the revised forecast that you had in the first forecast. Obviously, you can fiddle with the numbers and show good profits, but the danger lies in making the goals impossible to reach. We all have a desire to make things work, and making the numbers work is very easy to do. Just remember that youll have to live with the