Planning for Business Growth in Consulting Finances

After analyzing finances for 75+ businesses, I've identified 5 critical blind spots that sabotage growth: 1. Poor bookkeeping. If you do your own bookkeeping, you will not grow as much as you want to. No owner we work with north of $3m is doing their own bookkeeping. It shows a lack of willingness to invest. 2. Lax payment terms. Most of my clients have set payment terms. But many provide a degree of flexibility around when payments come in. While it seems harmless, it can get out of hand quickly. And the direct impact on your cash flow can land you in dangerous territory. 3. Keeping your books closed to the team. This is a big mistake most privately owned businesses make. As an owner, it’s up to you to give your team the context they need to make the right decisions for the business. 4. Weak financial planning. Without proper planning, growth becomes coincidental. • Get specific about your 5-year goals • List the resources you have available to reach them • Focus on how you’ll use the resources to get there Clear vision = Success. 5. Unmonitored cash burn rate. Most owners track revenue obsessively but ignore burn rate. This silent killer can bankrupt even profitable companies. When you're scaling, your cash can disappear faster than you realize. Track your cash flow weekly to avoid surprises.

Q1 is in the books—now what? 📊 The first quarter sets the stage for the year, but success comes from adjusting and refining as you go. If you have a fractional CFO, now is the time to reforecast and assess your first-quarter performance. Here's how to approach it. 1️⃣ Review Revenue Performance – Look at what's working. Which offerings are performing well? Where is there room for growth? Identify what you should double down on and what might need to shift. 2️⃣ Evaluate Expenses – Reassess your spending. Are there costs to cut, areas to invest in, or strategic adjustments to make? Most importantly, analyze how these changes will impact cash flow and plan ahead to prevent any potential shortfalls. 3️⃣ Set Clear Q2 Goals – Be specific. If hiring is a priority, factor in salary costs and define the role. If revenue growth is the focus, outline a financial target and determine key metrics to track progress. 4️⃣ Do scenario testing - Imagine revenue declined by 10% or 25%, what would you do in terms of managing costs? How would you stretch your cash? What new revenue streams make sense to offer from launching a new product/service to marketing current offerings to a different client market? What do your clients need NOW? Interview them. The goal is to stay agile and intentional—making data-driven decisions that align with your business growth strategy. 💭 What adjustments are you making for Q2? Let’s discuss in the comments! #CEOLife #FinancialTip #SmallBusinessFinance #WomeninBusiness #Entrepreneurship

Far too many Consulting firms struggle to scale beyond the influence of their Founder. They fail to build recurring revenue channels that extend beyond the Founder’s personal network and reputation. Instead of intentional growth, they operate on ad hoc improvisation—saying yes to everything, reacting to the flow of the day, and never truly designing a scalable model. The result is scattered efforts, unpredictable revenue, and a ceiling that’s impossible to break. Many Founders hesitate to hire senior experts due to their high cost, despite these individuals being best positioned to drive business growth. Even when they do bring them on board, they are often reluctant to grant equity, many Founders believe that they should retain all rewards since they created the original value. This mindset overlooks a crucial reality: securing and retaining senior talent with client relationships for the long term is what truly enhances equity value. The priority should be building a team of senior specialists with strong market reputations from day one. Paying above market rates and offering long-term equity incentives isn’t just an expense—it’s a strategic investment in credibility, accelerated growth, and early wins with high-value clients. Another defining factor is positioning. Many early-stage Consulting firms spread themselves too thin, saying yes to whatever comes their way. Sustainable growth comes from solving a well-defined, high-value problem better than competitors and shaping this into a repeatable process. Firms that dilute their expertise struggle to establish authority. Specialisation builds authority and pricing power. Client acquisition is another common stumbling block. Instead of chasing leads through cold outreach, the most successful consulting firms focus on becoming the reference in their field. Sharing insights, educating the market, and consistently reinforcing expertise creates demand, reducing reliance on unpredictable deal flow. Long-term success comes from consistently evolving expertise, deepening client relationships, and building a market-defining reputation.. Firms that take this approach position themselves as dominant players, creating a business that doesn’t just grow—it thrives on its own momentum.

Growing businesses often make this costly mistake: As your company scales beyond $10M in revenue, the financial complexity doesn't just increase - it multiplies. What worked at $5M won't cut it at $10M. I've spent two decades working in finance and here's what's crystal clear: Finance isn't just about tracking numbers - it's about making strategic decisions that impact every aspect of your business. Especially these days. You need more than just basic bookkeeping. You need sophisticated financial planning that can: - forecast cash flow across multiple revenue streams - analyze customer acquisition costs at scale - track profitability by product line - model different growth scenarios Recently, I worked with a $15M company that uncovered $800K in untapped profit potential they weren't seeing. Stuff that would have easily been unseen if they did not have someone properly look at their finances. Here's what robust FP&A (financial planning & analysis) delivers as you grow: - strategic resource allocation - early warning systems for potential issues - data-driven decision making - clear visibility into performance metrics The bigger your business gets, the more critical FP&A becomes. It's not just about tracking where your money went - it's about understanding where it should go next. #financialpuzzlessolved #finance #growth