Notes from the trail
Cash flow, forecasting, profit and the decisions in between. Written in plain language for founder-led teams.
Meaningful business goals do more than drive growth. They shape the financial targets that help you build a healthy business and a meaningful life. The Dream That Predated Our Business I can still remember a conversation Ben and I had sometime during the four years when we were dating.
Why More Revenue Doesn’t Always Mean More Cash We’ve all heard it said that revenue is a vanity metric, but what does that mean, exactly? Well, it doesn’t mean revenue is bad. Revenue matters. Every business needs sales.
When you first started your business, it likely felt like a lemonade stand. Product sold, cash in, materials purchased. But the moment that lemonade stand started experiencing growth, the numbers began to get complicated—quickly.
Why did you start your business? Maybe it was because you saw a need in the world or experienced one firsthand. Perhaps you just found something you absolutely loved and people started paying you to do it.
For many business owners, the financial side of a new business feels pretty manageable.You’re selling a product or service, dialing in your pricing and margins, and as long as expenses stay in check, you can usually keep a clear sense of how things are going. But at some point, things start to shift.
Because sometimes the path to growth starts by simply keeping more of what you already earn. If you’re like most business owners we work with, you’ve spent a lot of energy trying to grow your business this year—more sales, more customers, more reach, etc.
(If you’d rather watch a video straight from Ben and Brittany about the M.A.P.
Let’s talk about one of the biggest questions of Q4. Short answer? Maybe. Better answer? Let’s take a breath and walk through this together. Why does it even matter? If you’re like most business owners we talk to, you didn’t start your company out of a deep, abiding love of spreadsheets—or numbers, for that matter.
Running a painting business isn’t as simple as paint on a wall. Crews to manage. Weather delays that wreck a week’s schedule. Rising material costs. Cash flow whiplash. The list goes on. What starts out as a “straightforward” business model gets messy quickly once you start to grow.
Ever Overcomplicated Something Unnecessarily? Us either. (Okay, fine. Maybe once or twice.) For almost 10 years now, the Amplify team has been avoiding the term “CFO” like it was QuickBooks on April 14th. We didn’t want to own it because … well, yes, we do CFO-like things—but we also felt completely different.
You started a business because you love something – coffee or homebuilding or counseling – and now you find yourself steering this train that’s moving faster and faster and faster … This kind of growth is both riveting and terrifying, right?
If you’re leading a growing business, you’ve likely made more than one decision based on a mix of instinct, experience and the numbers you’ve got on hand. We’ve all done it.
Introduction: The Problem of Playing It by Ear Running a business without a financial forecast is a bit like sailing without a map or weather report. You may be heading somewhere, but you won’t know if you’re off course until it’s too late.
Introduction: What’s driving your growth? About two years ago, we were introduced to EOS® and began implementing it for Amplify with the help of an incredible Implementer (Anastasia Toomey, you rock!), and it has been the single biggest growth move for our business.
Opening Your Profit + Loss Doesn’t Have to Be a Dreaded To-Do. It Can Be an Anticipated and Insightful Ritual.
“OK, let’s talk personal and business best.” It’s April, and my husband, Ben, and I are sitting at our back porch table in the spring warmth—me hunched over my laptop, and him finishing a cup of coffee.
Running a business is one of the most unpredictable experiences one can imagine. One moment you’re boxing up orders, the next you’re approving a digital marketing campaign, and then you’re off to onboard your next team member.
As a business owner, few things are as important as having a plan. With a clear picture of the next year, you have guidance to confidently navigate whatever comes your way (and sleep peacefully at night).
We’ve all been there–a cough that just won’t seem to go away or an ache that hasn’t ever healed correctly on its own. As humans, when we’re experiencing some physical symptom we schedule an appointment with a doctor to have our symptoms checked. As a business owner, where can you turn?
At Amplify, our mission is to help business owners reach their “WHY” sooner. Before we ever jump into historical financial statements or begin breaking down unit economics, it’s essential for us to get a clear picture of why the business was started in the first place.
It’s hard for people who don’t run their own business to truly understand or appreciate all the hard work that is required to move forward toward big picture goals.
A successful product launch is one of the great highs that an entrepreneur experiences, and few moments are as validating that you are taking your business in the right direction. Not long after the confetti falls, the reality sets in that there’s a job to be done.
For a lot of small businesses, warmer weather means the opportunity to get in front of new customers. On street corners and fair grounds all across the country, entrepreneurs are setting up to showcase their products in hopes of a nice sales boost and maybe some new evangelizing customers.
Movies, TV shows, social media and music have perfected the art of setting high expectations for the holiday season. The big romantic gesture, the perfect family feast, snowball fights with the kids. What is so illustrious about the pictures they paint?
Nothing here yet. Try another trail.
