SMB FinanceOS
Get smarter about business finance in 5 minutes a week. Join 35k+ business owners and leaders learning financial statements and growing their business, for free.
SHORTCUTS CUT LONG RUNS SHORT: FINANCIAL LESSONS FROM THE OKC THUNDER'S TITLE RUN
Last week I announced that enrollment was open for my latest cohort, SMB Financial Fundamentals. We had a number of you sign up, which I'm thrilled about! If you didn't...shame on you. Kidding, but you can no longer use the code I shared last week. But, as a newsletter subscriber, you can still get $100 with the code EMAILCREW. Not sure if it's for you? This course was created for business owners and leaders who: Feels anxious about your financials and wants to stop leaving money on the table...
QUIT WINGIN IT: A RULEBOOK FOR SMARTER BUSINESS CASH & CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
Hey, quick message here before we get into the issue... Every week, I talk to business owners who feel in the dark when it comes to their numbers. Whether business is booming or cash is tight, the common thread is the same: they don’t feel confident in their financials. And that lack of confidence has real consequences: stalled growth, risky decisions, and sleepless nights. After seeing this over and over again, and getting asked time and again to help owners translate their numbers, I...
CAPITALOS 6: THE CAPITAL CRISIS YOU CAN’T SEE, YET (LONG-TERM CAPITAL PLANNING)
THE CAPITAL CRISIS YOU CAN’T SEE (YET) read on smbfinanceos.com When you run out of cash in three weeks, everyone notices. But running out of cash in 13 months… when your equipment fails, a debt balloon hits, or your expansion launches late… can be just as dangerous. It just hides better. That’s the silent threat of poor capital planning. It doesn’t show up in your inbox this week. It builds slowly and shows up exactly when your team expects you to lead. Most businesses spend their energy on...
CAPITALOS 5: THE FORMULA TO KNOW IF DEBT IS GOOD OR BAD
THE FORMULA TO KNOW IF DEBT IS GOOD OR BAD read on smbfinanceos.com When it comes to debt, people tend to split into camps. And these camps… they’re rarely shy. You’ve got the Dave Ramsey disciples who treat all debt like it’s radioactive waste. If you can’t pay cash, don’t buy it. Period. Then you’ve got the real estate and leverage crowd, like Grant Cardone or commercial investors, who brag about being “all in on OPM” (other people’s money) and use debt as a tool to 10x their portfolio. And...
WHAT MY TODDLER TAUGHT ME ABOUT BUSINESS STRATEGY
We're taking a little detour this week. I was traveling last week and came home to a sick family, which in turn resulted in multiple family members ending up in the hospital from dehydration. We're all good now, but still recovering. While I have a draft, I am exhausted and wanted to give the debt management post one more week to marinate in my head. So, we're republishing an *older* post where I compare persistence versus stubbornness through the eyes of my toddler boy. If you were forwarded...
CAPITALOS 4: YOU’RE NOT SPENDING TOO MUCH, JUST SPENDING STUPID
YOU’RE NOT SPENDING TOO MUCH, JUST SPENDING STUPID (A STRATEGIC SPENDING FRAMEWORK) read on smbfinanceos.com Joe had a great year. His regional HVAC company crossed $8 million in revenue for the first time. Margins were solid, reviews were glowing, and for the first time in a while, there was real breathing room in the bank account. Flush with optimism and a little adrenaline, Joe decided it was time to level up. So he did what a lot of owners do after a big year: he started spending like a...
CAPITALOS 3: START TRACKING THIS NUMBER TODAY (STEADY-STATE CASH FLOW)
START TRACKING THIS NUMBER TODAY (STEADY-STATE CASH FLOW) read on smbfinanceos.com Ask a business owner how things are going and you’ll probably hear about revenue. Maybe headcount. Maybe new logos or new offices. What you won’t hear? “We’re generating $150K of real, usable cash every year after taxes, debt, and CapEx.” And that’s a problem. Too many businesses operate off what I call the iceberg illusion. They see the tip above the water (profit, the bank balance, the sales report) and think...
CAPITALOS 2: THE BUSINESS OWNER’S GUIDE TO THE 2 TYPES OF CAPEX
CAPITALOS 2: THE BUSINESS OWNER’S GUIDE TO THE 2 TYPES OF CAPEX read on smbfinanceos.com CapEx doesn’t hit your books every month, so it’s easy to ignore until something breaks. A truck, a laptop, or a machine you can’t operate without. Early in my CFO career, I worked in a low-capex business and just hit my groove… then multiple trucks broke down at once. No plan. No budget. Just stress. I’d failed to plan and felt like a complete newb. I wasn’t alone. Most businesses don’t treat CapEx as a...
CASHOS 6/CAPITALOS 1: FROM CASH FLOW MANAGER TO CAPITAL ALLOCATOR
Last week, we talked about bucketing your cash. I mentioned we’d talk about strategic cash last week, but I didn’t tell you about my change of plans: we’re going to dive deep into CapitalOS. We’re “skipping” over the last two weeks of CashOS and will revisit those after we talk about CapitalOS. Why the change, you ask? We changed because, as I started trying to frame out those weeks, I realized we’d hit on many of the CapitalOS concepts. The reality is, cash rules and your cash systems should...
CASHOS WEEK 5: THE FORMULA FOR CASH RESERVES THAT COULD SAVE YOUR BUSINESS
THE FORMULA FOR CASH RESERVES THAT COULD SAVE YOUR BUSINESS read on smbfinanceos.com Have you ever been in the position where you didn’t have enough money for payroll the next day? I remember the one time I got that call. It was early in the morning. Over the weekend I’d talked to the owner and let them know the deposit that we were expecting before the weekend hadn’t come, but I’d been assured it’d deposit in our account on Monday. Monday morning it wasn’t there, so we called the bank and...
Get smarter about business finance in 5 minutes a week. Join 35k+ business owners and leaders learning financial statements and growing their business, for free.