Small Improvements Build Strong Businesses
Business improvement is often presented as something dramatic. A new strategy. A transformation program. A software system demonstrated by somebody who appears never to have met a customer. Occasionally, a business does need a major change. But most strong businesses are built through hundreds of small improvements made consistently over time. An invoice goes out […]
Good Numbers Give You More Freedom
People sometimes imagine that financial reporting is about control. It conjures up pictures of accountants guarding budgets, asking why somebody bought lunch, and producing complicated spreadsheets designed to stop everyone from doing anything interesting. Good reporting should achieve almost the opposite. It should give you the confidence to act. When you know which services make […]
How to Stop Costs Chewing Up Extra Sales
There is a particularly annoying stage in the growth of a business when sales go up, everyone gets busier, and somehow there is no extra money. You look at the sales report and feel quite pleased. Then you look at the bank account and wonder whether somebody has been quietly stealing from you. Usually, nobody […]
Busy Is Not the Same as Profitable
There is a dangerous moment in a growing business when everyone is flat out and the owner starts feeling successful. The phones are ringing. The calendar is full. New people are being employed. Clients are chasing delivery dates and nobody has time to tidy the kitchen. It certainly feels like growth. Then the monthly accounts […]
Profit Doesn’t Pay the Bills
One of the stranger things about running a business is that you can be profitable and still run out of money. This sounds like an accounting trick. It isn’t. It is usually just timing. You win a great new client, employ someone to do the work, buy some equipment and perhaps pay a freelancer. The […]
Why We Put Up with Annoying Problems That Have Simple Solutions
Every business has them: the printer that only works if you restart it twice, the spreadsheet that must be manually corrected each week, or the customer enquiry that gets forwarded through three people before reaching the person who can answer it. The solution may be simple, yet the problem continues for months—or even years. Why? […]
Too Many KPIs Just Make Soup
Key performance indicators are meant to create clarity. They tell people what matters, where to focus and whether the business is making progress. But many businesses keep adding KPIs until clarity disappears altogether. One measure becomes five. Five become fifteen. Before long, managers are looking at dashboards filled with revenue, margin, utilisation, conversion rates, customer […]
Don’t Be Afraid of Subjective KPIs
When business owners hear the term “Key Performance Indicator”, they often think of hard numbers: sales, gross profit, conversion rates, production volumes and delivery times. These measures are valuable because they are objective, easy to compare and difficult to dispute. But not everything that matters can be measured precisely. Some of the most important aspects […]
How to Allow for Your Personal Cost in Your Business: What Could You Earn Elsewhere?
How to Allow for Your Personal Cost in Your Business: What Could You Earn Elsewhere? When assessing the performance of your business, it is easy to overlook one of its most important costs: you. Many business owners pay themselves whatever is left after all the other expenses have been covered. Some take very little from […]
Scaling Without Breaking: A Guide to Navigating Growth Pains in Your Young Company
Growth is the goal—but it rarely feels as glamorous from the inside as it looks from the outside. For a CEO leading a young company through rapid expansion, success often comes bundled with friction: stretched teams, unclear priorities, cultural drift, and systems that suddenly stop working. These aren’t signs you’re failing. They’re signals you’re growing. […]