“We can’t do that!”

Removing financial confusion with clarity.

We have all been there.

We know, at times the pressure from the situation we find ourselves in will get the best of us. We decide to look the other way while the problem festers and propagates within an already weakening business or situation.

“We have no money!” A business owner will say in a panic!

I have heard that a lot. Actually, you do, but just don’t have the visibility and experience to find it. The confusion stems from lack of clarity.

“Where is our money?”

That is a great question. One I have heard many times before.

I usually respond with a few of my own:

Do you have a budget?

Where is your forecast?

What does your cash flow statement look like?

In response, I tend to get blank stares and wide-eyes. No, they don’t.

This is a normal response back. A response we can change.

Your business has been growing at a rate greater than what your skills or aptitude for finance allowed. You didn’t mean to not have a budget. You were just too busy to build one. The financial strategy was pushed off when revenue opportunities called. You were chasing revenues instead of managing cash. Maybe you hoped revenue would always out pace your financial worries.

I get it.

Much like life, we all need to evolve and change. That is life. Actually, we have very little say in this - change, that is. As you read this article you have actually changed. We are all in a constant state of change as humans.

We need to always be willing to be openminded when it comes to challenges or aspects of our life or work that put us in a position of discomfort based upon our lack of skill, experience, or willingness. This is true in business and in life. Our openness to change grant us all, if we take that step into the unknown, toward a path of true personal growth.

Isn’t personal growth what we are all after?

If we do tackle our fear what was once a challenge is now easier. What was once avoided is now confronted. That is the beauty of internal self-improvement. We always improve. Maybe it’s not tangible, but if we are present we will always see it. We will feel it.

Let’s stay present and focused.

Now getting back to the question of budgets and financial hygiene. As business owners, we must find strength to tackle the hard questions. We must find the courage to tackle something that might put us in a vulnerable position where others might think we don’t know what we are doing.

That is okay! That is normal.

No one starts knowing everything. Let’s drop the ego that says we know everything and replace that with child-like curiosity. The trepidation you feel is a sign you’re on the right path! If it was easy everyone would be doing it, right?

When it comes to finance, let’s start with the basics. Usually, that starts when we allow others to take a peek at what we are doing, and how we have been operating. In doing so, we allow oursevles to drop our ego. If we go at it alone, only taking into account what we know will we really expect a different result? I’ll let you answer that.

Finance is an art as much as it is a science. It’s understanding the inner workings of the business taking into account what has occurred in the past (Accounting), and applying that to our future expectations (Finance).

Let’s be creative in what we do!

Finance (and Accounting) tend to be boring. Let’s not work with hard to understand Excel spreadsheets that put people to sleep. Let’s bring life to them! Let’s make Finance cool again! Let’s open a world of possibilities you never knew existed.

How will we do that? We need to start with questions. Opening our ears to what is occurring.

What is the mission of the company?

What are the goals for the organization?

What are the expectations?

We need alignment from key stakeholders on these questions. If everyone wants to drive the car at a different speed toward a different location…how would any goal ever be achieved?

It can’t and won’t.

Let’s work in reverse. Let’s take the answers to those questions to build out a road map of possibilities. Let’s engineer a path forward! A path of clarity.

The key piece of any business – the road map – is always driven financially. You can get by holding the seat of your pants only so long without it. Hoping and praying there will be enough money to cover payroll at the end of each month only can go on so long. What additional stress are you causing yourself by taking that approach? Again, I’ll let you answer that.

So the main question is, do you want to run your company or do you want it to run you?

I have been there.

From my entrepreneur days having navigated a pandemic and tight cash flows, my experience taught me that when things got tough you must be even more razor focused on what you might not have time for – the finances.

Finance is always your release value for pressure. It provides clarity when there is confusion.

When I experienced periods of unexpected headaches I always went back to my budget and forecasts. I took a moment, looking at my spreadsheets, to ground me back to reality. I saw opportunity instead of dead ends.

“Okay, things aren’t as bad as my imagination is making them.” I would always say afterwards.

We all experience pain or discomfort, and they almost always are driven irrationally from our own imagination.

Looking at my budgets – maybe making a few tweaks to my forecast that ultimately changed the pace of my cashflow, always provided relief. A simple exercise removed stress of not knowing and then gave me solace to find time to sleep.

Relief is actually knowing.

Not knowing is the exact opposite that leads us toward unwanted stress, unproductive work, and all-consuming fear. Which in turn will lead to a business owner (or anyone in life) making a decision that they should not have made, but made anyway because they didn’t have the right metrics in place to help guide them. These misinformed decisions always cost us more time and money to try to repair. Making the next day even harder.

Isn’t that what got you in this mess to begin with? The not knowing.

Finance is that crutch you can always rely on to help you up when you’re too tired to stand.

We must always want to know and seek out reasons for why things are the way they are. That is what finance is for! We must always want and need the data – our road map – to help guide the way.

Businesses don’t fail on spreadsheets. They fail long before when hard conversations are avoided and when the data is ignored.

Clarity doesn’t come from hoping things work out. It comes from knowing where you are, where you’re going, and what it will cost to get there.