Simple It Up

A while ago, Seth Godin had a brilliant blog outlining the difference between dumbing down a concept and the preferable approach to simple it up. He said:

Of course, if we dumb things down, they become dumb.

This is not the same as simplifying concepts before adding nuance….

Start with basic principles, go slow and build. No need to dumb it down. Simple it up instead.

I have seen my competitors challenge entrepreneurs to get good at reading financial statements. In fact, I have been guilty of those same sentiments. I can't help it, as an accountant, it’s my love language.

It also gives me lots of insights when I am not involved in the client’s day to day management. For the entrepreneur, my client, I saw that they often didn't open the financials we send.

Maybe they didn't want to know the truth and were in denial. Maybe they didn't feel comfortable reading them. To compensate and to make ourselves feel relevant, accountants try to entice them with a pretty graphical dashboard- an attempt to dumb it down.

I’m Guilty!!

So I got real with myself and listened to my clients. The financial statement is historical and often irrelevant to the decisions you need to make today for tomorrow. It’s clear what you really need is a simple way to see what’s coming up financially, not just where you have been.

Let’s Simple It Up!

The one metric that really matters is how much cash you have in the bank and how long will it keep you afloat or allow you to fund your next project.

Forecasting your cash is straightforward. As you understand your revenue and expense patterns from the past, you can make straightforward assumptions about the future and get a clear idea of when you will be either short of cash or have a surplus.

Let’s walk before we run. Accrual accounting reports have their purpose, but they don’t predict your cash on hand next week. That is what you need to know today.

In 30 days, our Cash Accelerator Program creates this future view for you. You will be in the know about how your business is going to perform. You will have data that builds confidence in your decisions.

You will have a direct line of sight about what you predict and what happens and as a result, you will get better at it. Finally, a simple way the numbers will work for you!

As an entrepreneur, how do you predict your cash needs? Hit reply and let me know.

There are also two spots left in our Cash Accelerator for February. Schedule your call and grab one today!

Cyndi