Insights from Dana
Uncrunching the Numbers: Key Financial Questions Every Business Owner Should Ask

Photo by Mackenzie Marco

The questions you ask can be as impactful as the actions you take.

Especially when it comes to the money you make.

You don’t have to be a math whiz to run a profitable business. But you can’t just check out of your finances either. Even if you do have an amazing accountant or a fantastic CFO.

Because even if you aren’t directly managing your company’s finances, learning how to understand your numbers, the story they tell, and what they mean for your business can completely change the opportunities you see. And the ones you seize.

 

The Power of Perspective 

When B joined Catapult Immersion®, she was pouring all of her time and energy into her business, but B wasn’t seeing the return on her investment.

As an incredibly linear, organized person, she had the spreadsheets to prove it. At least, if you looked at them the way she did, they told the same story. 

B was so focused on what wasn’t working, that was all she could see. Part of our work together was to shine a light on the story her numbers told about what was actually working and shift the way she saw her business.

For B, that started with getting curious about what she thought she knew about her numbers. 

Maybe you’re in the same boat. 

Or, for you, it starts with getting curious about what you don’t know about your numbers.

Wherever you’re coming from, cultivating curiosity will help expand your perspective and your understanding of what your numbers have to say so you can take more intentional, more impactful action.

From Numbers to Narrative

These key questions will put your numbers into context so you can understand where the money is coming from, and where it’s going, so you can make more informed, more strategic decisions about how you’re going to make more of it.

#1. How much recurring revenue is your company generating?

Are 50% of your customers coming back for more, or is it only 5%? Recurring revenue models help to create more accurate predictions of future sales and identify an important opportunity for growth. Your clients have already chosen you. What keeps them coming back?

#2. What is your current profit margin? How much revenue did your company have to bring in to achieve that margin? 

You don’t have to memorize all your numbers, but your revenue and profit margin are benchmarks used to measure business growth. Know where you stand.

#3. What are your most significant business expenses? What percentage of your total expenses do they represent? What about your total revenue?

The money coming in is only half of the equation. There are always costs to doing business. Knowing what your costs are creates a baseline for how much money your company needs to make to become more profitable–and why.

#4. What are your most profitable products or services? What percentage of your overall sales do they represent? What is the return on investment? 

Understanding where the money is coming from is essential to making more of it.  If you want to grow your company, and your profit margin, you need to know what services or products are moving the needle.

#5. What are your top-performing sales channels? What percentage of your sales do they represent? 

Whether you work in the traditional marketplace, e-commerce, B2C, or B2B, you need to know where your presence is driving profits and where you aren’t actually making that ROI. Checking in on a regular basis can help identify underutilized channels and untapped opportunities along with oversaturated markets and developing client trends.

#6. What is your client acquisition cost? 

Your client acquisition cost is the measure of how much your company spends to gain a single new customer. This number combines your overhead, marketing, sales, and labor expenditures into context on a per-customer basis. It is especially important because it can serve as an important indicator of growth. It can also be a warning flag if your client acquisition cost exceeds the amount of money your average customer spends with your company.

 

Turning Financial Insight into Profitable Action

Instead of memorizing numbers that don’t make sense to you, these six questions paint a picture of your business financials so that you have the context you need to understand:

  • How much you’re making
  • How much you’re spending
  • Where the money is coming from
  • What your cost of doing business is
  • What your clients want from you
  • What solutions they’re willing to pay for
  • The gaps that need closing
  • The opportunities ripe for the picking

Financial strategy is a fundamental pillar of any successful business. By asking these key questions, you’re developing the data and the financial literacy you need to make informed, strategic decisions that will make your company more successful, more sustainable, and more profitable.

For B, that meant working together to enhance her operations – closing money leaks, implementing processes, standardizing procedures, and effectively delegating the details so she could focus on her magic sauce. 

Catapult Immersion® changed the way B sees her business, her numbers, and the story they tell about the opportunities ahead. And along the way, we worked through the internal beliefs and unconscious narratives she carried around money to redefine her relationship with wealth and success.  

B tells a very different story about her numbers now. Over the course of our work together, her profit margin doubled, and then it doubled again the following year. Not only is she making enough to match the corporate salary she left behind to start her business, she’s only working four hours a day, and she’s only doing the client-facing work that she loves to do.

Because cultivating financial clarity empowers intentional action and transforms your company’s growth trajectory and the time it takes to achieve your goals.

And I have the stats to prove it.

  • 87% of my clients double their revenue within a year of working with me.
  • 92% of my clients clock 33% fewer hours at work by the end of our engagement.
  • 99% of my clients report they are truly satisfied with their work/life balance.

Are you next in line?

Take the first step and apply here today.


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