Figures Without Fear

Is Growth Actually Profitable? When we talk about business growth, we usually talk about turnover. More sales. More customers. More money coming in. But more turnover doesn’t always mean more profit. In fact, your business can be growing on paper while you’re working harder, spending more and still not paying yourself properly. In this episode of Figures Without Fear, I’m looking at what profitabl...

Stop Celebrating Sales – Start Measuring Them A sale is great news. But the real question is: was it actually a good sale? In this episode of Figures Without Fear, I’m looking at why small business owners need to go beyond simply counting sales and start measuring what those sales are actually telling them. Because turnover alone doesn't tell you whether a sale was profitable, whether it cost too...

Are you so busy delivering work for your current customers that you’ve stopped thinking about where your next customers are coming from? If so, you’re definitely not alone. One of the biggest causes of peaks and troughs in small businesses is that when we’re busy, marketing is often the first thing to disappear. We stop following up. We stop networking. We stop posting. We stop checking our pipeli...

Welcome to another episode of Figures Without Fear, the podcast designed to help small business owners understand their numbers, what those numbers are telling them and how to use them to make better decisions. In today’s episode, we’re talking about a number that a lot of business owners never actually calculate: The value of your sales pipeline. I recently covered this with my Mastermind clients...

Welcome to another episode of Figures Without Fear, the podcast where we take the fear out of your figures and help you use your numbers to build a stronger, more profitable business — and importantly, one that pays you properly. Today, I want to talk about something that I learned the hard way very early on in my own business journey. Are you overly dependent on one customer? Because having a bri...

🔥 How quickly is your business burning through its cash? And perhaps the more important question… If sales suddenly slowed down, how long could your business keep going? Three months? Six months? A couple of weeks? Or do you genuinely have no idea? This week's episode of Figures Without Fear is all about your business burn rate — one of those numbers that sounds very corporate, but that I think e...

Do you know your real break-even point? And I don't mean the number you think your business needs to cover the bills each month. I mean the actual number your business needs to generate once you've taken into account your costs, the cost of delivering your work and — very importantly — you getting paid too. Because getting this number wrong can affect far more than just your accounts. It can affec...

Is your business actually a business… or has it accidentally become a rather expensive hobby? That might sound like a slightly uncomfortable question, but in this episode of Figures Without Fear, I’m looking at the difference between simply having a business and actually behaving like the CEO of one. Because being busy doesn’t automatically mean you’re building a successful business. You can have...

Your time isn’t free — even when no money leaves your bank account. As a small business owner, it’s easy to reach the end of a busy day feeling exhausted but unsure what you’ve actually achieved. You’ve answered emails, completed admin, tweaked your website and created content, but have any of those activities generated income, improved the business or moved a customer closer to buying? In this ep...

You might not need more customers. You might just need to keep the ones you already have for longer. In this episode of Figures Without Fear, I’m exploring the hidden profit in customer retention and why constantly chasing new leads may not be the best or most profitable growth strategy for your business. We’ll look at why customers leave, how to create a better experience that encourages them to...

Are you running a business that pays everyone except you? Your software gets paid. Your suppliers get paid. Your accountant gets paid. But when it comes to your own pay, are you still taking whatever is left at the end of the month? And is there ever very much left? In this episode, I’m introducing you to my Me First Method — a completely different way to look at your business numbers. Instead of...

Welcome to episode 30 of the Figures Without Fear podcast. How much is one customer really worth to your business? You might be thinking about the value of their first purchase, but that could be only the beginning. A customer who spends £100 with you today could go on to spend £1,000, £5,000 or more over the course of your relationship. In this episode of Figures Without Fear, I explain Customer...

Welcome to episode 29 of the Figures Without Fear podcast. This week, we are talking about the three revenue reports every small business CEO should be reviewing weekly. Now, before you immediately decide this sounds far too grown up, too corporate, or too spreadsheety for you, stay with me. Because I am not talking about complicated reports, scary dashboards or anything that requires you to sit i...

Have you ever looked at your marketing and thought, "I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing... so why isn't it bringing in more customers?" The truth is, most small business owners are incredibly busy with their marketing. They're posting on social media, going networking, sending emails and updating their websites. But very few of them are actually measuring whether any of it is working. A...

Welcome to another episode of Figures Without Fear. Today, I want to ask you a simple question: do you actually know which of your offers make you money? Not which ones sell the most. Not which ones get the best feedback. Not which ones your clients tell you they love. The ones that genuinely contribute to your profits and help you pay yourself properly. Because one of the biggest surprises I see...

Most small business owners think they are the biggest asset in their business. And at the start, that's probably true. Your skills, knowledge and expertise are the reason your business exists in the first place. But here's a question that might make you a little uncomfortable... 👉 Are you still the asset? Or have you accidentally become the bottleneck? It's not always an easy question to answer....

Welcome back to Figures Without Fear, the podcast that helps new and small business owners understand the numbers in their business without needing an accounting qualification to do it. Today, I want to talk about something that most business owners never stop to calculate, but that could be having a huge impact on their profits. What does it actually cost you to acquire a customer? Now, most busi...

Welcome back to Figures Without Fear. This week's episode is a little more personal than usual because I'm sharing a lesson that took me years, and quite a lot of money, to learn. Like many business owners, I started my business because I wanted more freedom, more flexibility and the ability to pay myself a decent income. For me, that number was £5,000 a month. The problem was, I convinced myself...

Are you pricing your products and services based on what your business actually needs… or are you simply charging what everyone else seems to be charging? Because if you're working hard, making sales, staying busy, and still struggling to pay yourself properly at the end of the month, your pricing could be the real problem. In this week's episode of Figures Without Fear, I'm tackling one of the bi...

Most small business owners think the answer to making more money is getting more customers. But what if the real problem isn’t sales… What if it’s what’s happening to the money after it comes into the business? Because I see this all the time: Busy businesses. Fully booked diaries. Money coming in regularly. …and yet the business owner still isn’t paying themselves properly. Why? Because turnover...

As sole traders we are taught to pay ourselves whatever is left at the end of the month. But what if that amount is not enough? The problem is not too little turnover The problem is not too few clients or customers The problem is not understanding the difference between gross profit and net profit. And that misunderstanding quietly kills businesses. You can be: ✔ Making sales ✔ Growing revenue ✔ S...

Let me ask you something… How many potential customers have you spoken to recently… that just quietly disappeared? No follow-up. No system. No idea what happened next. Because if you’re anything like most business owners—I’ve been there too—you’re relying on memory, messages, and a bit of hope to manage your sales. And that’s where things start slipping through the cracks. Great conversations… gon...

Let me ask you something… Have you ever looked at your business and thought, “I just need to make more money”? So you push harder. More sales. More clients. More pressure. And on the surface, it looks like it’s working. Your revenue goes up. Your business grows. But somehow… nothing really changes for you. You’re busier than ever. More stressed than before. And still not paying yourself what you’r...

Let’s talk about something most business owners don’t realise until they’re deep into it… Your break-even number probably isn’t what you think it is. On paper, it seems simple. Earn enough to cover your costs, and you’re good… right? But in reality, it’s rarely that straightforward. You can be busy. You can have money coming in. You can even feel like things are working… And still not be properly...

Starting a business is exciting. You’ve got the ideas, you’ve got the energy, and you’ve got a vision. You know what you want and as long as you stay positive and just keep going you will get there, right? But here’s the truth most people don’t tell you: Just because you started a business doesn’t mean you’re acting like the CEO. A real CEO doesn’t just do things — they make decisions based on cla...