As we bid farewell to this year and welcome a new one, I want to take a moment to wish you all the very best: happiness in your heart, joy this season, and peace in our world. Happy Holidays!
As we look ahead to 2025, it’s the perfect time to reflect on our financial goals and dreams. What do you want to achieve in the year ahead? Whether you’re a business owner or an individual working toward personal financial growth, this season is a great opportunity to celebrate your progress, renew your commitment to your goals, and stay thankful for the possibilities that lie ahead.
The best gift you can give your business this season—and in the year to come—is a strategy for success. And a key part of that strategy is healthy cash flow, the gift that keeps on giving.
A Healthy Cash Flow: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
One of the best ways to achieve financial freedom is by being proactive and creating strategies that support a healthy cash flow and long-term growth. Too often, business owners focus on the day-to-day hustle and neglect the financial systems that keep their business stable and thriving. But I’ve seen firsthand how the right tools and strategies can help entrepreneurs take control of their finances and achieve lasting success.
So, let’s get started on the right foot. Here’s my recipe for the Profit Pie—a formula that’s helped many businesses thrive, even in challenging times. Ready to bake some financial success into your future? Here’s how:
Ingredients for the Profit Pie:
2 cups of Accepting Help The first step toward success is realizing you don’t have to do everything alone. Partner with a professional who can help you craft a solid roadmap for growth. Whether it’s a CFO or a Cash Flow Strategist, the right guidance can make all the difference.
1 cup of the Right Tools Whether you’re using a SWOT analysis, a customized CFO package, or even something as simple as a well-organized spreadsheet, the right tools are essential for growth. The key is to be proactive, not reactive. Learn to anticipate financial challenges and opportunities before they happen.
3/4 tablespoon of Commitment to the Plan Discipline and consistency are essential to success. Once you’ve crafted your financial plan, stick with it. Set goals, identify strategies, and watch as your commitment pays off in the long run. The rewards are there if you stay the course.
1/2 teaspoon of Education and Practice The more you learn about cash flow management, the more confident you’ll become in your financial decisions. Educate yourself on everything from budgeting to forecasting, and practice implementing these strategies in your business. It’ll pay off in spades.
1 pinch of Faith for Success Surround yourself with experts, mentors, and people who believe in you and your vision. Trust the process, trust your team, and trust in your ability to create the financial future you’ve always wanted.
The Team Effort of Cash Flow Management
If you’ve been managing your business finances solo, it might be time to consider enlisting some expert help. Cash flow management is a team effort—it’s not something you should be doing on your own. A cash flow consultant or a CFO can help you make informed decisions, navigate financial challenges, and plan for the future with confidence. In 2025, let’s focus on working on your business, alongside a strong support team of financial experts, so you can confidently scale your operations.
Gratitude and Looking Ahead
As the year comes to a close, I’m deeply grateful for the trust my clients have placed in me. It’s been an honor to help so many dedicated, hardworking business owners navigate their financial journeys, and I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to educate, guide, and serve in ways that truly make a difference.
If you’re ready to take your cash flow strategy to the next level in 2025, I’d love to work with you. Whether you need help collaborating with your CPA or simply want guidance on building a financial roadmap for the new year, I’m here to support you. Find confidence and comfort in the financial health of your business this holiday season and beyond.
Schedule your complimentary consultation today by calling (303) 901-4823. Together, we’ll make 2025 your most financially successful year yet!
Wishing you all the joy, peace, and prosperity the holiday season can bring. Let’s set the stage for an amazing 2025!
In my last newsletter we highlighted the possibilities of adding value to your team of subject matter experts by surrounding yourself with both a CPA and a CFO or Cash Flow Consultant to help you optimize cash flow and maximize profitability. Your CFO should be helping you with proactive financial strategies. The CPA, your tax compliance expert, takes the opposite approach, viewing finances from the rearview mirror as a reactive strategist. I find it unfortunate that we business owners are usually groomed to manage our businesses from a tax perspective. What if you combined the financial conversation of how much taxes will I owe this year with how much cash do I need to reserve now to pay those taxes?
My Dirty Little Secret around working with CPA’s is that you can be profitable and have a cash flow problem. A common circumstance is when the business profits pass through to the owner’s personal tax return and the owner owes a large sum of taxes but doesn’t learn that fact until the taxes are due in April. This scenario confirms another Dirty Little Secret: The CPA is your tax compliance expert—NOT a cash flow expert. You can avoid these kinds of cash flow storms by considering the value of working with both subject matter experts; one to answer the question of “What is my tax liabilities projected to be for this year?”. The other to help you plan for cash requirements, and both working together to get more money into your pockets.
Slower summer days is the perfect time to sit down with your Cash Flow Consultant and your CPA to take a good look at your year so far.
Although no one wants to think about taxes in the middle of the summer, having eyes on year end taxes can give you peace of mind. The conversation now between you, your CPA, and your Cash Flow Expert should be focused on what your estimated taxes will be for 2020. If you’re profitable mid-year, what kinds of strategies should you be creating now to help reduce the tax liabilities before year’s end? Always looking at taxes from a proactive position, rather than a reactive position, can help you forecast your cash flow and optimize your profitability. This will help you avoid the end of the year scramble, and the stress that comes with it!
Let’s talk about the role of your CPA and adding value by working together with your CFO or Cash Flow Consultant to help you optimize cash flow and maximize profitability. The role of your CPA is normally focused on tax compliance. It’s their job to keep you out of harm’s way with the IRS and local tax agencies. It’s important to note, however, most CPA’s are looking in the rear-view mirror to figure out what your tax liabilities will be for the current year. This subject matter expert is most focused on net profits and how to minimize that to help you pay the least amount in taxes, right? Managing cash flow is best served by creating proactive (not reactive) strategies. It also requires a higher net profit to help with future cash requirements. Bottom line, your conversations with your CPA can’t always be about taxes and how to pay less money to the government. A better question might be: How do you increase your net profit for cash flow and work with your CPA to figure out tax strategies to get more money into your pockets instead of paying more in taxes? To answer that question, it will take the best of two subject matter experts – your CPA and your CFO/Cash Flow Consultant.
Red Flags with your CPA:
It’s not uncommon for me to come in as a Fractional CFO/Cash Flow Consultant and uncover the shortfalls that the CEO is having with their current CPA. Here are my top red flags that you may not have the right CPA working with you:
You were surprised in April to learn how much taxes you owed
You don’t have 2020 projected tax liabilities to minimize year end surprises
You are still awaiting your 2019 tax return extension
No mid-year tax strategy meeting scheduled with your CPA
No clear strategy on 2020 owner’s compensation splits between W2 wages and owner distributions
How do you know if you need to add a CFO to work alongside your CPA?
A CEO recently contacted me because the feeling of his financials being out of his control was keeping him awake at night. He knew he was bringing in money, but he was basically trusting his COO, bookkeeper, and CPA to handle it all. He was profitable and was already paying a fair amount of money via quarterly tax estimates. None of these subject matter experts could answer the question that was keeping him awake at night: “I am showing a nice net profit but am still juggling vendor bills and struggling to make payroll on a regular basis. Where is all the money going?”
Managing cash flow takes a team of subject matter experts. If you are putting all your eggs into one trusted subject matter expert, your CPA, to handle all financial activities in your company, I would encourage you to expand your financial conversations. As an Outsourced CFO, we come into the sandbox with a different perspective on your financials. We take a 360 view; not just a two-dimensional view of profits and taxes. We incorporate the cash flow component and facilitate the conversation with your CPA and other trusted advisors to help you proactively manage those quarterly tax payments. We are getting answers at this time of the year to know how much money owners will pay in taxes; and helping to create proactive strategies to reserve cash and help owners find peace of mind..
The bottom line is you need to be talking to your CPA now to plan for end of year tax liabilities. Add a Cash Flow Consultant to the conversation and you will ensure that you will have enough cash reserves to not run out of money. By working together with these two subject matter experts, I am sure you will find empowerment around your financials and will sleep like a baby at night not worrying about making payroll!
Your CPA is trying to minimize net income and reduce tax liability, but your CFO is trying to increase net income to meet future cash flow requirements. What if you could all have one conversation?
Watch my video below to learn how to create a well-rounded team of subject matter experts to help get more money into your pocket.
