I’m 32. Hopefully I have 40+ years left to build businesses.
That makes me much less interested in forcing 70% growth every year.
Grow at a healthy rate.
Stay profitable.
Don’t let the business die.
Time can handle a lot of the rest.
I built my fractional CFO firm off of sound financial principles.
Now I'm sharing how I'm building it and the business finance lessons I've learned working with 40+ clients.
Join here:
smbblueprint.co
Taking risk is part of business.
Stacking too many risks at once is how good businesses get killed.
A new hire can work.
A new product can work.
An acquisition can work.
Just don’t make all 3 bets with the same cash.
How to review customer concentration:
1. Rank clients by revenue
2. Calculate what your top 1, top 3, and top 10 clients account for
3. Model your payroll and margins without the biggest clients
4. Write down what you’d cut and who you’d call first
Do it while everything is going well, not when you’re scrambling to make payroll.
3 reasons “profitable” companies still run out of cash:
1. Customers pay too slowly (net 60-90 terms)
2. Inventory absorbs cash (bulk orders that sit for months)
3. Growth gets funded before collections catch up (new hires, ad spend)
Profitability does not guarantee liquidity.
We've helped over 100 businesses get their finances in order.
If you need help or just want to ask some questions, schedule a call here: calendly.com/cabene/scalable…
Connor Abene retweeted
My first fractional CFO engagement paid $250.
I had no idea what to charge. I probably got the job because $250 was what that company spent on lunch.
Years later, we’re on pace to do $6M in revenue.
Start embarrassingly low if you have to. Just get the reps in. You can raise your rate once you've done the work.
My first fractional CFO engagement paid $250.
I had no idea what to charge. I probably got the job because $250 was what that company spent on lunch.
Years later, we’re on pace to do $6M in revenue.
Start embarrassingly low if you have to. Just get the reps in. You can raise your rate once you've done the work.
Need help with your business finances?
We've worked with 100+ businesses on cash flow, profit, and growth. If you want help with yours, book a free call: calendly.com/cabene/scalable…
Founders call a lot of problems “temporary.”
• Low margins
• Scope creep
• Late-paying clients
• Owner dependence
𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹.
Connor Abene retweeted
Helping a client find three sales roles:
- SMB AE: Shopify ecosystem, one-call close. $140-280K OTE
- Growth hacker/SDR: builds and owns automated outbound with agents $150-180K OTE
- Enterprise AE: multi-threaded retail and big-brand deals
If you are interested or know someone who’s a fit , send me a DM.
I can give a client all the reporting in the world.
They’ll still flip to net income and cash first.
So put those two numbers at the top. Then use the rest of the report to explain why they moved.
Need help with your business finances?
We've worked with 100+ businesses on cash flow, profit, and growth. If you want help with yours, book a free call: calendly.com/cabene/scalable…
Every business has a ceiling.
Market size.
Geography.
Capacity.
Talent.
Distribution.
A local HVAC company can dominate one city and still have a natural growth limit.
The obvious move is to enter another city.
But “obvious” doesn't mean “right.”
New markets bring new people, systems, capital, and complexity.
So before you try breaking through a ceiling, make sure the next level is worth the hassle.
The highest-return decision is not always the right decision.
I’d rather earn 4% and sleep well than chase 10% while adding risk I don’t need.
Finance is personal.
If your team is always “busy,” track where their hours go for 2 weeks:
• Billable work
• Internal work
• Rework
• Meetings
• Waiting time
Then fix the biggest leak before you add headcount.
A founder who says “I’m not a numbers person” is usually just avoiding a part of the job they don’t enjoy.
I built my fractional CFO firm off of sound financial principles.
Now I'm sharing how I'm building it and the business finance lessons I've learned working with 40+ clients.
Join here:
smbblueprint.co
I waited longer to buy my house so I could put 50% down.
Financially optimal?
Maybe not.
But I wanted the mortgage to feel closer to normal rent instead of stretching myself because a bank said I could.
Peace of mind > ROI
This is the fastest way to find wasted spend:
Export every recurring expense from the last 3 months, then mark each one:
Keep: Still useful and fairly priced.
Renegotiate: Useful but too expensive.
Cancel: No longer needed.
Investigate: Unclear owner, purpose, or ROI.
Don’t leave any of them unclassified.
82% of SMBs fail due to poor cash flow management.
That's why I created a 5-day crash course to help you:
• Increase your cash flow
• Understand your finances
• Maintain healthy gross margins
Get it for FREE today 👇
smbblueprint.co