124 Key Aspects of a Profitable Business (with Adam Lean)
“The whole point of any business is to make a profit, and ‘profit’ and ‘cash flow’ are financial concepts, and so somebody has to be an expert at those financial concepts for a business to run well.”
Adam Lean is the Founder of The CFO Project, a business dedicated to helping small business owners have a financially healthy business by providing them their very own Chief Financial Officer. That way, they can focus more on what they do best while knowing that they are on the right track financially.
In this episode, we talk about:
Adam’s career trajectory, from corporate to the business world
The CFO Project, what it is and how it works
Difference between corporate and business world
What sets apart a successful business from a short-lived one
Why 50% of small businesses fail
How small businesses can manage their finances better
Adam’s take on sales
To learn more about the topics in this episode, be sure to check out Adam’s free resources for It’s Time to Sell listeners, and check out the full episode!
What The CFO Project is
We give business owners their own CFOs to meet with on a regular basis, and we have this system that the CFO will walk the business owner through every month, so that the business owner is very clear on the financial health of their business and what they need to do to get the business on track financially.
So the CFO does a lot of the behind-the-scenes work of understanding the financial status of the business and then meeting with the business owner so that the owner can understand their business better and help them make better, more informed decisions. That way, the business owner can focus on what they do best, which is usually sales and operations.
The Reality of Starting a Business
According to the Small Business Administration, 50% of all businesses never see their fifth birthday. That’s a sad reality.
Nobody goes into business thinking ‘I’m going to fail’ or ‘I’m never going to make it’; I mean business owners pour their time, money and energy – and even going to debt – for their business.
Why Small Businesses Fail
The biggest reason for why businesses fail is because of lack of financial management.
Most business owners get into business because they’re an expert at their craft. That is why business owners are usually great at operations and sales, because they love what they’re doing.
But at the end of the day, the whole point of any business is to make a profit, and ‘profit’ and ‘cash flow’ are financial concepts, and so somebody has to be an expert at those financial concepts for a business to run well. It would be very beneficial and smart for any business owner to get someone who is an expert in these matters to manage these aspects of the business for them.
