How a Finance Savvy CEO® Masters Business Finance: 4 Essentials to Gain Financial Clarity & Build Confidence
Did you know 82% of small businesses fail due to poor financial management? Now you’re likely thinking “Eek, help with my business finances!” That’s a staggering number, but it doesn’t have to be your reality. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by managing your business finances, you’re not alone—and we’re here to guide you.
As a Finance Savvy CEO®, gaining financial clarity is the first step toward building a sustainable, profitable business that stands the test of time.
These four essentials will help you gain financial clarity, operate your business with confidence, and ensure long-term success.
A Strategic Plan
As a business owner, you have a vision for what you want your business to be and many ideas that you’d love to implement. The key to success involves creating a strategy, a plan, to turn that vision into reality. A Finance Savvy CEO® knows that a solid strategic plan is the backbone of business success.
To get financial clarity, it’s crucial to ask yourself: Where do you want your business to be in one, three, or five years? With a clear destination, it’s possible to make informed financial choices. Think of a strategic plan as the roadmap that charts your path forward based on your vision for your business. It outlines your vision, identifies market opportunities, and establishes long-term objectives.
Until we are clear on where we’re going and the different routes we can possibly take to get there, it’s nearly impossible to have confidence that we’re making the right financial decisions.
Often businesses need to pay more attention to strategic planning and want to skip straight to financial planning. But, we must first be clear on what exactly we’re financially planning for.
Curious about how to build a strategic plan? This blog post gives you the foundations for building a successful strategic plan.
Money Mindset
A money mindset is your overarching attitude and feelings about your finances and money. It drives how you make key financial decisions every day. It even has a big impact on your ability to achieve your goals. A Finance Savvy CEO® understands that their money mindset shapes the way they approach financial decisions. Are you viewing money as a limited resource, or are you confident in your ability to earn what you’re worth? Shifting to a growth-oriented money mindset can transform how you manage your business finances.
Reflect on your past relationship with money, then commit to changing any limiting beliefs. For example, instead of thinking, “I can’t charge that much,” shift to “My value justifies my pricing.” A Finance Savvy CEO® uses a positive money mindset to price their services based on value, not fear.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t had a good relationship with money in the past, what’s most important is your future relationships with money.
A Financial Plan
With a strategic plan and a strong money mindset in place, it’s time for a Finance Savvy CEO® to build a financial plan.
“Unless your business is just a hobby and you’re okay being in the 60% of business owners who are either losing money or making zero profit and your only plan is to hustle your butt off, then you need a financial plan for your business.” – Marguerite Pressley Davis, Founder of Finance Savvy CEO and Creator of Your Profit Playbook
A financial plan helps you forecast the revenue to help you accomplish that vision, manage expenses, and set profitability goals. It is your roadmap to success, enabling you to allocate resources effectively and make informed decisions. Hope is not a strategy – profitability requires careful financial planning.
Consistent and Frequent Financial management
A Finance Savvy CEO® doesn’t just create financial plans—they actively manage their finances. If you’re going off track, no worries, since you have a roadmap, you’ll be able to see right away that you are off track and be able to course-correct accordingly.
Consistently and frequently managing your financial metrics and measuring this performance against your plan is absolutely critical to you being able to keep a gauge on the financial health of your business and ultimately gain financial clarity.
As a rule of thumb, I always recommend performing financial check-ins once per week. Ultimately, I do it daily but when you’re just starting out with this concept, get in the habit of performing these check-ins weekly.
Are you a small business owner ready to take control of your finances and achieve your financial goals? The Intentionally Profitable Planner is specially designed for small business owners to help you achieve your money goals and transform your financial trajectory – even if you’ve never had a financial process before or thought of finances makes your head spin. Pre-order now!
Conclusion
Becoming a Finance Savvy CEO® means taking control of your business finances and building a short-term and long-term roadmap for success. By creating a strategic plan, adopting a strong money mindset, developing a detailed financial plan, and conducting consistent and frequent financial check-ins, you’ll gain the clarity and confidence to run a sustainable, profitable business.
