If you’re like many construction business owners and leaders, you’re strong on the construction and operations part of the business, or maybe sales and business development are in your wheelhouse, but when it comes to the financial side, you have questions like…
What’s the story your financial reports are telling you?
How do you get the financial side of the business set up right, understand what your financial reports are telling you, and use that information to “steer the ship?”
How can you predict cash flow at least a few months in the future?
The lack of confidence in your financial reporting...or the complete lack of financial reporting makes it difficult to make crucial decisions about your business, like…
- Can you afford to hire a new employee?
- How should you price your work so it’s profitable?
- Which projects should you bid on, and what should you avoid?
- Do you need a line of credit, and what does it take to secure financing?
Ryan was grappling with a lot of those same questions. Here’s his story…
Ryan was good at selling and project management, so he made the jump and started his own business doing remodeling, then grew into custom homes and some commercial work.
After a few years of growing the business, he felt like he was flying blind.
He was doing several types of projects, had several employees, but he didn’t feel like he had his thumb on the pulse of his business finances. Things were going OK, and he knew he was profitable...but there were a few things he didn’t know that bothered him.
“Which types of work are most profitable, and what should I stay away from?”
“What are my financial statements telling me? What do I need to do with them?”
“I need to hire a project manager and some field staff, but how do I know I can afford to?”
“What is my cash flow going to look like over the next 6 months.”
“How is my business doing compared to everybody else? Am I behind where I should be?”
Ryan’s lack of clarity and the lack of confidence in the financial side of his business caused some sleepless nights and got him into projects that lost money.
He also missed out on opportunities to hire good people he really felt like he needed, but wasn’t confident enough to pull the trigger on.
I’m curious...have you experienced any of those frustrations and questions?