One of the most common areas of feedback we receive from clients comes from our Simple Numbers P&L view. Traditional financial reporting has so many lines and accounts that the reader will go cross-eyed! In developing our view of the P&L, we had a couple of objectives in mind. The first was to keep the most critical and actionable data visible. This would include gross margin, direct labor, management labor, and operating income. We then attacked the remainder of the P&L by b

We are all overloaded. No one has the capacity. We are running around with our hair on fire. Essential things are slipping through the cracks. Our sales team is booked for weeks. There simply isn’t enough time in the day! Sounds like a list of good problems to have! Not really, especially when this is the case, and there is little to no profit to show for it. So where is the issue? If we are all so busy, then shouldn’t we be profitable? One of the most common reasons for this

At Simple Numbers, we consult with several hundred small business clients at any given time. We are asked many questions, from hiring to firing, capital, investment, labor efficiency, etc. Let’s focus on hiring for a moment regarding businesses looking to scale, as there are typically two approaches to adding the next person or persons to the payroll. To examine both methods, let’s start with the corresponding hiring questions: I have so much work coming in; how much labor sh

A significant pain point for clients in the $1-$5 million range is transitioning the owner from a do-it-all machine to a targeted role solely focused on scaling the company. The need for capital, stressed resources, and availability make this extremely difficult for many of our clients. For the most part, the owner has always been the primary driver of sales in the organization. Let’s face it: no one can sell like the owner can (in most cases!). Like clockwork, the answer to

We have seen it everywhere throughout the past year: employee productivity is down. How can business owners combat this decline in productivity? When base wages aren't working to drive high output, employers can try incentive plans. How these plans are structured is the difference between success and increased costs with no actual effect on productivity. The first thing to consider when structuring an incentive plan is what success looks like. What behavior or result are we

We’ve all been to a social event with other entrepreneurs when the “size of your business” conversation starts. In most cases, we tend to equate Revenue with size. We also often equate success with Revenue. As we see the inner workings of hundreds of businesses each year, we often return to the saying – “revenue is vanity; profit is sanity.” Let’s dig deeper and discuss why. Back to the conversation. “How large is your business?” “Well, we usually run around $20 million,” r

Imagine getting your first car as a teenager—was it an older model? Maybe one equipped with a tough-as-nails engine but lacking in horsepower at times? Did you have to turn off the A/C in the summer to make it to the top of a steep hill sometimes? Similarly, while working with business owners and executive teams, we often come across companies facing comparable situations. They might possess a strong value proposition and a competent team, but their engine fails to produce en

Over the years, we’ve taken hundreds of calls with small business owners to gather valuable insights.