Knowing your numbers is one of the most powerful things you can do as a woman in business. Profit and performance is our theme this month, and last week something made that really obvious to me.
Let me set the scene. At Go-Getter Day, during our ‘work’ time, I invite three women from the Thriving Women community to sit alongside me and offer private fifteen-minute coaching sessions. I call it Queen’s Counsel. It’s a chance to take whatever you’re wrestling with and get focused, one-to-one help on the spot. No fluff, no waiting, just real support when you need it.
Last week we had the brilliant Deb Power as Counsel. Deb is a fractional CFO, and she’s developed a diagnostic tool that helps you understand your revenue, your profit, and where you can grow both. It’s exactly the kind of clarity most of us say we want.
But, unbelievably, Deb had spaces spare.
Spare spaces, to sit with someone who could show you precisely where your money is and isn’t working. That made me super curious, and a little reflective. Is it that we don’t know our numbers? Or is it that we don’t want to know them?
Why we look away
I think for a lot of us, it’s the second one.
The numbers can feel confronting. If we don’t look too closely, we don’t have to face what they might be telling us. So we keep our heads down, stay busy, and quietly hope it’s all working out. We tell ourselves we’ll get to it next quarter, after the busy season, once things settle down. And the spreadsheet stays closed.
I get it. I’ve been there. Years ago, I didn’t have a proper handle on my own expenses, and the not-knowing was a low hum of anxiety in the background of my business.
What changed it was simple. I blocked out an hour every Friday and went through every single line in my Xero account. The accountants and bookkeepers out there will be very happy with me. But what it did was give me a real grounding in my own financials. No surprises. No vague sense of dread. Just clarity.
Avoiding the numbers doesn’t make them go away. It just means you’re making decisions in the dark.
We need to talk about money more as women
We’ll happily share our struggles, our wins and our dreams, yet money stays in the too-hard basket. We’ll discuss our clients, our content, our mindset, our families. But ask us about our profit margin and suddenly the room goes quiet.
That has to change. Understanding where your money is, or isn’t, gives you power. It lets you decide from a place of knowing rather than guessing. It takes the fear out and puts you back in the driver’s seat.
And there’s no shame in your numbers. Better than you thought or worse, they’re just information. Information you can work with. The number itself isn’t good or bad. It’s simply the starting point for your next decision.
Getting a little braver this week
You don’t have to overhaul your whole financial system to make a start. You just have to look. Here’s where I’d begin.
- Open the spreadsheet you’ve been avoiding. The one you keep meaning to update. Just open it. That’s the hardest part done.
- Ask the question you’ve been dodging. What did I actually make last month? What’s my real profit, not my revenue? Which offer makes me the most money, and which one drains me?
- Pick one number to understand properly. Don’t try to master all of it at once. Choose one, your monthly expenses, your average client value, your profit margin, and get to know it.
- Book the time in your diary. Like I did with my Friday hour. Make it a standing appointment with yourself and keep it. Clarity comes from consistency, not from one frantic session.
- Get help if you need it. If the numbers genuinely confuse you, that’s exactly what people like Deb exist for. Asking for help is a sign you’re taking this seriously, not a sign you’re failing.
Clarity is what propels you forward
Here’s what I’ve come to believe after years of working with women in business. The thing that moves you to the next level isn’t more hustle or more hours. It’s clarity.
Everything that works at fifty thousand breaks at one hundred and fifty thousand. Everything that works at one hundred and fifty thousand breaks again at three hundred thousand. You cannot grow what you refuse to look at. And you cannot make confident decisions about a business you only half understand.
Your numbers aren’t there to judge you. They’re there to guide you. Let them.