Timeline – Stuart Morrison – SiGNAL My BiZHUB

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Stuart Morrison 9 months ago (edited)

Last week I shared some useful sales and marketing questions, to help clarify and distill any issues finding and keeping customers. This week’s questions are around Finance and Cashflow…

Some might argue that every function of a business is a sub-dept. of the finance dept. as everything in the business serves to deliver the business plan, which is based on the agreed figures and strategy to deliver the numbers forecast.

So here’s a few questions that might help clear the clutter and continue your cash flowing in a positive direction:

1) Can you see any patterns in your cash flow, lumpy, sporadic or unpredicatable? What do they suggest about the financial health of the business and can you prempt any “speedbumps” in future?

2) Where does money feel tight, and what recurring costs are most questionable or unclear in ROI?

3) How do you decide what to invest in next — and how do you evaluate that decision later (KPIs or other hard/provable metrics) and confirm it was a good decision?

4) What’s one financial habit you know would shift your clarity or control, but you haven’t yet built? Why and when will that change?

5) Where might you be undercharging or over-delivering — and why? How do you make changes to fix this?

6) If an investor asked you to explain your margins and customer acquisition costs today, how confident would you feel in sharing that information? How quickly can you access that info?

Hope these help promopt some thought provoking insights, feel free to add your own ideas, thoughts and questions below!

Rob Fryer, Gareth Turner and Lisa Woolnough

2 Comments
- Gareth Turner
  
  Thanks so much for sharing another brilliant set of questions — these are absolute gold for anyone trying to get a clearer grip on their business finances.
  
  I especially liked the reminder that every part of a business ultimately feeds into finance — whether it’s sales, operations, or marketing, everything should be aligned to support the bigger picture and the numbers that drive it.
  
  A couple of thoughts sparked as I read through:
  
  Question 1 really resonated — so many small businesses accept unpredictable cash flow as “normal” without stepping back to look for patterns or causes. Spotting those early can make all the difference between reacting and being prepared.
  
  Question 4 is a tough one — so many of us know the habit we need (whether it’s forecasting weekly, doing a monthly finance check-in, or reviewing pricing regularly), but keep putting it off. Would love to hear what habits others are working on building.
  
  These questions would make a great journaling prompt or even a team discussion if you’re not flying solo.
  
  Thanks again for sharing — I’ll be saving this post and recommending others give it a read too!
  
  If anyone reading this has tools, tips, or habits they use to stay on top of cash flow and finance — drop them below 👇 Let’s learn from each other.
  
  1
  
  9 months ago
  - Stuart Morrison
    
    @garethturner thanks for that and good tip about a regular reminder to check in on these thoughts. I always thought the FD should be more involved with marketing and sales as they get to see what actually works and has a direct impact on the bottom line. As time passes I do think that businesses, esp. smaller operations do understand this more and more, esp. as the business evolves.
    
    Anyway, some more big questions nexct week! What gtopics would people like some questions about?
    
    9 months ago