Every Cent Counts

09/30/2026

There will be a month when skipping the financial review feels not just forgivable but sensible. Work is heavy, something's gone wrong, the hour is needed elsewhere.

That month is the diagnostic one.

A busy month is exactly when pricing drifts, when receivables stretch because nobody had time to chase them, when a cost creeps in unnoticed, and when the cash position moves fastest. It's the month whose numbers you most need to see — and it shows up disguised as the month you can least afford to look at them.

So don't skip it. Shorten it. Twenty minutes, two blocks: confirm the books are closed, write down one decision, file the page. The chain holds and the month leaves a trace.

Today's post has the full sixty-minute version, plus how long the IRS actually requires you to keep business records. (It's longer than most owners assume.)

09/28/2026

"Revenue up ten percent" is not a forecast. It's a mood expressed as a number.

You can't check it in March. You can't defend it when someone asks. And you can't correct it when it's wrong, because you'll never know which part was off.

"Twenty-six retainer clients at $425 a month" is a forecast. Both halves are things you can count, and either one can be found wrong on its own.

That one change does more than everything else combined.

Today's post walks through five steps for forecasting a year without a finance background — and shows, with real numbers, why a bad year costs you more profit than you'd guess. In the example: revenue down 18%, profit down 43%.

No modeling software required. An afternoon the first time, under an hour after that.

Nine years running, more small firms expected revenue growth than got it. Five steps to forecast a year without a modeling background.

09/23/2026

If your costs feel like they've risen faster than your prices this year, you're not imagining it.

The government tracks both. Over the past twelve months, the prices businesses pay rose 5.4%. The prices consumers pay rose 3.4%. That gap comes out of your margin.

And some costs are far worse than that average. Diesel is up nearly 78% over the same period. Truck freight is up 14%.

Here's the part worth acting on: that kind of squeeze shows up as a slow drift, not a bad month. If you're only looking at your numbers once a year, you'll see the result long after you could have done something about it.

Today's post covers the six numbers worth checking every month — and, just as usefully, which popular metrics you can safely ignore.

Producer prices are up 5.4 percent, consumer prices 3.4 percent. That gap is a margin squeeze, and it decides which number matters most this year.

09/21/2026

Here's a question worth thinking about this week: when did you last look at your business's numbers to decide something, rather than just to check them?

Most owners look closely once a year, usually right before a tax deadline. That's looking backward — seeing what already happened, when it's too late to change it.

The shift that makes the biggest difference isn't hiring anyone or buying new software. It's using the same numbers you already have to ask "what should we do next?" — and doing it on a regular schedule instead of once a year.

Ten minutes a week on cash. An hour a month on the bigger picture. That's genuinely most of it.

Bookkeeping answers what happened. CFO thinking answers what to do next. Same records, different questions, different calendar.

09/18/2026

Here's something worth checking this weekend, and it takes about five minutes.

Search for your own business on Google, on your phone. Look at what comes up. If there's a "Book" or "Order" button on your listing — tap it. Where does it actually go?

Google allows third-party partners to add booking links to business profiles automatically. You don't have to approve it, and you won't get a notification. So it's entirely possible your customers are booking appointments with you through a middleman you've never heard of, who may be taking a cut.

If you find one, you can remove it, and you can set your own link as the preferred one so it shows first.

Today's post walks through that plus how to set up booking properly — including the single biggest thing that costs you appointments, which is asking for too much information before someone has committed to anything.

Google says booking links can appear on your profile automatically, added by third-party partners. Worth checking whose link your customers are clicking.

09/16/2026

Two things worth doing this month that most people leave until December — and one of them can't be fixed later at all.

First, the easy one: if you pay contractors, pull your vendor list now and check you have a W-9 for everyone who'll need a 1099. Chasing three missing forms in September takes an hour. Chasing them in January, from vendors you last worked with in March, takes considerably longer.

Second, the one that genuinely can't be undone: if your business is an S corporation and you take distributions, the paycheck question is settled through payroll — and payroll happens on dates. Wages paid in 2027 are 2027 wages. There's no way to decide in March that you meant to run a salary last year.

Today's post has the full list, sorted by when each option actually closes rather than by importance. Including what genuinely can wait for December.

Charitable rules changed for 2026. A new floor means that for some givers, when you give is now worth more than how much.

09/14/2026

Reminder: if you pay quarterly estimated taxes, the third payment is due tomorrow — Tuesday, September 15. Virginia's is due the same day.

If cash is tight this week, here's the thing worth knowing: don't skip it waiting until you can pay the whole amount. The charge is calculated on what's unpaid and how long it stays unpaid, so paying part of it tomorrow genuinely costs you less than paying all of it in three weeks.

And one small habit that saves an afternoon next April — save the confirmation number somewhere you'll actually find it. Reconstructing which payments went out and when is one of the most avoidable annoyances at filing time.

Today's post has the full walkthrough plus every tax date between now and next spring.

Due Tuesday, federally and in Virginia. What to send, how to send it, and what the IRS's new automatic penalty relief does not cover.

09/09/2026

Quick heads up if you've been thinking about starting a retirement plan for your business this year.

One of the most common small business options — the SIMPLE IRA — has to be set up by October 1 to count for this year. That's 22 days from today. And it's not about funding it by then. The plan itself has to exist.

Miss that window and the earliest it can take effect is January 1.

There's no notification when the date passes. Nothing arrives in the mail. It just quietly stops being an option for the year, which is why it's worth deciding one way or the other in the next three weeks — even if the decision is "not this year."

Today's post covers that plus how to size next Tuesday's estimated tax payment against a real number instead of just repeating last quarter's.

A SIMPLE IRA has to be established by October 1 to count for this year. That is 22 days out, and it is not the only clock running.

09/07/2026

If you're planning to buy equipment before year-end for the tax deduction, here's the detail that catches people out every single year.

The deduction depends on when the equipment is "placed in service" — meaning ready and actually usable — not when you ordered it or paid for it.

So if you decide in December, and it ships in January? Or arrives December 28th and gets installed in February? You spent this year's money and get next year's deduction.

That's the whole reason to think about this now rather than in December. Anything that needs delivery, installation, or setup should be decided in September or October. Simple purchases can wait.

One more thing worth knowing: a deduction gives you back a percentage of what you spent, never all of it. Buying something you don't need to save on taxes leaves you poorer — just with extra equipment.

Equipment must be placed in service by December 31, not ordered by December 31. That one word is why year-end planning happens in September.

09/04/2026

Here's a ten-minute exercise worth doing this weekend if someone else manages your website.

Log into your domain registrar. Are you the owner, or is your web company? Then check your Google Business Profile — are you listed as the owner, or just a manager? Then try opening Google Analytics without asking anyone for access.

If any of those answers is "I'm not sure," that's the finding. None of it means anyone's done anything wrong. It does mean that if the relationship ended tomorrow, getting your own website back could be slow and expensive.

Today's post covers that checklist, plus which numbers in a monthly report actually mean something and which just look busy.

Google names rank-checking by scraping Search as a spam policy violation. It is also how a lot of monthly ranking reports get made.