Strategy Meets Finance

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Schedule a call with us.

If your financial operations are not in order, you are probably leaving profit on the table, fighting cash flow problems, and making decisions without a clear view of your numbers.

In this episode Steve shares three fixes for your financial operations, starting with the foundation most companies overlook and ending with the biggest shift happening in finance right now: the CFO moving from scorekeeper to architect of the business. He also explains why this applies...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Schedule a call with us.

Margins are getting squeezed from every direction, and most companies are reacting too slowly to keep up. Often the people slowing things down are the very leaders who should be driving the change.

In this episode Steve explains why so many businesses are stuck moving slow, how a profitable income statement can still hide a business that is destroying value, and why financial visibility can be both a roadblock and a crutch. Then he walks...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Schedule a call with us.

Ask one of your direct reports to name the three to five things that define success in their role. If the answer is vague, you have a clarity problem, and it is costing you more than you think.

In this episode Steve shares the moment as a CFO that showed him how broken the typical review process is, and why job descriptions alone leave your team guessing. He walks through how to turn responsibilities into...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Schedule a call with us. 

Most business owners look at the bottom of their income statement, see a profit, and assume the business is doing well. That number ignores one of the biggest costs in the business: invested capital.

In this episode Steve breaks down the difference between accounting profit and economic profit, why invested capital changes the whole picture, and how looking only at the P&L can lead you to reward the wrong things. He also shares what s...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Schedule a call with us. 

Most business owners focus all their attention on profit. But some of the biggest cash flow problems in a business have nothing to do with profit at all.

In this episode Steve covers the second half of the eight levers of cash flow, the four that impact invested capital. Accounts receivable, work in progress, accounts payable, and capital expenditures. These are the levers that explain why a business can be profitable and still run out o...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Schedule a free call with us. 

Most business owners know cash flow matters. Very few know the specific levers that actually control it.

In this episode Steve kicks off a two-part series on the 8 levers of cash flow, starting with the 4 that drive profit. He walks through each one, why the order matters, and why the lever most owners reach for first is usually the one with the least upside.

Part two covers the four invested capital levers t...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Schedule a free call with us. 

Most businesses are so busy chasing work that they never stop to ask whether they are competing in the right market in the first place.

In this episode Steve digs into one of the four boxes in his strategy framework: market focus and position. He breaks down the three things you need to nail to get it right, your offer, your ideal customer, and your playing field, and why getting the analytics behind each o...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Schedule a free call with us. 

Steve was in a wrestling class recently when the coach said something that stuck with him. Just do stuff that works.

In this episode, he takes that idea into business and makes the case that most owners already know what works. They just keep getting pulled toward everything else. The new brand, the shiny tool, the flavor of the day. Meanwhile the real constraint sits there unsolved and the business stays stuck.

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar. 

Most business owners think they have a strategy, but most of them do not...

In this episode Steve gives you three quick ways to find out if your strategy is actually working, breaks down what strategy really means beyond the vision days and planning sessions, and walks through the framework he has spent decades developing and just put into a book.

If your team cannot agree on what your strategy is in two sentences, t...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar. 

Most business owners think financial visibility means getting an income statement every month. It does not.

In this episode Steve breaks down what real financial visibility actually looks like, why the gap between what most owners see and what they need to see is costing them money every single day, and why running a business without it is not just risky but a genuine disability.

If you have ever felt like you are making d...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar. 

Most business owners track revenue. Some track profit. But there are three numbers that actually tell you whether your business is healthy, building value, and set up to last.

In this episode Steve walks through exactly what those three numbers are, how to calculate each one, and what they are telling you about the state of your business right now.

If you have never calculated any of them, this is a good place to s...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar. 

Most businesses have a strategy. They have done the offsite, built the plan, and know where they want to go.

Then you look at the financials and the strategy is nowhere in the numbers.

In this episode Steve breaks down exactly what is happening in that gap, why strategy without a financial connection is just a list of good intentions, and what it actually takes to build a strategy that shows up in your m...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar. 

There is a specific moment Steve has seen over and over again inside businesses. Revenue becomes more predictable, cash flow steadies out, and the owner goes from reactive to proactive.

In this episode he breaks down exactly what that moment looks like in financial terms and the five conditions that have to be in place before it happens. If you are still in survival mode, this one will show you what you are actually working toward.

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar.

Most business owners look at profit on their income statement and assume the business is doing well. But profit and value are not the same thing.

In this episode Steve breaks down why the majority of businesses are not generating returns above their cost of capital, what that actually means for the health of your company, and the one question every business owner should be able to answer about their strategy right now.

If...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar. 

Every year business owners build a budget. They set targets, present the numbers, tie bonuses to it, and by March it is already wrong.

In this episode Steve makes the case that a static annual budget is one of the most limiting financial tools a business can use and walks through exactly what to do instead. Not a tweak to the process. A fundamentally different way of thinking about your numbers and your future.

I...

Know your numbers, fix your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar.

Most business owners know their best customers by name. Longest relationships, biggest contracts, most consistent work.

But in this episode Steve shows why looking at revenue per customer and profitability per customer are two completely different things and why the gap between them might be the most important number you are not tracking.

He walks through exactly how to run a customer profitability analysis, what most accounting systems miss, and what the numbers usually...

Know your numbers, grow your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar. 

Two businesses, same revenue, same profit. One sells for three times EBITDA. The other sells for eight times. On a $2 million EBITDA business that gap is $10 million.

In this episode Steve breaks down exactly what creates that difference and why sophisticated buyers are not just looking at the size of your earnings but the quality and the risk underneath them.

Whether you ever plan to sell or not, understanding this will change how you r...

Know your numbers, grow your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar. 

Most business owners set their prices based on what competitors charge, what feels right, or what they think customers will pay. None of those approaches have anything to do with the value your business actually delivers or what your business needs to be financially healthy.

In this episode Steve breaks down how pricing actually works, the three most common pricing mistakes he sees, and why getting it right changes everything downstream from margin to cash flow t...

Know your numbers, grow your cash flow, and build a business that works for you. Start free with myColtivar. 

Steve started his first business at 16 out of his sister's garage with no money, no financial background, and no idea what he was doing. He made every mistake you can make.

In this episode he shares the five lessons that would have saved him millions of dollars and thousands of hours if someone had told him earlier. Not motivational fluff. The real stuff that actually changes how you build and run a business.

If y...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Most specialty contractors either do not have a WIP schedule or do not treat it with the attention it deserves. And if your WIP is wrong, Steve will tell you straight: your financials are wrong too.

In this episode he breaks down exactly what the WIP schedule is tracking, why billings are not the same thing as revenue, and how to use it to catch problems on a job before they become a...

How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check 

Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Revenue is up. The team is celebrating. And the business owner is quietly pulling on the line of credit because cash is constantly tight.

In this episode Steve breaks down exactly why profitable businesses run out of cash, what is actually happening between the income statement and the bank account, and the three things you can measure to find where the money is getting trapped.

He also walks through a re...

How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check 

Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Everyone is talking about AI right now. Which tools to use, how to automate, how to stay ahead. Steve thinks AI is important too.

But in this episode he wants to have the conversation almost nobody is having. Not which tools to use, but whether those tools are actually helping or quietly making things worse in your business.

If you are using AI to manage your finances, build KPIs, or fo...

How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check 

Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Winning work and profiting from work are two completely different things. Most contractors are only doing one of them.

In this episode Steve breaks down why pricing to be competitive and pricing to actually make money require fundamentally different thinking, where the gap almost always starts, and what to do about it before the next bid goes out the door.

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Disclaimer:
The views expressed here ar...

How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check 

Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

When Steve walks into a struggling business, people expect him to start with leadership, culture, or strategy. He never does.

In this episode he walks through the one thing he fixes first in every struggling business, why everything else is pointless without it, and what it actually looks like when a business finally has real financial visibility versus just a stack of reports nobody fully understands.

If you are running yo...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Steve gets asked this question all the time. If you were running my business, where would you start?

In this episode he answers it directly. He walks through exactly what he would do in the first 90 days running a $10 million specialty contracting business, the specific sequence of moves, and why the order matters as much as the moves themselves.

If you have ever felt like you are working hard but no...

How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check 

Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Most specialty contractors know cash flow is important. What they do not know is what actually controls it.

In this episode Steve walks through the four levers that determine whether a contracting business has cash or not. They are not complicated, but if you do not know what they are, you cannot pull them. And if you are busy and still broke, at least one of them is working against you right no...

How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check 

Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Most business owners have sat through a strategy session that felt productive in the room and changed nothing back at the office.

In this episode Steve breaks down the three biggest mistakes he sees business leaders make when doing strategy. Not because they are not smart or ambitious, but because nobody ever showed them what strategy actually requires before the vision work even starts.

If your team keeps doing strategy bu...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Most contractors who track their gross margin are still getting it wrong. Not because they are doing anything dishonest. Because the way their accounting is set up does not match the economic reality of their business.

In this episode Steve walks through exactly how this happens, which costs are consistently misclassified and why it matters way beyond just the margin number itself. If your gross margin is wrong, your bids are wrong, yo...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

When Steve became CFO of a billion-dollar construction company, he thought he had seen it all. But sitting inside a business at that scale taught him things no classroom or accounting firm ever could.

In this episode he walks through the three financial mistakes he sees contractors make consistently, regardless of trade or company size. They are not complicated. They are just things nobody ever showed them.

If you run a...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Most business owners feel pretty comfortable with their income statement. Revenue, costs, profit. Simple enough.

But the balance sheet is where the real story lives and where most of the damage hides. If your balance sheet is a mess and you ever have to clean it up, those corrections will hit your profit directly and could affect your taxes going back years.

In this episode Steve walks through exactly what to...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Revenue is up. The team is growing. There is no shortage of work. And somehow the business feels harder to run than when it was half the size.

More stress, more decisions, more fires, and at the same time less margin, less cash, less clarity.

In this episode Steve breaks down exactly why this happens and why it is almost never an operations problem. It is a structure problem. He wa...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Businesses almost never collapse without warning. The signs are usually there months before things get critical, sometimes even longer. The problem is most owners either do not know what to look for or they see the signs and convince themselves things will turn around.

In this episode Steve walks through the five warning signs he looks for when he walks into any business. Catch them early and the fix is usually straightforward. Wa...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Most business partnerships do not fall apart because of personality conflicts. They fall apart because two people building something together never got aligned on the financial fundamentals.

How much do we pay ourselves? How fast do we grow? What do we reinvest? What does a good exit actually look like?

In this episode Steve walks through the financial conversations every business partner needs to have and why the longer you wa...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Most business owners have a rough idea of what their business is worth. Usually it is based on what a friend sold theirs for or what feels right. But what a business is actually worth and what an owner thinks it is worth are almost never the same number.

In this episode Steve breaks down exactly how a sophisticated buyer looks at a business, what the calculation actually reveals, and the specific th...

How much cash is hiding in your business? See if you qualify for a Free Financial Health Check 

Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Steve has been inside a lot of businesses that were in trouble. Some were losing cash. Some were profitable on paper but couldn't make payroll. Some had great teams and great customers and still couldn't figure out why nothing was working.

In this episode he breaks down the three things he has seen in almost every business that actually turns around and more importantly the sequence behind them. Because getting the right th...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

More revenue sounds like the answer when a business is struggling. But Steve has watched too many business owners chase growth thinking it would solve their cashflow problems, only to watch it make everything worse.

In this episode he breaks down why scaling a broken margin just multiplies the problem, how to know if your business is actually ready to grow, and the specific number that tells you exactly how fast you ca...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

After working inside the financials of hundreds of businesses, Steve says the difference between the ones that grow and the ones that stay stuck almost never comes down to talent, market conditions, or even strategy.

It comes down to habits. Specific, repeatable habits around how owners and their teams use financial information to make decisions.

In this episode Steve walks through exactly what those habits are and why most business ow...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

Steve does not talk about his personal life much. But when he does, the response is always the same: people reach out and say they could have written that story themselves.

In this episode he steps back from the frameworks and the financials and shares where he actually came from. Growing up without a dad, leaving home at 16, starting a business out of his sister's garage, hitting rock bottom, and eventually finding hi...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

The job went well. The crew performed. The client is happy. And the margin still is not there?

Most contractors blame the field when this happens. But in this episode, Steve makes the case that the margin was already gone before the first shovel hit the ground. It was set in pre-construction, in estimating, and in the gaps most owners never think to look at.

He walks through exactly where it...

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Financial Intelligence Toolkit 

When the business starts struggling, the first instinct is almost always the same. Cut costs. Cut headcount. Cut marketing. Cut everything that is not essential.

Steve gets it. But in this episode he makes the case that cutting costs is usually the wrong move and why doing it without a strategy can send a business into a spiral it never recovers from.

He breaks down what to actually look at wh...