Yup, I’m still talking about cash flow over here. I’ve said it a million times, what you focus on expands, and our cash flow is no different. Today I’m quickly explaining perhaps the most important metric on your cash flow forecast (that I know you’re totally using now, RIGHT?).

Months of cash on hand. Cash reserve.

In other words, if not another dollar were to enter your bank account starting today, how long could you operate without going into the red? I’ll show you exactly how to figure this out.

First, take your annual expense budget, divided by 12. For example, if your annual expenses are $1M, your monthly expenses would be $83,333. This is your monthly burn rate, or how much you spend, on average, each month.

Then, take your bank balance (literally, the amount of money sitting in the bank right now) and divide by your monthly burn rate above. For example, if you have $100,000 in the bank right now and your burn rate is $83,333, you have 1.2 months of expenses on hand.

Not sure if this is good or bad?

Our goal in building a reserve is to have 3-6 months of operating expenses in the bank to support the organization in times of shortfall or emergency. In the example above, our monthly expenses were $83,333, so a 3-6 month reserve should be $250-500k.

This number may sound downright terrifying, and I agree, it’s a BIG goal especially for an organization that coasts into payroll every two weeks on fumes. But we’re not going to get there in a month or even two months. This is a long-term process that will lead to long-term sustainability.

Because you’re a purpose-driven leader who’s ready to change the world, I know you’re in it for the long haul and you value sustainability. I encourage you this week to start building your 3-6 month cash reserve by setting up a separate bank account for this extra special cash.

By shifting your mindset around cash and building a strong foundation of sustainability, you will no longer let a low balance paralyze you in fear or a high balance cause you to invest in ALL THE THINGS. With this new cash reserve + mindset, you will never run out of cash again.

That sounds pretty darn good, right?

#cashmanagement

Hiding from your bank balance, that is…

A couple days ago, as I was opening my bedroom blinds, just like I do every single morning, I happened to notice the tree just under my window had sprouted colorful pink blossoms. It took me a moment to realize that it’s actually SPRING. I’ve looked out my window and only seen gray for what feels like six years instead of months, so this tiny vision of spring took me by surprise.

And because I’m always drawing parallels to financial management (I can’t help it!), I immediately thought of cash.

Cash flow has ups and downs, and for many leaders and businesses, is often seasonal. We have strong months when we invest in all-the-things, followed by not-so-strong months when our bank balance makes us cringe, or even worse, hide in fear.

Just like the seasons, cash feels unpredictable, uncontrollable, and frustrating at times (ahem, snow in April!) and we hope that by not thinking about it too much, it will magically fix itself. But we logically know our cash flow issues won’t be fixed via ignorance.

The problem is, most leaders I talk to don’t do any cash flow forecasting. When I take off my finance hat and put myself in their shoes, I get it. A cash flow forecast is not something that’s easily generated from Quickbooks, your bookkeeper probably doesn’t have enough info to do it herself, and it involves a spreadsheet. Yuck.

But I want to help you! Cash flow forecasting does NOT have to be scary or take more than 30 minutes a month (seriously), but it WILL help you regain control over your organization and confidence in your financial sustainability.

Here are three quick tips (and a freebie!):

1. Understand your cash inflows and outflows each month. As the leader of your organization, you could be able to answer these questions: How long do your clients or donors take to pay you? Which months are the strongest or most profitable? What are your average monthly expenses? Do your expenses fluctuate throughout the year or are they pretty steady?
2. Get into the habit of checking your bank balance weekly. Neglecting your cash accounts will NOT help you regain control and confidence in your financial management. Know your numbers!
3. Plot all these numbers into a spreadsheet and update that baby monthly! Lucky for you, I’ve created a template that will help you do this yourself, very easily. And because I adore you, I also created a video that walks you through exactly how to use the template so it is completely foolproof. (It’s all included in one great Playbook.) Download it here!

#cashmanagement

Raise your hand if you’ve heard one of these three quotes before:

You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.

If you are the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.

If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

Now raise your hand again if you’ve heard it so many times it’s kind of lost all meaning. (I see your hand raised over there!)

Stick with me, because the last element of leadership self-care that I want to talk about this month is community.

(Missed the other elements of leadership self-care? Check them out here and here, and no, they don’t involve a glass of wine or a massage!)

Most busy leaders I know get their work done by operating in a bit of a vacuum. They collaborate with their team and communicate with other stakeholders closely outside the organization, but lack a community of peers.

In fact, I recently talked with a purpose-driven leader who said: I literally have no one to talk to about running my business. I can’t talk to my team, I can’t talk to my board, I have no one.

Enter: community.

The best investment I’ve ever made into my business and my own professional development was a paid mastermind. These brilliant, high-achieving women from around the country have inspired me to play bigger and pushed me when I needed pushing. The ROI on being part of these groups has been incalculable for me, but you’re probably wondering: Okay, how do I find my own community or mastermind?

I’ve got your back, my friend!

Here’s three ways to create community to elevate your biz and life:

1. Figure out the gaps. What type of people are you looking for? Other business owners? Other nonprofit leaders in your field?
2. Ask around. Tell your friends and peers you’re looking for a mastermind or community. Leave a comment and tell me, as I may have just the group for you!
3. Choose one inspiring person. Tell them why they inspire you, get on their email list, follow them on social, digest their content.

When is the last time you invested in professional development for yourself?

Think about it. Six months ago? A year ago? Can’t remember the last time you learned from an expert in your field?

We have a responsibility as leaders to ensure our teams grow and learn new things to better serve our clients, customers, and community, but we usually put ourselves last on the list for professional development.

I’m pretty sure in my ten years of working for different organizations, I only attended two professional development seminars. That means I only learned something new, from someone outside my organization, once every five years.

That’s. Not. Enough.

Professional development is an investment into the future of your organization. It gets you out of the daily grind, stimulates new thoughts, and spurs growth and innovation into the business. Development offers you a competitive advantage in the marketplace and elevates your team.

In other words, there’s no reason NOT to get yourself learning!

Here’s how to bring new insights, ideas, and growth to your organization:

• Allocate funds! Set aside money in the budget for professional development and hold yourself accountable. You don’t need a treasure chest of golden coins to invest in yourself – allocate a few thousand (or maybe just a few hundred) bucks for you and you alone.
• Make it easy! You don’t have to travel across the country and spend thousands to learn something new. Udemy, Coursera, and Creative Live are just a few examples of online platforms filled with literally hundreds of courses on almost any topic imaginable. Budget friendly AND can be completed in your pajamas on your couch. Win. Win.
• Pick what’s most useful! Choose a course or experience that addresses your biggest current challenge because you will walk away with the most value. Maybe you’re struggling to accurately share your story with your people or you need help with time management. Choose a course that specifically targets that area so you can achieve HUGE wins.

As for me? I’m learning how to better connect with my audience and tell the story of how we can help purpose-driven leaders through the StoryBrand method. This numbers gal struggles big time with marketing! My brain only works in spreadsheets, I guess.

#leadership #development

As a purpose-driven leader, you care for others all day long. Between ensuring your team is thriving, to serving your clients, customers, and community, you likely spend most of your days selflessly looking out for others. That’s part of the reason I love you all!

But this month I want to talk about leadership self-care.

This type of self-care is not a glass of red in the bathtub or a massage, which is good because I can’t help but roll my eyes when someone tells me to go get a massage when I’m stressed. It’s like putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg.

Leadership self-care includes practical actions you can achieve to take care of yourself as a leader and ensure you’re operating at the highest level. Because, let’s face it, no one can look out for us as well as we can.

The most important thing I’ve done for my sanity, inner peace, and leadership ability is to establish a morning and afternoon routine. Our days often start with a whirlwind of activity and before we know it, we’re closing the laptop completely exhausted and ready to drown the stress of the day in a big bowl of pasta. Or maybe that’s just me?

I recently established a solid morning routine and by starting my day calmly, in the same way, each day, I am more focused and joyful and have less anxiety, especially around my work.

Similarly, by closing out my day with a similar routine, I leave my (home) office feeling accomplished, calm, and ready to take on the next day with peace and ease.

Are you ready to bring more peace, calm, and joy into your leadership?

Here’s how to do it:

1. Morning

• Get up at the same time each day, preferably early (Why early? Check this out.)
• Spend at least ten minutes quietly journaling, reading, or meditating
• Don’t touch your phone or computer until you’re done

2. Afternoon

• Plan tomorrow’s priorities and ensure they’re aligned with your big picture goals
• Update your to-do list accordingly, then cross at least one thing off
• Clean off your desk. Remove empty cups, stray post-its, and put everything in its place

As busy leaders changing the world, we think we don’t have time for luxurious self-care but all it takes is a few intentional actions each day to take care of ourselves better. As they say, you can’t pour from an empty cup.

I remember working for an organization many years ago and one of my employees called to tell me she was had taken another job and was leaving. I almost burst into tears! (Super professional, I know). Losing an okay employee is tough, but losing a good employee can be devastating.

We all know how long it takes to fill roles, especially key, high-level ones. Empty seats take a toll on the organization as other people have to pick up the slack, institutional knowledge can get lost, and progress slows down.

One of my goals this year is to invest in my team. (See it here in my PowerSheets)

I don’t necessarily mean investing extra money into the amazing women on my team. I mean investing my time and energy into nurturing our relationships and their professional development. It’s so easy to become 100% task and deliverable oriented without any thought to ensuring your team members are truly thriving in their work.

There are a ton of things you can do to ensure your employees are happy, aside from providing free lunch or unlimited vacation, and I’ve written about tactics you can try here, here, and here.

But the number one way to ensure your team is engaged and thriving?

Connect your team to the inspiring vision of your organization

When people feel like their work has purpose, they will perform at a higher level, stay engaged, and be more committed. WIN. WIN. WIN.

You can make that happen by inviting your people to directly engage with those you serve. Nonprofits, invite your staff to participate in program activities. Small businesses, have your employees directly connect with your customers or clients.

One of my favorite ways to connect my team to the inspiring vision of our organization is to collaborate on our strategic plan. Although the business started out as mine, it’s now ours and I value the team’s input on how we’re going to move forward together.

So if you’ve just landed an amazing new team member, CONGRATS! Now the hard work begins to keep her inspired, engaged, and thriving!

#financeteam #humanresources

I’ve been waking up at 5 am for the last two months and it’s changed my life.

During these early morning hours, I’ve been reflecting on lessons I’ve learned in the last three years of running this business. Some lessons were difficult, painful, and expensive, while others were light bulb moments and great opportunities to make improvements going forward.

One of the latter improvements I’ve made is around hiring.

Over the years, I’ve honed in on asking the right questions in an interview and assessing a candidate for how well she will jive with the culture of the organization, but one piece I kept missing was the candidate’s actual working style.

How does she communicate? How does she handle deadlines? Will she like this type of work?

A candidate will likely tell you what you want to hear as you ask these questions in an interview, but I’ve learned the hard way that reality is sometimes different and that it usually ends up in the dreaded turnover.

So now I ask candidates to complete an actual project that needs to get done within my business.

I give them a short time period, say two weeks, and pay them a fair amount of money to complete the project. This is a micro test run of what working together would be like with a real, live project. Both parties have skin in the game.

The results?

Hiring amazing, lasting, committed employees!

By having candidates do a real, live project, I can easily assess their:

1. Working style. Do they turn in a project at the last minute (e.g. 11:59am for a 12pm deadline) or send the project back a day or two early?
2. Work product. Are there spelling and/or formula errors? Did they pay attention to little formatting details and follow instructions?
3. Communication style. Does the candidate ask me questions along the way that have already been answered in the instructions? Does she confirm deadlines or ask clarifying questions? Is there radio silence until she turns in the work?

This one recruiting technique is widely applicable across all industries and has resulted in my best hires to date. It might take a little longer but almost always results in candidates that are the perfect fit for your organization (and who will stick around for the long haul).

Now go forth and hire!

#impact #income #PurposeDriven #PL

Most leaders I know absolutely dread hiring a new employee. Between the endless terrible applications received, the phone screens where you repeat the same questions and get the same answers, and the in-person or video interviews where candidates spit out answers to the “top ten interview questions” that they found on Google.

And then there’s the onboarding and crossing your fingers that this is the right person.

I’ve totally been there.

I’ve found that this tired method of recruiting and hiring doesn’t work for the long haul because I didn’t get to know anything genuine about the candidate or her working style in this type of interview. Fast forward six months later and we’ve now both realized she doesn’t actually like the type of work I’ve hired her to do, so now I’m back at square one.

When I was recently looking for another CFO consultant to add to my team, I kept thinking how I needed to do things differently this time so I could get different results and a candidate who’d stick around and enjoy working with me.

First, I included in the job description that candidates should send me a cover letter explaining why they think we’d be a good fit. I wanted them to demonstrate that they’d done at least a little research into my company and me, so when I got dozens of emails that said “Dear Hiring Manager”, they were immediately disqualified.

Second, I had another person conduct the phone screens. In the past, I’ve done every interview myself and I can be easily biased or feel bad saying no to someone who is nice. As you can imagine, this put me in a difficult spot of wanting to hire 10 different people and having a very tough time making a decision. Including another person from your team in the process gives you the great benefit of another person thinking critically about how the candidate would fit into the overall organizational culture and working style.

The third, most important technique I’ve implemented in my recruiting that has resulted in the best hires is having the top candidate do a project. Now, I don’t mean giving the candidate a hypothetical project, like inviting the top three candidates to put together a presentation on how they would increase sales. That is getting free work and advice from people you may or may not hire and, frankly, I don’t agree with it. These types of projects are a waste of time for the candidates, especially those who won’t end up getting the job, and for you, who will never look at that project again.

I ask candidates to complete an actual project that needs to get done within my business. I give them a short time period, say two weeks, and pay them a fair amount of money to complete the project. This is a micro test run of what working together would be like.

Here’s what I can now assess by having a candidate do a real, live project:

1. Working style. I can tell someone’s work style who turns in a project at the last minute (e.g. 11:59am for a 12pm deadline) versus someone who emails the project back a day or two early. Are they in the weeds checking every detail until the last minute, or do they give a broad review of the project and turn it in early?
2. Work product. I can now see what type of work this candidate produces, including important things like spelling and/or formula errors, attention to details, following instructions, knowledge of the industry and/or processes, and overall professionalism.
3. Communication style. Does the candidate ask me questions along the way that have already been answered in the instructions? Does she confirm deadlines or ask clarifying questions? Is there radio silence until she turns in the work?

None of this can be determined in a traditional interview setting. Candidates often say what they think the interviewer wants to hear but when they’re hired and actually doing the work, they may realize that they don’t actually like the type of work and they have different standards for work product and communication than their employer.

This happens all the time with both employees and contractors. With contractors, it’s a bit easier to end the relationship, but then you are forced to spend a significant amount of time to find another contractor.

This one recruiting technique is widely applicable across all industries and has resulted in my best hires to date. It extends the hiring process by a couple weeks but almost always results in candidates that are the perfect fit for your organization (and who will stick around for the long haul).

Stephanie Skryzowski is a CFO and business coach for purpose-driven leaders around the globe. Sign up for her free monthly business growth tips here.

#impact #income #PurposeDriven #PL

How cold is it where you are? Western New York has felt like a bitter Arctic tundra for weeks now, and I’m not sure I remember what the sun looks like!

BUT, I’m feeling warm and fuzzy inside because our clients are making a huge impact on the world in so many different ways.

When you think about growth and impact, maybe you feel a little hopeless because you still don’t have an operating reserve (i.e. savings), or a solid plan to help you wisely use your resources in alignment with your strategic plan (i.e. budget), or even a specific enough plan needed to accomplish your big goals.

Or maybe your P&L doesn’t feel aligned with your greater purpose. You might be a for-profit business but the bottom line isn’t all you care about. In fact, you care more about the work you’re doing than how much money you make.

I hear you. Financials can feel so cold – black and white numbers on an Excel sheet does not exactly stimulate the warm fuzzies or bring to mind imagery of your mission and impact.

We work only with impact-driven organizations – businesses and nonprofits led by people whose deepest desire is to create a lasting impact in this world, who give more than they take, and who are less concerned with how much money they make than with how they can serve others.

But oftentimes, purpose-driven leaders like you aren’t sure how to incorporate impact and income into their organization.

So we use our Purpose-Driven P&L methodology to create a strong financial foundation and ensure sustainability by reviewing key financial metrics alongside your impact metrics.

Organizations with no reserves or looming debt are unlikely to last beyond a few years, and at best will be operating paycheck to paycheck. That’s no way to scale the impact that we can have in this world!

We believe in IMPACT and INCOME!

For a peek into part of the Purpose-Driven P&L process, check out our Financial Statement Workbook. It shows some of the key metrics that we use to help build financial sustainability and profitability – AND it’s simple enough that you can drop your own numbers in yourself to learn more about your own financial health. Grab it here!

#impact #income #PurposeDriven #PL

I’m a mom of a brilliant, energetic toddler and the days can feel long. By the time she’s in bed at 7pm, I’m exhausted yet find myself watching The Office reruns and working on my laptop until 11pm or later. I finally fall into bed and, thanks to running my own business, don’t set an alarm for the next morning. My daughter’s monitor sits on my nightstand, about 12 inches from my head, so around 7am the next morning I’m awoken by her chatting to herself and moving around in her crib. I jump out of bed and have just enough time to put my contacts in, brush on a little makeup, and get dressed before her chatting escalates to screaming MOMMYYYYYY!

So from minute one, I’m on Mom Duty. Getting her dressed, bustling around the kitchen, playing the guessing game of what will she decide to eat today, and coloring endless pictures with crayons.

Some days I have childcare so I can work and by the time they show up at 9am, it feels as if the day should be halfway over already! I sit down at my desk to work and end up spending the first hour just clicking through my email, poking around on the internet, and just slowly getting into the swing of the workday.

Now, frankly, this probably doesn’t sound so terrible to some people. Maybe you’re out the door at 6:30am to drop your three kids at daycare, or maybe your toddler still doesn’t sleep well so you’ve been back and forth between your room and his four times last night.

I hear you.

But what we all have in common is that our days start off with a whirlwind of activity and by the time we have a moment to catch our breath, we almost don’t know what to do with ourselves. I felt like I was using my limited childcare inefficiently and my days and weeks lacked focus. Something had to give but I wasn’t sure what it was.

Earlier this year, my friend Susie posted an article about how getting up at 5am changed her life. She had read this book called The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma and claimed that this habit of getting up early made her calmer, gave her clarity, and helped her be more productive and healthier.

Wow!

It’s hard to believe that just an early wake-up call could provide those benefits.

I decided to give it a try, despite my skepticism, and just see what happened. The first few days I went to bed closer to 10pm and set my alarm for 5am. When the morning rolled around, I was so tired that I hit snooze until 6am and finally guilted myself into getting up.

Come on, Stephanie. You’ve done harder things than voluntarily waking up at 5am. Get UP.

I ignored myself at 5am morning after morning, but continued to get up at 6am. I realized that just because I wasn’t following someone else’s prescription exactly didn’t mean that I couldn’t get the benefits of getting up early. So I created my own 6am club!

Here is my usual morning routine:

• Get up at 6am
• Get showered and dressed with clothes laid out the night before in the bathroom
• Be downstairs making tea by 6:30am (and try not to scroll Instagram while the water is heating)
• Let the dog outside and feed him
• Sit down at my desk for journaling by 6:45am. Write a few pages on three things I’m grateful for and what I want to focus on that day (e.g. abundance, peace, joy, presence, etc)
• Meditate for 10 minutes
• Get another cup of tea and start working until I hear my daughter stirring

After six weeks of this routine almost daily, I can say with certainty that I’ve experienced significant changes in my life.

1. I feel less anxiety. Sometimes if I’m feeling overwhelmed, usually by work, I feel a tightness in my chest and stomach. The 10 minutes of meditation I do each morning help me to shed this tightness and focus on my breathing. If you’re thinking, omg I could NOT sit still for 10 minutes, please know that I started six weeks ago with 2 minutes at a time and each time I was able to sit without going nuts, I bumped it up a minute the next day.
2. I feel more focused. Even though I’m not journaling my to-do list each morning, I feel like this extra quiet time allows me to hone in on what my true priorities are and what activities are going to get me closer to my big goals, rather than just diving into email and putting out the latest fire. I can put my efforts that day into what will make the greatest impact.
3. I have more self-control. I’m fairly certain I’m addicted to my phone. I’m conscious of it and make sure that my device doesn’t get in between me and the people I love, but every time there’s an unoccupied moment, I grab my phone to scroll. However, my phone is off limits now until I finish my meditation each morning. After an hour of being without it (I usually leave it in the kitchen), I am usually ready to dive into work and don’t even miss it.
4. I’m more joyful. You mamas out there will understand this: that feeling when you hear the little one stirring through the monitor and you audibly moan like, omg they’re awake already?! Now, maybe your kid has woken up half a dozen times in the night and you’re legit exhausted, and I feel you. But I was moaning about her waking up just because I didn’t feel like getting up yet, and that didn’t feel good to me. My daughter is the love of my life, and thanks to me getting up an hour earlier, now I feel joyful when I hear her little chatter each morning.

If you don’t yet have a morning routine, you may be rolling your eyes. I always used to read about entrepreneurs’ morning rituals and think, who in the world has time for two hours of reading and a 90 minute yoga session and three walks on the beach with their dog before starting work?! Certainly not me!

But over these last six weeks, I’ve discovered that you don’t need to get up at 5am or have a four hour morning ritual in order to bring more calm and clarity to your life. You don’t need to be single and living in LA or NYC to start your day off right.

By giving myself just one extra, intentional hour per day, I can confidently say that I’m calmer, more focused, more in control, and just plain happier. If all that takes is a 6am alarm, I’m in.

Stephanie Skryzowski is a CFO and business coach for purpose-driven leaders around the globe. Sign up for her free monthly business growth tips here.