Found Money

A fresh perspective on what it takes to run a moneymaking small business

If you're a small business owner, you probably started out with a great idea, an entrepreneurial dream, and the willingness to work as hard as you have to. You're up-and-running, your products and services are selling, and you are working as hard as you can. But where do you go from here? How do you get there? And how can you be sure your business will make you money now and for the long term?

Found Money presents a new and powerful approach to small-business success. It helps you figure out, instantly, whether your business is on-track or flying off the rails (and how to correct it if it is flying off the rails). Not only does it help you understand how your business makes you money, but how to control that process as well. It offers accessible, easy-to-use tools and tactics to help you understand the links between what happens in your small business and the financial results you achieve so you can proactively create the financial results you want.

• Helps you maximize the money your small business makes by showing you where additional profit and cash flow is hiding right now in your business
• Steve Wilkinghoff is an accountant and consultant who helps businesses reach their full, money-making potential
• Foreword by Michael Gerber, preeminent small business guru

If you own your own small business but don't know how to take control of the financial results it gives you, Found Money hands you the strategies, tactics and tools you need to take control, and direct and maximize the money-making process.

Acknowledgments xi

Foreword xiii

Preface xv

Chapter 1 What’s the Purpose of Your Business? 1

What Do You Think Is the Purpose of Your Business?

So What Is the Purpose of Your Business?

The Found Money System Can Help

Five Keys to Success with the Found Money System

Chapter 2 When Does Your Business Make Money? 11

A Nasty Urban Legend

How Doesn’t Your Business Make Money?

How Does Your Business Make Money?

Triple Overlap—The Key to a Moneymaking Business

Watch Out for the Danger Zones

Chapter 3 Making Money: Net Profit 21

Net Profit

What Is Net Profit?

Controlling the Process of Net Profit

Chapter 4 Making Money: Return on Investment 33

Breaking It Down

Eating Soup with a Fork

Back to School

The Business Death Spiral

The Death Spiral in Action

Defeating the Death Spiral

Chapter 5 Making Money: Positive Cash Flow 51

What Is Cash Flow?

What Cash Flow Is Not Your Growth Limiter

Chapter 6 Is Your Business Making You Money? 61

Where Are You Now?

Is Your Business Making Money?

Chapter 7 Which Products Make You Money? (And Which Ones Don’t?) 67

Gross Margin—It’s Critical!

A Surprise forMe

The Ugly Duckling of a Successful Business

Gross Margin—What Is It?

Gross Margin versus Gross Profit

Gross Margin Analysis

Putting the Triple Overlap Together

Chapter 8 Gross Margin Math 87

Calculating Gross Margin

Chapter 9 Which Customers Make You Money? (And Which Ones Don’t?) 91

Moneymaking Customers

Customer Gross Profit

Customer ROI

Customer Cash Flow

CCM’s Cool, But Can It Make You Money?

Chapter 10 Your Customer Profitability Map 101

Your Very Own Drawbridge

Your Customer Profitability Map

Resonance Score

Back to the Customer Profitability Plot

Guard Your Drawbridge

Customer Profitability Map Tactics and Actions

Creating Your Own Customer Profitability Map

Analyzing Your Customer Profitability Map

Roll Up Your Sleeves

Chapter 11 Found Money Math (It’s Fun—Really) 131

Russian Roulette for Your Business

The Gross Profit Formula, Revisited

The Found Money Gross Profit Formula in Action

The Wizard of (Profit) Oz

It’s All About Leverage

Cost/Volume/Profit Analysis

CVPA as Your Business Roadmap

Getting There from Here

Chapter 12 Your Pricing Bootcamp 161

Some Thought-Provoking Questions

Your Found Money Replacement Factor

Step Toward Your Fear of Pricing

Your Found Money Price Cut Factor

Price Doesn’t Really Matter at All!

Your Price Strategy

Chapter 13 The End of the Line . . . and Just the Beginning 187

About the Author 189

Index 191

STEVE WILKINGHOFF has helped hundreds of businesses reach their full potential during his sixteen years as a consultant. He is a Chartered Accountant, a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach, and an active speaker.

For more information or to receive Steve's steady flow of new ideas and unique perspectives, please visit www.stevewilkinghoff.com.

IF YOU'RE A small business owner, you're working hard and trying to do the right things while hoping that somehow your business will make enough money. But that approach puts your business in control of you and your life. You end up working too hard, laying it all on the line, and hoping to make just enough money to survive.

But it absolutely does not have to be that way. You should be the one in control of your business and the financial results it creates. You should decide how much money you want from your business and then create your business to fulfill that vision—to become a thriving and sustainable vehicle for your dream lifestyle.

But how do you get that kind of control? Where do you start? Found Money shows you how to get control, create specific financial results, decide what you want from your business, and then take specific steps to get there. Even if your business is doing well, it could still do better. Found Money shows you the connections between what happens in your business on a daily basis and the financial results it creates in the long term.

With the proven and effective strategies, tactics, and tools inside, you'll have the power to take control over your business and proactively create the financial results you want, using key elements such as:

• THE TRIPLE OVERLAP—
the three things your business, every product, every service, and every customer must have in order for your business to actually make money
• CUSTOMER PROFITABILITY MAPPING—
a unique graphic method that instantly shows you which customers to focus on
• FOUND MONEY BREAKEVEN—
you must decide what financial result you want from your business and then reverse engineer that specific result to pinpoint the number, type, and characteristics of the customers, products, and services that will take you there
• PRICING BOOTCAMP—
it's essential that you learn the process of Pricing on Purpose and boldly determine the prices you must demand in your marketplace and why
• QUICK-FAILING—
Found Money gives you the tools and encouragement to test new ideas and assess their impact on your financial results before making any major changes

In addition to these five elements, Found Money shows you how to quickly gauge the financial performance of your small business—whether it's right on track or running off the rails—giving you the tools you need to chart a course to long-term sustainability and profitability.