SEO Description:Introduction

In this episode of the I Hate Numbers podcast, we tackle a tough but necessary truth: ignoring your numbers is quietly damaging your creative business. We understand why creatives avoid spreadsheets, budgets, and financial reports. You started your journey to create, perform, design, and inspire — not to stare at figures. However, the longer you ignore your numbers, the louder the financial clock ticks.

Why Ignoring Your Numbers Feels Appealing

Let’s be honest. Avoidance feels easier in the short term. Staying reactive, making decisions on instinct, and hoping everything works out can seem simpler than facing the reality of your bank balance. But if you want to stay stressed, reactive, and running what feels more like an expensive hobby than a business, then ignoring your finances is a perfect strategy. Without clarity:

1. You make snap decisions without insight.
2. You chase invoices while worrying about rent.
3. You feel overwhelmed by tax deadlines.
4. You live hand-to-mouth from project to project.

That is not creative freedom. That is financial anxiety.

Why Numbers Matter (Even If You Dislike Them)

When you understand your numbers, something empowering happens. You stop guessing. You start making informed decisions. You move from “I hope this works” to “I know this works.” It is like switching on the light in a dark room. You can see what is coming in, what is going out, and where growth is possible. Understanding your finances does not mean becoming an accountant. It means becoming the driver of your business rather than a passenger.

Profit Is Not a Dirty Word

Profit allows you to cover your costs, pay yourself properly, and build a financial buffer. It gives you sustainability. It prevents burnout and protects your creative future. Without profit, your business cannot survive long term. How you earn that profit is up to you. Ethics and values matter. But profit itself is not the enemy.

Three Simple Steps You Can Take Today

1. Track What’s Coming In and Going Out

You do not need complex systems to start. A notebook, spreadsheet, or digital tool like Xero cloud accounting can give you visibility and control.

2. Schedule a Weekly Money Check-In

Set aside 15 to 30 minutes each week to review your numbers. Treat it like brushing your teeth — routine, necessary, and good for your long-term health.

3. Give Every Pound a Purpose

Assign money intentionally. Allocate funds for tax, equipment, rent, savings, and paying yourself. Money without a plan disappears.

You Are Not Alone

You did not enter the creative world to become a number cruncher. But if you want your passion to pay the bills — and more — then your numbers matter. That is why we created the podcast. It is why Numbers Know How and I Hate Numbers exist — to make finance human, practical, and empowering for creatives.

Key Takeaway

Ignoring your numbers might feel comfortable in the short term, but it limits your growth. When you face them — even imperfectly — you take back control. Understanding your money does not make you less creative. It makes you unstoppable.

Episode Timecodes

1. [00:00:00] – Why ignoring your numbers feels easier
2. [00:01:00] – The cost of financial avoidance
3. [00:02:30] – Why clarity changes everything
4. [00:04:00] – Profit and sustainability
5. [00:05:00] – Three practical steps to take control
6. [00:06:00] – Final message and mindset shift

Further Support

📘 Get practical finance guidance in our book: I Hate Numbers 🎧 Listen to more episodes on the I Hate Numbers Podcast 📺 Subscribe on YouTube Plan it. Do it. Profit.

Welcome to another episode of I Hate Numbers. This week's podcast: Why ignoring your numbers is killing your creative business. Now that sound a bit dramatic perhaps, but it's still real and it's still very practical and based on over three decades of experience of working with creatives, it's something definitely I feel very strongly about.

If you've ever thought yourself, I'm going to sort this money stuff out later, then this episode is for you. Because the longer we ignore our numbers, the louder that financial clock ticks. But let's keep light-hearted. Let's dive in.

Now firstly, why ignoring your numbers may actually sound very appealing. I know. You've got the idea of numbers, spreadsheets, figures, budgets, not exactly inspiring stuff. If you've gone into business here with those creative ideas that you want to showcase the world, whether it's acting, dancing, music, sound scripts, whatever that may be, but there are five perfectly good reasons to ignore your numbers

if you want to stay broke, stressed out, and running a hobby and not a business. Now, reason number one, if you are the sort of person who enjoys having no clarity whatsoever in your business, no focus, just winging it on a day-to-day basis, being reactive with no real idea where you stand, then please carry on ignoring your numbers.

Reason number two, if the idea of making snap decisions with no real insight works for you, ticks those boxes, like buying expensive materials and then actually knowing what's in the bank, then please don't change anything at all. Reason number three, if anxiety is the creative fuel for your business, you like the idea of sleepless nights, chasing invoices, wondering

how are you going to pay your rent, how are you going to pay yourself, then please continue on being blissfully unaware of your finances. Reason number four, if the idea of feeling in control sounds a little bit tedious, sounds a little bit on the boring side, not what you are about, and you'd prefer to be overwhelmed by tax returns, cash flow, money, chasing up people, then please keep your numbers in the dark, keep them well away from view.

And finally, reason number five. If you want your creative business to stay as a very time-consuming expensive hobby, something that doesn't actually generate money for you, but costs you money and time, then please know ignoring your finances is a solid strategy. Now, that might sound a bit harsh, a little bit on the flippant side, but let's be honest, you did not start your creative career to stay stuck and to generate no money.

If you don't generate profits, you're not going to be here to carry on delivering your why. You are not going to be here to do the things that you love doing. Now let's flip it on its head and talk about why money and numbers matter, even if you've got a dislike of them. Now, ignoring your numbers might feel easier to you in the short term.

You might like the idea of impersonating that ostrich with the head in the sand, but in the long run, take it from me, it's going to cost you time, managing energy, and even it'll creep into your creativity as well, and I don't want that for you. Then when you do start to understand your numbers, I guarantee something incredible, something empowering, something amazing happens.

You stop guessing and you start making smart choices for yourself. Your frame reference, your thought process will go from, I hope this works to more assertive active phrases like I know this well. It's like switching on that light in a dark room. Suddenly you've got an idea where your money's going, what's working, where it's coming from, and how you can actually achieve that growth and keep moving forward.

Now, the next thing to consider is the control where you are the driver of your creative business bus is creative freedom. I'm not talking about you becoming a full on finance person overnight, you becoming an accountant - nothing wrong with that professional hasten to add - I'm talking about giving yourself creative freedom.

When you know what's happening with your money, you can actually do things like price your work properly and correctly, you can plan ahead for projects, time off, buy new equipment, rewarding yourself even better, you can stop living day to day (be more proactive in your business), you can stop living invoice to invoice (a hand-to-mouth existence),

you can grow, you can hire, help and support and say yes to more of the things that you love to do. And let's not lose sight of the fact, profit is not a dirty word. Profit means that you cover your costs, have something on top to reward yourself and put that in the tank to build yourself up a financial buffer.

It means you are sustainable. It means you carry on doing what you love without burning out and without burning through your savings. If you do not generate profits, you will eventually get to a point where you will not be able to continue. How you make your profit is up to you. We're not saying make profit without ethics, but profit should not be and is not a dirty word.

Now, let's consider what you can do now. Let's get practical. Here are three simple things you can do right now, and you don't actually need a master degree or qualification for this. Track what's coming in and what's going out. It doesn't have to be fancy - a notebook, a spreadsheet, a digital app through Xero, whatever's going to work for you and the nature inside of your business.

Do check out the reel and we can share some resources with you. Number two, set a time each week, perhaps 15 minutes, half an hour, to look at those numbers. Treat it as a routine. Treat it like brushing your teeth and you’ll actually look forward to it and reframe your mindset not to look at it as a chore, but look at it as something that's going to be revealing,

doing the heavy lifting, and it's going to be very insightful for you. It is part of your business. Take control. And thirdly, give each pound a purpose, whether it's paying yourself, putting that money aside for a laptop, covering your rent, putting money aside for taxes, plan for it. Money without a plan disappears.

And finally, folks, remember this, you are not alone. You didn't go into the creative world to become a number cruncher, but if you want your passion to pay the bills and more, then your numbers do matter. And the good news is you do not have to do it alone. That's one of the reasons the podcast is here to help you.

That's one of the reasons Numbers Knowhow, and its sister company, I Hate Numbers here, is there to help you - to break it down, keep it human, and help you feel confident around the money side of your creativity. So what's the main takeaway from today? Well, ignoring your numbers may give you some degree of comfort.

But it's also going to be holding you back. And when you face your numbers, even an incy wincy bit, you will take that power back. You will put yourself back in control. Some final thoughts, folks, if you do want help starting, if you want to be part of a good, solid community, a creative community that cares about being creative, but also wants to get in connection and in touch with their numbers and understand the landscape of business, well join my free artist community.

Hey, you could even buy my book, I Hate Numbers, based on decades of experience of working with creatives, small businesses. It's a book that's easy to read. It's not a technical book, dare I say, it's humorous. It looks under the bonnet of running a business, and it's a very modest investment to make.

Now, if you want more support, subscribe to the podcast, share with those who you feel will benefit from it as well. If today's episode makes you think twice about ignoring your numbers, if it's giving you some value, well hit that subscribe button and share this with a fellow creative who will need to hear it.

Remember, understanding your money doesn't make you any less creative. In fact, it makes you unstoppable. Plan, do it, profit.