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Achieving Financial Clarity: The Profit First Challenge Unveiled
Episode 145th August 2025 • Profit First: Beyond The Book • Profit First Professionals UK & Ireland
00:00:00 00:41:11

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In this episode, Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday explore the impact of the Five Friday Profit First Challenge—a five-week guided journey designed to help Accountants & Bookkeepers implement some of the Profit First strategies in their own businesses. They share how the format gives participants space to absorb, apply and reflect on the core Profit First principles shared without overwhelming their schedules.

You’ll hear real stories of transformation, including how one participant saved over €300 per month, and how the challenge helps business owners finally pay themselves properly.

Tim and Deb also dive into key concepts like Owner’s Pay and Real Revenue, showing how the challenge brings clarity, confidence, and control to your finances.

Whether you're new to Profit First or looking to revisit the fundamentals, this episode offers a powerful invitation to join a supportive community and take the first step toward lasting financial change.

Key Takeaways:

  • Why spreading the challenge over five weeks boosts implementation and results
  • How participants gain clarity around Real Revenue and Owner’s Pay
  • Examples of tangible outcomes like cost savings and better decision-making
  • The value of learning in a supportive, like-minded community

Transcripts

Speaker A:

Foreign.

Speaker B:

Welcome to Profit first beyond the Book, a podcast that takes you beyond the book with Profit first brought to you by Tim Duncan and the rest of the Profit First Professionals UK and Ireland.

Speaker A:

Foreign.

Speaker B:

Is with me today.

Speaker B:

How are you, Deb?

Speaker A:

I'm great, Tim, yeah, really good.

Speaker A:

Energized.

Speaker A:

Seems we've just come off the Profit first pathway by five Friday Challenge.

Speaker B:

It's a mouthful, isn't it?

Speaker B:

Yeah, the five Friday Profit First Challenge.

Speaker B:

So we've been doing that in our Profit first pathway, so we should probably explain that.

Speaker B:

And the Profit first pathway is our group for people that are interested in becoming Profit first professionals in the future.

Speaker B:

They come into it unapologetically.

Speaker B:

It's a pre membership group.

Speaker B:

Within that group we've been running a challenge called the Five Friday Profit First Challenge.

Speaker B:

And instead of a lot of the online challenges there, but done within a week, aren't they?

Speaker B:

But we decided to spread ours across five weeks, didn't we?

Speaker A:

We did, yeah.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

As you said, we're going to do it every day for a week.

Speaker A:

But then we realized there was going to be some homework and accountants and busy bookkeepers are notoriously busy delivering work and running teams.

Speaker A:

So we thought we would give them a week in between to be able to fill in the assignments, the assessments and work on their business.

Speaker A:

Yeah, it's working really well.

Speaker B:

I think so.

Speaker B:

I mean, we've just completed the third session as we record this podcast and there's a high level of engagement, isn't there?

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

And attendance.

Speaker A:

So it's, I think the first week I remember how many we had.

Speaker A:

But the second week we had more attendees, but it stayed consistent.

Speaker A:

Week three, isn't it?

Speaker A:

They're all engaging.

Speaker A:

Majority of people are submitting their assignments and homework, etc.

Speaker A:

Fully engaged.

Speaker A:

Nobody's got their screen, you know, their video.

Speaker A:

They're all fully participating and seem to be getting some great feedback as well, aren't they?

Speaker B:

Well, well, we asked.

Speaker B:

So we've gone through three weeks, so we should probably talk about what that's entailed so far.

Speaker B:

But we asked for some marks out of ten today, didn't we?

Speaker B:

I'm quite blown away by the responses.

Speaker B:

I mean we had 10 out of 10, 10 out of 10, 10 out Of 10 and even an 11 out of 10, which is obviously impossible, but what a result.

Speaker B:

We're over 100.

Speaker A:

We had a hands down as well, hands down, 10 out of 10, didn't we?

Speaker A:

Without a doubt.

Speaker A:

That's great.

Speaker B:

Fantastic feedback.

Speaker B:

And of course that isn't to feed Our ego.

Speaker B:

That actually is really important feedback and we have asked for more.

Speaker B:

Maybe there's some people that perhaps might message me directly because there's things that we can improve on and we have asked for that feedback and that would be great.

Speaker B:

It's always great to make programs better as you evolve these things.

Speaker B:

And this is the first time we've run this challenge and we're going to be running that again in the future.

Speaker B:

So I think it's important to, to nail out, you know, iron out any crisis is probably the right phrase I'm looking for.

Speaker B:

But should we, should we talk about.

Speaker B:

I'll tell you what, there is a success thing that we should share as well.

Speaker B:

One of the attendees shared with us today that from the homework from last week, which is all about looking at software and subscription costs, they've actually saved themselves €300 per month in fees.

Speaker B:

They were not recharging to their clients.

Speaker B:

So what a win from a free challenge.

Speaker B:

€300amonth.

Speaker A:

€3,600 a year.

Speaker B:

Yes.

Speaker A:

We're attending a free challenge.

Speaker A:

Free Friday Challenge.

Speaker A:

Brilliant.

Speaker B:

Yeah, amazing.

Speaker B:

Amazing.

Speaker B:

So, so let's talk about what, what the five Fridays Profit First Challenge is all about.

Speaker B:

And the, the idea behind it was to provide some steps into the world of implementing profit first in your own business.

Speaker B:

Delivered by three certified Profit first professionals.

Speaker B:

First and foremost, obviously myself as joint.

Speaker B:

Joint Co founder and joint license holder of Profit first specials in the uk.

Speaker B:

Ex accountant.

Speaker B:

There's yourself, Deb.

Speaker B:

You are.

Speaker A:

I am a bookkeeper or I am a. Ex.

Speaker A:

Founder of the accounts.

Speaker A:

Ladies.

Speaker A:

A book.

Speaker A:

An award winning bookkeeping practice.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

But I've recently sold the client base so I can also call myself.

Speaker A:

Did you call it recovering or ex Tim?

Speaker A:

Recovering.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I used to be referred to as a recovering accountant.

Speaker B:

That was by our friend James, by the way.

Speaker B:

So you are now a recovering bookkeeper.

Speaker B:

We've got Jason as well, who is the coach, isn't he, when it comes to Profit First?

Speaker B:

Yeah, he, he's been, he's been a Profit first professional for, for I think about six years now.

Speaker B:

And he just delivers tremendous value to our members because he's one of our Profit first guides as well.

Speaker B:

But on this, these sessions we've been holding, I think you mentioned earlier, it's so clear to see that he's a coach.

Speaker B:

Yeah, fantastic things.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

I mean the way he presents and the way he makes you think about things, the way he ask the questions.

Speaker A:

He is a coach through and through.

Speaker A:

Which makes the Dynamics of the three of us.

Speaker A:

We cover the A, B and Cs, don't we?

Speaker A:

Accountant, bookkeeper and coach.

Speaker B:

Exactly, exactly.

Speaker B:

And let's be fair, if you learn from people, you might as well learn from people that have gone through the same journey that you're traveling right now.

Speaker B:

And that's the beauty of what, what we provide.

Speaker B:

So, so let's talk about the sessions we've held so far.

Speaker B:

Like I say, as we record this, we're at the end of session three.

Speaker B:

So the very first session and kind of our intro, the introduction into profit first, etc, was all around owners pay.

Speaker B:

So when we talk about owners pay, we're talking about what the business owner is taking from the business financially to reward themselves because they are the person that takes all the risk, they are the person that works all the hours.

Speaker B:

Godsend.

Speaker B:

And they are the person who has all the responsibility of the business and therefore they should be rewarded suitably.

Speaker B:

I think that's fair to say.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And it's the, the reason that people.

Speaker A:

Well, one of two main reasons I'd say, and correct me if I'm wrong, but why people start businesses, you know, because they want to be in charge of their own income and sometimes that gets lost, doesn't it?

Speaker A:

So that's why we focus on that right from the beginning.

Speaker A:

Let's go right back to the roots and talk about your owner's pay.

Speaker A:

How much do you want and how much do you need to take out of your business?

Speaker A:

Yeah, that went down really, really well.

Speaker A:

Made a lot of interesting ideas came out, didn't they, from that first session?

Speaker A:

Goals and aspirations of when they started their business.

Speaker A:

What did they see the future looking like?

Speaker A:

And what do they.

Speaker A:

Are the goals still the same?

Speaker A:

So, yeah, so it was interesting.

Speaker A:

Different for a lot of people, but very, very valuable because we went through how they, how they're going to get to that, didn't we?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And I think, I think it's really key, isn't it?

Speaker B:

Because when you start your business, when you very first go into business, you have a dream, you know, and that dream is a long way away, but you feel that it's achievable.

Speaker B:

And then you start your business and maybe things don't go quite according to plan.

Speaker B:

Maybe you realize it's a little bit harder than what you thought.

Speaker B:

And then you're thinking, I'm not earning as much as I was in the job that I've given up to start this business or the life I had before to start this business.

Speaker B:

And maybe there's a bit of pressure then starting to Build up on what you need.

Speaker B:

So one of the things with the calculator that we do, as you reference there, Deb, is, okay, so what do you need to earn initially to cover your personal commitments?

Speaker B:

And so we run that into our very simple profit first calculator and from there we can work out what the sales revenue needs to be.

Speaker B:

And so it's quite a simple calculator.

Speaker B:

And this is how we start.

Speaker B:

This was our starting point in the first week and we'll talk about the second week and why there's a, there's a twist on this shortly, but it was just a simple calculator to think about.

Speaker B:

If we're looking at pure profit first terms, say you needed to earn 25,000 pounds a year to cover all of your personal commitments, and at least, you know, everything's covered, then you might need a sales revenue of 50,000 in pure profit first terms.

Speaker B:

Course there's more to it than that, but that's kind of how we started off with the session and then we talked about, okay, what would the next level be?

Speaker B:

What would you then want to earn?

Speaker B:

You know, maybe what was the salary you, you wanted to replace so that you have a better style of life?

Speaker B:

And, and, and you can do more than just cover your personal commitments.

Speaker B:

So I don't know, maybe that might be £45,000, £50,000, you know, and then we'd say, well, okay, well that means the staff's revenue would be 100,000 pound.

Speaker B:

And then we started to, well, Jason delivered a really good presentation, started to get our, our attendees to, to think about what three things would you like to do personally if you had the time and the money?

Speaker B:

And what three things would you like to do in your business if you had the time and the money?

Speaker B:

And I think that's where you said about there some really good thoughts and really good statements that came out once we gave them time to reflect on that.

Speaker B:

And I think it also highlights the benefit of being live and interactive on sessions.

Speaker B:

We can all listen to recordings.

Speaker B:

I think that sounds great, but do we take action?

Speaker B:

But when you're on these calls and these sessions with us, when Jason does the coaching element and then he pauses and says, right, let me know when you're done.

Speaker B:

And then we wait for people to confirm they've written what they need to write down, they've thought about what they need to, and they say done in the chat.

Speaker B:

And then some of them share, yeah, you know, and, and, and I think it's reminding people, taking them back to when they started the business with all that excitement and all that dream of what they wanted to achieve.

Speaker B:

And I think it takes them back to that, but also with a more sort of experienced consideration to where they're at now from where they started from, you know, So I think that's really valuable.

Speaker B:

It's kind of a reset for many people and also an introduction to the journey that Profit first can take you on.

Speaker A:

It is.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

I mean, the other thing as well is lots of people write down their dreams and their goals, but it's the plan, isn't it, of how you're going to actually achieve those.

Speaker A:

So the magic for me was when Jason said, choose one.

Speaker A:

And now we're going to work out how you can, you can bring that dream into your reality, into your near reality.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

That was transition to the following week, wasn't it?

Speaker B:

Yes.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And following week, of course, was all about real revenue, which from our perspective is one of our favorite topics often overlooked in the Profit first world.

Speaker B:

And bearing in mind we're on our podcast, Profit first beyond the Book.

Speaker B:

What a great, what a great subject to be talking about real revenue, because I don't know how you feel about this, but anyone who reads the book will take away some great ideas about how Profit first works.

Speaker B:

But what they'll take away, and I know this for a fact because we talk to so many people and we have so much feedback and so much information coming into us all time from people reaching out to us for support from Profit first professionals.

Speaker B:

But they'll, they'll say, okay, it's quite simple.

Speaker B:

It's just moving money into pots.

Speaker B:

And so in their head, it's profit.

Speaker B:

Of course owners pay tax, operating expenses.

Speaker B:

Most people won't bother separating the operating expenses from the income.

Speaker B:

So that's mistake number one.

Speaker B:

People will start to put money in a profit pot because Mike tells them to.

Speaker B:

And so they've read it and they start doing that.

Speaker B:

Owners pay, they may dabble with, but as soon as they've got a bill to pay, that's the place they take the money from and tax.

Speaker B:

They've probably already got a tax pot.

Speaker B:

Most accountants and bookkeepers do save tax up, and if they're not, then it's really a place to, to, to be thinking about straight away, because that can come back and bite you as you know, what they don't focus on and what nobody focuses on unless you've gone through certification process is what makes up real revenue.

Speaker B:

And I think this is, this is where the, the beauty and the knowledge and experience of being a certified profit first professional kicks in.

Speaker B:

Do you think that's fair to say that?

Speaker A:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

When we asked the attendees to do their initial assessment, if you like, they were asked.

Speaker A:

Most people are, when they start profit first, worlds away from their, their targets, the world's worlds away.

Speaker A:

And that's where our knowledge comes in.

Speaker A:

Because you having those pots, those five pots, is a great start, but it doesn't give you near enough clarity on what's going on in your business.

Speaker A:

So, yeah, so that's where we took them on the next part of the journey, isn't it?

Speaker B:

Absolutely.

Speaker B:

And so we discussed real revenue in great detail.

Speaker B:

And part of that was to talk about the cost of delivery without giving too much away.

Speaker B:

But we did incorporate that into these conversations.

Speaker B:

And Deb, you've got great, you know, conversation around this, haven't you, with how you dealt with your subcontractors and the margins that you were tracking.

Speaker B:

Is it, is it fair for you to share that now?

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker A:

So I realized that when I had my team and they were subcontractors and they, some months they would do vat, some months they wouldn't.

Speaker A:

So invoices that were coming through to me were variable and it made it nearly impossible for me to be able to do my profit first allocations before I had their invoices in.

Speaker A:

So I looked at this and then realized actually what I need to, I need it to be a static percentage, same every month.

Speaker A:

So I had the discussion with the team and we changed it to a percentage of whatever I charge the client.

Speaker A:

The subcontractors would have.

Speaker A:

We chose 30% of the, of the fee that would go to the subcontractors, which meant that I promised to increase the fees as a minimum on an annual basis with the clients.

Speaker A:

But it also helped me, if they, if the subcontracts did with the team, that I was going to be increasing the fees.

Speaker A:

They didn't increase their fees with me because I didn't want to get into a situation where I put them up in January and then they put theirs up in April by a different amount.

Speaker A:

So they knew that they would benefit from when the fees went up.

Speaker A:

So when I put the fees up, so I was in control of that.

Speaker A:

So it worked much, much better.

Speaker A:

So I would take my top line revenue, remove the VAT, remove the subcontractor, 30% and then I would get my real revenue and the rest of the percentage would work based on that.

Speaker B:

And so in week two, we talked about some of these strategies.

Speaker B:

And then we also delivered another calculator that looked at things from a slightly different perspective.

Speaker B:

So maybe instead of the salary that you need coming against sales revenue, as we know from a profit first perspective, it comes from real revenue.

Speaker B:

So then there was a slight change to things and it meant that perhaps sales revenue needed to actually be a little bit higher.

Speaker B:

But you know what isn't?

Speaker B:

What a lesson that is, because everybody talks about sales revenue.

Speaker B:

Everybody increase your sales revenue to this.

Speaker B:

Get to six figures for this, get to seven figures.

Speaker B:

Do this, do this if you want to.

Speaker B:

You know, it means nothing, does it, Deb?

Speaker B:

And I know you're an advocate for this.

Speaker B:

It means nothing if you're not able to pay yourself enough or make the profits.

Speaker A:

No, no, you have to, you have to address your pricing.

Speaker A:

You have to have clarity on your profit margins and where your money's going.

Speaker A:

Because if you, you just chase the sale otherwise.

Speaker A:

And if you chase the sale at the wrong price, you're just not fixing the problem.

Speaker A:

You're just getting yourself on that hamster wheel of you'll just be chasing the next client because you haven't priced correctly in the beginning to cover your own owners, pay your operating expenses, the margins that you need, the tax.

Speaker A:

I mean, as bookkeepers and accountants, we should be factoring tax.

Speaker A:

But it's surprising still how many people still look at the market and see what other people are pricing at and then just use that as a base rather than actually drilling down into their own numbers and knowing what they should be taking out of their business.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I'm working on that basis.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I totally agree.

Speaker B:

I've, I, I've spoken to people that, and I've asked them how they.

Speaker B:

But I speak to a lot of accountants and bookkeepers in particular, probably more than coaches, if I'm honest.

Speaker B:

So I'll talk.

Speaker B:

It is a painting, bookkeeper scenario.

Speaker B:

I speak to a lot, all the time, as, you know, a lot of people, but cause of me want to talk about profit first.

Speaker B:

Want to join the prophet's pathway.

Speaker B:

Wanna, just, just want to find out more.

Speaker B:

So sometimes it's just a chat and I quite often ask about how they price.

Speaker B:

And I've actually had people say, if I'm honest, it's a bit of a finger in the wind kind of, of scenario, sort of li my finger.

Speaker B:

Which way is the wind going?

Speaker B:

And I'll just try that figure and see what the client says or the prospect says.

Speaker B:

So it's almost like a fear of overpricing yourself and that, that to me Indicates a lack of maybe confidence in what you're delivering or a fear of not converting the prospect as a sale.

Speaker B:

Because accountants, bookkeepers, we don't like selling, none of us do.

Speaker B:

It's just built in us, which is not built that way.

Speaker B:

So there's that element some people will look at what that, you know, if they're able to access the account scratch, you know, from the previous accountant before they have that prospect call, or they've got access to Xero, they might have a sneaky look and see what the previous account is charging.

Speaker B:

And I'll bet you there they're just below instead of going over, they go just below because they think, well, they're paying them whatever, I just go below, they're bound to come across.

Speaker B:

To me, it's not the way to, it's not the way to provide value added service that we want to provide.

Speaker B:

We're probably digressing away from, from the topic we should be talking about, but it's just a, you know, it's an apt thing to, to remind people about.

Speaker B:

And when I, when I became a profit first professional for the first time, implemented profit first in my business and went through some of the pricing strategies at the time, value pricing was the thing and value pricing certainly worked for me massively.

Speaker B:

And you know, I built three packages and I targeted the middle package and the fee I was charging.

Speaker B:

The middle package was just right and I got lots of clients into it and it made my business what it was to be able to sell.

Speaker B:

You know, it just made everything move so quickly for me.

Speaker B:

So structuring your pricing is really key and interesting.

Speaker B:

We touched on this very briefly in today's session.

Speaker B:

So we started with owners pay, then we went to real revenue and the effect that has on the owner's pay calculations that we made.

Speaker B:

So there was a second calculator offered out to our members who by the way, all have access to an online training portal where they go through the assignments, watch the recordings again of the sessions.

Speaker B:

Don't they have a bit of intro and outro from me and also have the presentations that Jason's delivered and all the conversations are in there and some assignments to do.

Speaker B:

This week we talked about sales revenue, which is unusual for us in many ways.

Speaker B:

But we have to talk about it, don't we?

Speaker A:

We do, yeah.

Speaker A:

Yeah, we do have to talk about it.

Speaker A:

But that's, that's where everybody measures themselves against everybody else, don't they?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Or where they think they should be heading, you know.

Speaker A:

Yes, figures, seven figures.

Speaker A:

It's not the most important, but it's, it's hard to detract from the popularity of, of that line, isn't it?

Speaker A:

And it's where your margin at the end of the day, isn't it?

Speaker B:

Yes, it is.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And Jason shared with us once again his kind of coaching presentation and took us through some really good steps for our attendees to take.

Speaker B:

So their homework as we record this, their homework in the coming week is to reflect on what their annual revenue is, how many clients they have, what does that look like for annual revenue per client and then what is that as a monthly revenue per client?

Speaker B:

So what we're trying to find out with that calculation is what's your average fee per client each month?

Speaker B:

And then once we've calculated that, we can put that into work that on.

Speaker A:

The.

Speaker B:

What'S the word for it, the sheet I suppose that Jason's providing.

Speaker B:

We then put that into the calculator that once again has been updated so this is a version 3 calculator and we can enter in what the average fee is per client and the number of clients we have, which obviously then shows us our monthly revenue or our annual revenue.

Speaker B:

But then we can put that sales revenue figure back into the calculator and we can look at how that then affects what our owners pay is from profit first ratios, etc.

Speaker B:

And then back, back at the front page again we can then say, okay, so in the future, what could my business look like in the future if I was able to add a high level, high value, high impact profit first advisory?

Speaker B:

We made no bones about it.

Speaker B:

We are talking about adding profit first advisory for people that do become certified profit first specials in the future.

Speaker B:

So Debbie, you know, I use you as an example, you know, and rightly so.

Speaker B:

You had someone come to you that was a client and I know we've talked about this previously, he was paying £100amonth to his previous bookkeeping business came to you and over time he was paying you £2,000amonth.

Speaker B:

So yeah, so we can talk about that after.

Speaker B:

But the point I want to make is in the calculator we put £2,000 and then we put say 20 clients, the whole business model changes completely.

Speaker B:

You know, imagine going from, I don't know, I haven't got a cochlear in front of me so I'm making numbers up.

Speaker B:

But imagine there's someone out there that's charging £100amonth and they've got 100 clients.

Speaker B:

Imagine the difference going down to even 10 clients at £2,000 a month.

Speaker B:

Imagine the difference of how you manage that as a client structure.

Speaker B:

Managing 20 clients is a lot easier than managing 100 clients.

Speaker B:

So I just think there's a lot of time for reflection and next week we're going to talk about how you can get to those level of fees.

Speaker B:

Fees on a monthly basis.

Speaker B:

There isn't pure compliance and transactional base, by the way, because they're a big company.

Speaker B:

We're talking about advisory, talking about adding in high value strategies to help your clients.

Speaker B:

And if you deliver more value for them, you're definitely going to attract higher fees.

Speaker B:

amonth up to:

Speaker B:

Can you explain how that went?

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

So when he came to us, his accounts were in a complete mess.

Speaker A:

He was a little bit perturbed, shall we say, that he was paying a bookkeeper and he couldn't understand his numbers that were coming through zero.

Speaker A:

So when I had a look, we realized that the bookkeeper been putting all the money he was paying out as money spent, yet she'd been processing the invoices through or the bills through Dex, so they've doubled up.

Speaker A:

She hadn't been matching the money coming in to the invoices that he'd sent out.

Speaker A:

So he had no idea who owed him any money.

Speaker A:

And he was a little bit cross because he'd been paying a bookkeeper for a number of years.

Speaker A:

And I asked him how much he was paying his bookkeeper and he said £100.

Speaker A:

I said, well, there's your answer, because you've got a 450,000 pound business and you're only paying one.

Speaker A:

She hasn't got the time, she hasn't got the bandwidth to, to do your accounts properly.

Speaker A:

So he was on the wrong VAT scheme for four years and he was still on a flat rate.

Speaker A:

His corporation tax was out.

Speaker A:

So we took three months to undo all his accounts and redo them, if you like.

Speaker A:

I explained it, it was a bit like knitting.

Speaker A:

If you drop a stitch, if there's something wrong and you've carried on, you can't just go and fix it.

Speaker A:

It's got to all be and redone.

Speaker A:

So he accepted that we set him up with Profit first so that he could see easily what his numbers were just through his bank.

Speaker A:

And he loved that because all of a sudden he could see that he had enough for corporation tax, that he had enough for vat.

Speaker A:

He knew how much he could take out of the business and he had a growth pot and his operating expenses were split so that he could see clearly what he had for what.

Speaker A:

And we just gave him the percentages.

Speaker A:

He got to a stage where he was.

Speaker A:

He had clarity, but we now need to teach him how to make his own decisions.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

For growth.

Speaker A:

So we set up a advisory package where he had two calls a month with us where we could then update his figures and teach him what everything meant and how to make his decisions based on.

Speaker A:

So we took him through his strategy, his goals of what he wanted to achieve in the next 12 months, how he could make his decisions based on that, other factors that he had to factor in.

Speaker A:

And he was not to move things from tax pots, etc.

Speaker A:

To, to use for any other purpose.

Speaker A:

So within 18 months he had a.

Speaker A:

He taken on a marketing person, he'd move premises to a bigger premises.

Speaker A:

He'd taken on another team member that actually approached him for a job and realized that actually he could afford a van.

Speaker A:

I might have said he had an engineering company.

Speaker A:

He, by taking on this senior engineer, he then had extra capacity and he was able to put in for the extra contract that he wanted, the larger contracts that he wanted.

Speaker A:

And he started making these decisions on his own.

Speaker A:

And within 18 months he'd gone from a450,000 turnover to a 1.1 million turnover.

Speaker A:

So, yeah, so that was what we were doing for him.

Speaker A:

So he was quite happy at that point to pay for that because he could see the results and he was getting the outcome income that he desperately wanted and he realized that he wasn't going to get that for 100 pound a month.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So, yeah, fantastic.

Speaker B:

And, and yeah, and we should say as well that amongst those sales revenue figures growing, he was obviously profitable and paying himself in the right way.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

When he started, he'd even been putting, opened up a pension and started putting money through his pension.

Speaker A:

He started putting his kids through private school.

Speaker A:

He was massively profitable and he was delighted.

Speaker A:

So because he could, he could now achieve his goals and he had like a timeline of his business timeline and his personal timeline.

Speaker A:

So his business was funding his personal goals.

Speaker A:

All these things that he'd been wanting to do in the back of his head, like his children into private school and building a pension pot, he was able to do because he had clarity, whereas not knowing his numbers, knowing that he had a quite a good business, but not knowing how good of a business he had then, yeah, just started ticking off all his list of his goals, you know, and, and mapping out what he wanted to do in the Future.

Speaker A:

So, yeah, amazing.

Speaker B:

I think as well.

Speaker B:

Do you know what?

Speaker B:

That takes me back to week one in the five Friday profit first challenge.

Speaker B:

Talking about goals, desires, what you really want to achieve.

Speaker B:

Putting your children through university was one of the things that was brought up.

Speaker B:

It might have been me that brought it up as an idea, I can't remember, but that was mentioned.

Speaker B:

So putting the children through private school, obviously very similar scenario.

Speaker B:

Buying your dream home, going on your dream holiday, buying a second, maybe a holiday apartment on the south coast or in France or wherever that is, you know, being able to move.

Speaker B:

But all these things that people mentioned in that you've just explained your client doing one of them.

Speaker B:

So I think that's fantastic.

Speaker B:

It's actually, actually wasn't deliberate that I asked you that question to hear that.

Speaker B:

But the fact that you said that just links in so beautifully with what we're discussing on this conversation.

Speaker B:

So just by natural conversation that just happens.

Speaker B:

So I'm really pleased with that.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

I mean I, I don't even think I've mentioned that before because personal goals.

Speaker A:

But yeah, we took him through.

Speaker A:

That's the point, isn't it?

Speaker A:

That's the point of being in business to achieve your lifestyle goals.

Speaker A:

Why else would we do it?

Speaker A:

I mean it's hard enough work as it is, isn't it?

Speaker A:

If you don't want to progress in your lifestyle and achieve your dreams, then you just work for somebody else, surely.

Speaker B:

And, and it's, it's.

Speaker B:

What a feeling to help change people's lives in that way.

Speaker B:

What a great feeling, isn't it, to be able to be a part of that journey with them as they make these things happen and for people that, you know, have that thing in their head.

Speaker B:

But how do I, how do I move into advisory?

Speaker B:

I want to make this happen for people.

Speaker B:

You can, you can because we've got framework to make that happen.

Speaker B:

You know, these stories are not just one offs.

Speaker B:

There are lots and lots of these stories from other.

Speaker B:

There are profit first professionals are doing for their clients with week in, week out, month after month.

Speaker B:

And we're going to get to the point we start sharing a lot more of these stories.

Speaker B:

But also our members themselves are making such massive impacts in their own lives and being able to move forward with their lives and achieve their dreams and goals as well.

Speaker B:

All of us are starting from different places, all of us have different goals.

Speaker B:

But it's so great to see everybody moving forward together and as a community of certified profits professionals that we, we've opened up a WhatsApp group.

Speaker B:

I'm digressing away from the five Friday Prof.

Speaker B:

Challenges second because it all links into one anyway and we share what we're doing when we get our, our profit reward at the end of the quarter, you know, everybody was sharing and everyone was sharing different things and everyone's at a different stage in their journey.

Speaker B:

Some are new members, some are long standing members.

Speaker B:

So there's going to be a different level but no one, there's no competition, there's no ego where people are saying, oh, is that all you're doing?

Speaker B:

Everyone congratulates everyone for whatever it is they're doing when they celebrate their profit reward.

Speaker B:

It's such a welcoming environment.

Speaker B:

And, and that's what we've tried to recreate in the Profit first pathway as well.

Speaker B:

Like we say, which is our, which is our lead generation group, I make no apologies for that.

Speaker B:

This is a pre membership group.

Speaker B:

But the Profit first pathway has been set up so that you can, if you're an accountant, bookkeeper or coach and you have heard of Profit first, you're interested in Profit first, you've read the book, you, you can come and join, you can learn more about it with us.

Speaker B:

You can learn some tips about how you can implement in your own business.

Speaker B:

And I have to stress in your own business only being part of the Profit first path does not enable you to work with clients you are not licensed.

Speaker B:

You are only licensed to work with your clients with Profit first.

Speaker B:

Once you become a certified Profit first professional and you continue the membership and ongoing training and CPD that you receive with us.

Speaker B:

So, so I just need to clarify that point because the, the, the lines do get blurred sometimes people don't quite understand.

Speaker B:

But, but we need to clarify that.

Speaker B:

But, but the, the, the five.

Speaker B:

Let's go back to the five Friday first challenge.

Speaker B:

It's been wonderful.

Speaker B:

We're only through week three.

Speaker B:

I'm looking forward to seeing people's homework come in over the weekend and early in next week.

Speaker B:

Some people do it Thursday.

Speaker B:

I even have one come through at 8:30 this morning.

Speaker B:

Parkinson's Law in, in action.

Speaker B:

But like you say, we spread it over weeks, over five weeks so that people had time.

Speaker B:

We appreciate a cancer.

Speaker B:

Bookkeepers are busy and it gives them time to better take the action they need to and turn up fully focused on the call.

Speaker B:

The attendance of the call has been amazing.

Speaker B:

Next week we're going to be talking about advisory and how we deem advisory and how we would consider approaching clients in the first instance with some of some advisory lessons.

Speaker B:

I'm looking forward to that.

Speaker A:

Yeah, very much so.

Speaker A:

I think it's, they're just getting better and better each week I find.

Speaker A:

But next week's topic is yeah, I, it's gonna, it's gonna resonate, it's gonna hit but it's not going to be what quite what they expect.

Speaker A:

I don't think so.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I think that's the thing.

Speaker B:

I, I, I don't think anything we do is quite what people expect because they're so used to the tried and tested stuff that doesn't actually work, constantly being thrown at them.

Speaker B:

Whereas Profit first and, and certainly within the Profit first professionals world we think differently, we're a different breed and I think it's fair to say that.

Speaker B:

And that's why when people want to join there's an application process because we only take the people that we know are going to be good at this and, and this is the second is a stepping stone.

Speaker B:

So yeah, I can't wait for next week.

Speaker B:

We're going to share lots of really good secrets of how we do stuff within Profit Professionals within this environment.

Speaker B:

The five Friday Profit first challenge.

Speaker B:

So if you're listening to this, we would have finished this whole challenge by now because this is recorded and this will be played later.

Speaker B:

But there will be an opportunity for you to come and join the five Friday Profit First Challenge in the future.

Speaker B:

It would of course be even better because as things evolve we enhance and improve things as we go along and you can join us right now in the Profit first pathway.

Speaker B:

It's a great, all you need to do is head to Facebook, search the Profit first pathway, answer three simple questions and they're very simple questions and we will give you access to our group and you'll be welcomed in by the whole community and we'll get to know you and you can come on some of our sessions.

Speaker B:

You'll get to know what it's like working with us.

Speaker B:

You'll get to see myself, Deb, you'll get to see Jason in action delivering and if you like what you're receiving then you know, maybe in the future you could end up being a certified Profit first professional and start to change your clients lives which ultimately is going to change your life.

Speaker B:

And the last thing I'm going to say is before I hand over to Deb is Profit first without doubt changed my life.

Speaker B:

My life looks completely different to what it looked like six or seven years ago.

Speaker B:

When I found Profit first, my life changed.

Speaker B:

When I became a prophet first professional, my life changed again.

Speaker B:

But Only I could make that happen.

Speaker B:

Let's be honest about it, we have to take the action ourselves as well.

Speaker B:

So I encourage you to come and join us on the Profit first pathway way.

Speaker B:

Help yourself, enhance your business, enhance the finances of your business first and foremost and then we can look to bring you into Profit First Professionals where you can then change your clients lives.

Speaker B:

How do you think about that, Deb?

Speaker A:

Yeah, I couldn't have said it better myself, Tim.

Speaker A:

I will say that Profit first is the business owner's choice.

Speaker A:

It's been the number one business money book for the last decade I believe and it's for business owners.

Speaker A:

So we should be delivering which we are Profit first professionals delivering what the business owners want and need.

Speaker A:

So.

Speaker A:

So yeah, it's a no brainer.

Speaker B:

Absolutely.

Speaker B:

Thanks for joining me Deb.

Speaker B:

It's been great, great today.

Speaker B:

Thank you very much.

Speaker A:

I enjoyed it Tim.

Speaker A:

Thanks.

Speaker B:

Thank you for joining us on our podcast today.

Speaker B:

Profit first beyond the book was brought to you by the Profit First Professionals UK and Ireland team.

Speaker B:

If you'd like to find out more about Profit first or becoming a Profit first professional, head to our website profitfirstuk.co.uk.

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