Financial Strategy
Know your numbers well enough to make the call.
A clear read on margins, pricing, and cash flow, so decisions protect profit.
Who this is for
If a few of these sound familiar, this is where to start.
This is for you if
- Busy and billing, but thin on profit
- Owners who want to price and plan with real numbers
- Weighing a hire, new equipment, or expansion
Signs it's time
- Busy all month, still wondering where the cash went
- No idea which services or jobs actually make money
- Pricing is a guess that has not changed in years
- Cash gets tight with no warning
Where a job's money actually goes
We work the bridge from revenue to what you actually keep, with your numbers, not ours.
What this work can include
This isn't a package. It's what the work can include, spelled out in writing before you commit.
- Revenue and expense review
- Gross-margin analysis by service or job type
- Break-even calculation
- Pricing-model review
- Splitting labor and overhead across your jobs
- Cash-flow forecast
- Monthly scorecard of your key numbers
- Running the numbers on a hire, new equipment, or expansion
- List of financially weak services or customer types
OBM advises and supports. How hands-on we get, from recommending to helping you put it in place, is set in your written scope.
Busy and broke is usually a pricing problem
Plenty of local businesses bill well and keep very little of it. The revenue line says one thing and the bank account says another, and the gap between them is almost always sitting in the margin on individual jobs rather than anywhere near the top line.
The reason it stays hidden is that most owners know their total revenue and their total costs but not their margin by job type. Labor and overhead get carried as one lump for the whole business instead of split across the work that actually caused them. Once they are split the picture usually changes, and not gently. Some of the busiest, most familiar work turns out to be the thinnest, and something you nearly stopped offering turns out to pay best per hour on site.
Pricing follows from that rather than from what the competition down the road charges. So do the bigger calls: whether the next hire pays for itself or just adds payroll, what a piece of equipment has to produce before it earns its keep, and how much cash needs to be sitting there before either one is a sensible idea. None of that is bookkeeping. It is what the bookkeeping is supposed to be for.
We don't do your books. We make your books tell you what to do next.
What we need, how it works, and how we measure success
What we need
- Your basic financials, the P&L and what sits behind it
- How pricing and jobs are structured today
- The decisions you are trying to make
How it works
- First. Review revenue, expenses, and margins.
- Then. Dig into pricing, break-even, and what helps or hurts profit.
- Ongoing. Keep a scorecard, help you make the calls.
Timeline comes in your written scope.
How we measure
- Real margin known by service or job
- Pricing that protects profit
- Fewer cash surprises
Questions we hear
Do you replace my accountant?
No. We do not do tax preparation, bookkeeping, audits, or any regulated accounting work, and we are not trying to. Your accountant handles compliance and what has already happened. We work alongside them on what the numbers mean for the decisions in front of you.
I already have a bookkeeper. Why do I need this?
A bookkeeper tells you what happened, accurately and on time, which is exactly their job. What that does not answer is which of your services actually makes money, whether your pricing still works at today's costs, or whether you can afford the next hire. Those are decisions, not records, and most owners are making them on feel.
Do you implement, or just advise?
We advise and support. That runs from working out the numbers with you and handing back a clear recommendation, through to helping you actually put a new pricing model or scorecard in place. Where it lands is set in your written scope before you commit, so nobody is guessing about who is doing what.
How do I work out what a job really costs me?
By splitting labor and overhead across the work that caused them rather than carrying them as one lump for the whole business. That means loading each job with its real labor hours, the vehicle and equipment time it consumed, and a fair share of the fixed costs that keep the doors open. It is unglamorous arithmetic, and it is usually where the surprise is.
What if my books are a mess?
Common, and not a reason to put this off, but there is a floor. We need the P&L and enough of what sits behind it to trust the picture. If the records are too far gone for that, the honest first step is getting them straight with a bookkeeper or your accountant, and we will say so rather than build a plan on numbers we do not believe.
Can you tell me whether I can afford to hire someone?
That is one of the more common reasons owners start. It comes down to what the role has to produce to cover itself, how long the business can carry the cost before it does, and what the cash position looks like in the meantime. You still make the call, but you make it against real numbers instead of a feeling that you are busy enough to need help.
Do you require a long contract?
No, we work month to month. We earn the next month by being worth it. Anything set up in your name stays yours, so nothing holds you in place except the work being worth what you pay for it.
Where we do this work
Financial Strategy for local businesses across Delaware County, Philadelphia, Chester, Montgomery and Bucks. Pick your county to see how that market actually works.
Pairs well with Operational Optimization. A plan for the follow-up, scheduling, and workflow that keep leads and time from slipping.
Know which work makes money before adding more of it.
We get back to you within 24 hours, by email or a call. No obligation.