You shouldn't do everything yourself. But there's a difference between getting help and handing over – and that difference decides whether you sit in the driver's seat or the back seat of your own business.
Two different things to buy
When you look for help with the finances you're looking for two things, and they often get confused:
- The bookkeeping. The formal side: ongoing accounts, VAT, tax returns, year-end. A legal requirement and a record. Necessary – but it says nothing about where you're heading.
- The advice. Someone who looks at the numbers more often than once a year and tells you what they mean: which products carry themselves, how liquidity looks towards spring, whether you can afford to hire.
Many firms sell the first and never mention the second. Ask actively for both – and ask before you sign anything.
Questions to ask when you're looking
- "How often do we review things – and is that included, or does it cost extra?"
- "Can you show me profitability per product or channel, not just the total?"
- "What do you need from me to give better answers?"
- "Do you have other seasonal clients – food producers, farms, small-scale food?"
If you don't get clear answers, it isn't the right person. There are firms and consultants who happily act as a sounding board – they rarely cost much more, and they're worth several times their fee.
What you never hand over
Three things are yours, however good your help is:
- The price. Nobody else can decide what your craft is worth.
- The investment decisions. The adviser calculates; you decide what you're going to become.
- Understanding your margin. If you can't explain why a product carries itself, you can't steer the business either.
Collaboration is finance too
The cheapest help is often not a consultant but a neighbour. Go through what you need – equipment, transport, premises, knowledge, extra hands at harvest – and ask who around you already has it. Sharing a freezer container, coordinating a delivery run or trading services improves your finances as much as a price rise, and strengthens the place you work in at the same time.
The circle is closed
Pause and look at what you have now: a picture of the life you want to live and an economic ambition, three numbers you recognise, a method for seeing what each part of the business gives, a year that's drawn with the hardest month circled, and a thirty-minute routine that keeps it all alive.
That's not a small thing. Most small business owners run on gut feeling for years – you now have simple steering that is your own. You don't have to love numbers. You just have to look at them regularly, and know what they mean.
Do this next
Book a conversation with your bookkeeper – or with one you're considering – and ask the four questions above. And set a date for the next monthly check.
The "count backwards" method and the Matgille model come from Hallands Matgille, who provide advice and coaching for food businesses.