How it works
Each one is built on the one before. A business that doesn’t generate reliable cash can’t fund its growth, and a business that can’t run without its owner is hard to hand on.
How I help
A business that generates consistent, reliable cash, and an owner who can see it coming.
Profit and cash are not the same thing, and the gap between them is where good businesses come unstuck. This is where we start, because it’s what everything else rests on.
What we work on A thirteen-week cash forecast, management accounts you can run the business from, pricing and margins, and getting paid on time.
Growth that’s planned, funded and worth having.
Growth uses cash before it makes any. With the first pillar in place, we can plan the next stage properly: what it will take, what it will return and how to pay for it without putting the business at risk.
What we work on A plan for the next two to three years with the numbers behind it, budgets and the measures that matter, funding and the conversations with your bank, and the decisions on where to invest.
A business that runs without you every day, so you choose how involved you are.
When the numbers, the decisions and the know-how all sit with the owner, the business can’t run without them. Moving them into the team gives you your time back. At that point the business can become a lifestyle business, if that’s what you want, or the platform for an exit.
What we work on A management team that owns its numbers, a regular reporting rhythm, clear decisions about who decides what, and a plan for who will lead the business next.
Leaving on your terms, at the right time and for the right value.
Whether the business passes to your family, to your employees or to an outside buyer, the preparation starts years before the day itself. Buyers and successors look at the same things: reliable cash, steady growth and a business that doesn’t depend on you. The first three pillars are what make an exit possible.
What we work on Choosing the route that suits you, understanding what drives the value of your business, getting the numbers ready for scrutiny, and working alongside your accountant and lawyers through the process.
AI in your business
Alongside the numbers, I work with owners to implement AI across their business: where it will pay back, how to build it, and how to get the team using it.
I’ve built AI into my own practice and alongside other businesses, so the advice comes from doing it, not from reading about it. And because I start from the numbers, every idea is judged on what it saves or earns, not on how clever it looks.
Cash
A forecast that updates from your accounting system, faster reconciliations, and payment chasing that happens on time, every time.
Growth
Taking on more work without adding headcount at the same rate, with quoting, proposals, customer service and reporting done in a fraction of the time.
Succession
Getting your know-how out of your head and into systems and AI assistants the team can use, so the business runs without you.
Exit
A business that runs on documented, automated processes and clean data, which is easier to hand on and more attractive to a buyer.
We look at where your people spend their hours and pick the two or three jobs where AI will pay back fastest.
We build and test one thing at a time, and measure the hours or money it saves before going further.
Your team learns to use it well and safely, with simple rules on what goes into which tools.
AI does the legwork. The advice, and every decision about your business, comes from experience: knowing which numbers matter, what a bank manager needs to hear, and when an owner is ready to step back.
[Simon to add one or two real examples of AI you’ve built, in your own practice or with other businesses, and what each one saved or changed.]
[Simon to confirm one plain sentence on how client data is handled, for example which tools are used and that business data isn’t used to train AI models.]
The first conversation
And where you’d like it to be, whether that’s next year or when you step away.
Bring the last accounts or a recent bank position if you have them. If not, we work from what you know.
The two or three things worth doing first, in order.
Those steps are yours whether or not we work together.
The Four Pillars Scorecard
Twelve questions across cash, growth, succession and exit. About three minutes. Your results come straight to your inbox.