Free sample — the first lesson's full text

Reading Your Business Numbers: From Transaction to Decision

Most business owners I work with know two numbers: the bank balance and the month's total sales. And neither tells them anything they can decide with.

Lesson 1 / 8

The Number You Look At — and the One You Should

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

Understand why neither your bank balance nor your sales total tells you anything you can decide with
Apply the test “what decision would I make with this number?” to every report you read
Answer the four questions the course is built on, and see where you hesitated
Know when this course does not concern you — the most honest case being that your sales are few to begin with

Ask yourself: what was the last number you looked at in your business?

And for most owners the answer is one of two: the bank balance. Or the month's sales total.

And neither tells you anything you can decide with.

The rule this course rests on

Any number that does not change a decision is entertainment.

Read it twice.

The balance tells you where you are now and not where you are going. **And sales tell you that you are

busy and not whether being busy is profitable**.

And the dividing question: what decision would I make if I knew this number? ← **and if there is no

decision, the number is decoration**.

And it is the same criterion we used for the chart of accounts in "From Excel to an Accounting System" —

and the principle is one: do not follow a number to know it, but to decide with it.

Four questions you must be able to answer

And the whole course is built on them:

1. Am I actually making money? ← and not "do I have cash" (lesson two).

2. Where does my profit come from? ← which product and which customer (lessons three and six).

3. How much must I sell not to lose money? ← (lesson four).

4. Will I be able to pay in six weeks? ← (lesson five).

And try them now: answer all four without opening anything. **And if you hesitated on one, that is why you

are here.**

Why people end up "busy and broke"

And this is the commonest case I have seen, and we return to it in lesson six:

A business whose sales grow every month, and whose owner cannot find cash. So they read it as "I need more

sales" ← and make the problem worse.

Because growth itself consumes cash: goods bought before they are sold, customers paying after two months,

and you paying wages today.

So sales are not the answer to every question — and sometimes they are the question.

What this course is not

It is not an accounting course. You will not learn entries or standards, **and you will not become an

accountant — and you do not need to**.

Nor is it about Excel — that is the "Excel for Business" course, **and I assume you can build a simple

sheet**.

Nor about choosing an accounting system — that is "From Excel to an Accounting System".

Nor about collection — that is "Getting Paid", and we will use its results in lesson five.

Nor about pricing — we touch it in lesson seven only as far as the decision goes.

And I will not mention a single figure of my own. **Numbers belong to each business alone, and the method

belongs to nobody.**

And whatever concerns accounting or tax treatment — consult your accountant. **I am teaching you to read,

not to prepare statements.**

When this course does not concern you

Three cases, and I will say them before you continue:

1. Your accountant gives you these numbers and explains them monthly, and you understand them and decide

with them ← your problem is not here.

2. Your business is simple cash sales with no inventory and no terms ← a barber, or a solo service ←

your arithmetic is simpler than a course deserves.

3. Your problem is that your sales are few to begin with ← and this is the most honest. **Reading

numbers does not create sales — the problem is the offer or the market, and you will read correct numbers

about a business that is not growing**.

And the third is the one people resist: numbers improve your decisions, and do not create demand.

What you need to start

And you do not need a system:

Your sales for the last twelve months
Your expenses for the same period
Your bank statement
And a list of who owes you and who you owe

And if these are in Excel that is enough. **And if they were never gathered at all, that is your first

task — and lesson two assumes you gathered them**.

Action steps

Write the rule and post it: any number that does not change a decision is entertainment.
Answer the four questions without opening anything — and record where you hesitated.
Ask of every report you read: what decision would I make with it?
Go honestly through "when this does not concern you", starting with the third.
Gather the four: sales, expenses, a bank statement, and receivables and payables.
Do not buy a system for the sake of this course.
Set a fixed monthly time to read your numbers — half an hour.
Ask your accountant about any accounting treatment you meet, and do not improvise it.

That was the full sample — here is the rest

What you just read is one part. The full edition includes:

All 8 lessons: profit versus cash, the margin, break-even, the thirteen-week cash forecast, where your profit comes from, and four decisions made with numbers
The hands-on task and quiz that close every lesson — neither is included in this sample
A capstone leaving you with four documents and a one-page monthly dashboard, a 32-question audit and a ninety-day plan
A completion certificate in your name, in Arabic and English

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