Making your business work for you: the big goal

Anna Stubbs • March 18, 2025

You spend a lot of time making sure your business runs like clockwork. But is your business delivering for you personally, as the owner and/or founder?


In this series, we’ll look at the core ways your business can be structured to deliver on your own personal, family, philanthropic and leisure goals.



A business that supports your personal vision and life goals


When you started your business, you’ll have had a clear idea of how this new venture would provide for you and your family. But, over time, your attention can become focused on the day-to-day operations, with less awareness of how the company is delivering on your own personal and entrepreneurial goals.


In this series, we want to reverse that flow. We want you to think clearly about what you want from life, your business and your wider position as an entrepreneur.

We’ll look at:


Maintaining a healthy work/life balance


Think about how you structure your business to allow for flexibility and time for your own personal pursuits. This could involve working remotely to spend more time with your family, flexible working hours or having the right team to delegate work to.


Securing your lifestyle


Make sure your business generates enough income to support the lifestyle you’re aiming for. This may mean reviewing your budget and expected income, setting financial goals and developing a business model that delivers the revenue you need.


Making enough to retire


If the end game is to retire, you need a nest egg to do this. Funding a comfortable retirement might mean reinvesting dividend income into a pension, exploring tax-efficient strategies and developing a long-term financial plan.


Investing in your passions


What gives you joy outside work? You can use your business as a platform to pursue your passions, whether it's supporting local charities, promoting sustainability or creating products that reflect your personal and ethical values.


Passing the business to the next generation


Before you retire, it’s important to plan for a smooth transition to the next generation, whether those successors are family members or other members of your existing team. This will mean putting serious thought into succession planning and training.


Helping you set and track your personal goals


Over the course of this series, we’ll explore each of these five goals in more detail. In the meantime, we’re here if you want to track how you’re performing against your personal goals.


Come and have a chat about what you want from your business.

The basics of business finance: income and expenditure

By Anna Stubbs • November 15, 2025
Understanding the financial management of your small business is a vital skill as a business owner. And it starts with an awareness of two fundamental concepts: income and expenditure. Grasping the difference between what comes in, and what goes out, is crucial for your financial health, making informed business decisions and the overall survival of the company. Let's break down the basics.

Don't end up paying tax on uncollected debtors!

By Anna Stubbs • November 15, 2025
Did you know you still have to pay tax on uncollected debtors? This is because you pay tax on your sales figures irrespective of whether you have collected the cash.  To avoid paying tax on uncollected debt, here are some quick and easy-to-implement debt collection strategies to ensure your hard-earned money is sitting in your bank account (and not in theirs): Agree on your payment terms at the time of sale Get the Terms of Trade signed off in writing before you start the job Include a guarantee in the payment terms Ask for a deposit Invoice as quickly as you can Change your payment terms to 7 days or ‘on delivery’ Send statements with only two columns – current and OVERDUE Schedule overdue reminders and follow up the day after the due date Put someone other than the business owner in charge of collection – owners are usually too soft! Document what your customers have promised in terms of payment and hold them to it Use a debt collector sooner rather than later – the longer you leave it, the harder the debt will be to collect Stop credit for customers who are late on payment Take action! Reflect on how many of these ideas you've integrated into your business, and check how many you're actively applying. Don’t let procrastination hold you back — address your debtors today! “It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the oil” – Anon

Understanding if your business is profitable

By Anna Stubbs • November 15, 2025
Did your business run at a profit last month? Knowing if you’re currently profitable is a vital part of your financial management – but not everyone knows how to check this metric. A recent Xero survey from October 2025 revealed that nearly two in five small business owners (38%) are unaware whether their business was profitable last month. That’s a startling (and unnecessary) failing when today’s cloud accounting makes it so easy to judge your profitability. Let’s look at what we mean by ‘profitable’ and how to track and measure your profitability.