7 Myths Keeping CEOs Stuck With Their Numbers (And How to Break Free)
As a fractional CFO, I've worked with countless visionary CEOs who've built incredible businesses, but find themselves struggling with one critical aspect: their numbers. If you're avoiding your finances, putting your head in the sand, or feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of your business finances, you're not alone.
Today, I want to address seven common myths that keep successful business owners stuck and stressed about their numbers, along with practical solutions to help you gain the financial clarity you need to make confident decisions.
The Hidden Cost Avoiding your Numbers
Before we dive into the myths, let's acknowledge something important: avoiding your numbers is costing you more than you realize. It's robbing you of the financial clarity and confidence needed to make the right CEO level decisions for your business, and it might even be impacting your cash flow. When you're flying blind financially, you can't effectively pilot your business toward growth and profitability.
Myth 1: "I'm Not Good with Numbers"
This is perhaps the most common belief I hear from owners, including those running multimillion-dollar businesses. Here's the truth: being an entrepreneur doesn't mean you need to be an expert CFO and know everything.
The Reality: You don't need to do the number crunching yourself. You just need to understand what's happening in your business financially. You are responsible for asking the right questions and getting support when needed. Think of it like driving a car – you don't need to know how to fix the engine, but you do need to read the dashboard to drive safely. As CEO, it is your responsibility to manage and control the finances of the business until you outsource to a CFO for support. Even then, there is always a business partnership in decision making and data insights that help you gain better control with experience recommendations from your CFO.
The Solution: Either educate yourself to get more comfortable with numbers, or hire a CFO partner who can explain your numbers in a way you understand. Sometimes, creating a dashboard for visual understanding can go a long way in helping gain clarity. The key is staying involved enough to make informed decisions while leveraging expertise where needed.
Myth 2: "I Didn't Go to Business School, So I'm Just Winging It"
You built a successful business without “business school”, which proves you have what it takes. Congratulations! The issue isn't your lack of formal education – it's the absence of financial systems, processes, and frameworks to help you understand your financial position easily. Data should bring you insights to make better business decisions.
The Reality: It is hard to find time to run the numbers as a busy owner with many competing priorities. Slowing down to review financials and ensure accuracy, might be at the bottom of your to do list. You feel overwhelmed by the numbers and it is hard to understand what’s happening. While you don't need to know everything, you at least need enough reliable information to make good decisions.
The Solution: Build simple financial frameworks, processes, and systems that work for your learning style and provide you visibility on a regular basis. Maybe you need a visual dashboard that tracks key metrics like revenue, cost of goods sold, expenses, and profit. Some clients prefer a verbal explanation or a simple pdf summary, an easy to read report rather than an excel spreadsheet, those are all valid ways to absorb financial information. The key is creating a system that gives you the financial insights you need in a format that works for you.
Myth 3: "I Know Enough, But I'm Sure I'm Missing Something"
This feeling typically emerges as your business grows and becomes more complex. You're right – there probably are gaps in your financial knowledge, and that's completely normal as you scale and your business grows.
The Reality: As your business scales, your business will outgrow your own ability to manage all the financial complexities that come with more moving pieces and interdependencies. This is where most successful CEOs start building finance teams and bringing in specialized expertise to support them in making the complex simple to understand again.
The Solution: Identify your knowledge gaps and bring in a fractional CFO to help close them. Focus on understanding key areas like cash flow forecasting, tax planning, and profit margins by service or product line. Your bookkeeper and accountant, while valuable, typically cannot provide the strategic financial guidance your business needs. Finance becomes the third leg of the stool alongside bookkeeping and accounting.
Myth 4: "I Rely on My Bookkeeper for Monthly Accountability"
Your bookkeeper plays a crucial role in maintaining accurate financial records, but they're recording what already happened. They're not equipped to help you craft the financial future state of your business.
The Reality: Bookkeepers provide historical data, not strategic direction. If you want to grow revenue, manage expenses better, or build cash reserves, you need a forward-looking financial strategy. CFOs are trained and thrive in uncertainty. They can help you evaluate scenarios and provide experience on what has worked before while adapting the approach to match your business.
The Solution: Use your monthly bookkeeper reviews to understand what has happened. If they can't answer questions like "Can I afford to hire?" or "Should I pay myself more?" Then, it's time to bring in CFO-level expertise to create actionable plans for growth. Also, if you are not happy with your current financial results and you want to improve them going forward, a CFO would help guide you on how to make a shift to improve all metrics.
Myth 5: "I Haven't Looked at My Numbers – My Bookkeeper Handles It"
I understand that numbers can feel overwhelming or emotionally charged, but here's the hard truth: if you don't look at your numbers, you're flying blind.
The Reality: Successful CEOs know and understand their numbers. You can't make informed decisions about your business without understanding your financial position. That is a risky approach.
The Solution: Schedule a 15-20 minute monthly appointment to review your numbers, either alone or with a financial advisor or CFO. Start building this habit – it will become easier each month and will dramatically improve your decision-making ability. A qualified professional can spot areas of opportunity and risk that can be mitigated in your business.
Myth 6: "Depending on the Month, I Might Forget to Review My Finances"
We're all busy business owners (even I have to schedule time to review my own numbers, and I do this for a living!), but inconsistent financial reviews lead to poor decision-making.
The Reality: Without regular financial check-ins, you won't know if you overspent last month, if you need to adjust your strategy, or if something that was working has stopped being effective. This is only possible if your books are up to date and delivered to you in a timely manner.
If your current bookkeeping is not providing you completed books by the 10th-15th of the month, feel free to fill out our bookkeeping interest form for a quote. We would love to improve your bookkeeping support and delivery for your business.
The Solution: Implement a recurring monthly CEO money meeting for 30min a month or 15min twice a month. Focus on the four key numbers I'll share below, and build consistency. The more you practice, the easier it becomes.
Revenue – What did you bring in this month?
Expenses – What did it cost to generate that revenue?
Profit – This is your most important number (not revenue, which is just a vanity metric)
Cash on Hand – When you run out of cash, you run out of business
Myth 7: "Finances Are Getting Over My Head"
This is completely normal and actually a sign that your business is growing! At some point, every successful business reaches an inflection point where the owner can no longer manage all financial aspects alone.
The Reality: As your business grows, your finances become more complex. You might have multiple revenue streams, a larger team, inventory challenges, or cash flow timing issues. The interdependency of financial decisions becomes more critical.
The Solution: Recognize when you've hit this stage and bring in professional help. Signs include having more than 2-3 revenue streams, a team of 10+ employees, inventory management challenges, or cash flow timing issues. This is when systems, controls, and strategic financial leadership become essential.
Moving Forward with Confidence
You don't need to be a numbers wizard to run a successful business. You just need the right systems, rhythms, and support in place. Whether that means educating yourself, bringing in a fractional CFO, or simply committing to monthly financial reviews, the key is taking action.
Your business deserves the financial clarity that will unlock its full potential. The question isn't whether you're good with numbers – it's whether you're ready to implement the systems and support that will help you master them.
Ready to dive deeper into these concepts?
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