These are operating methods, not personality tests. Use them before the spreadsheet. A budget that cannot pay payroll is a forecast of a conversation you will not enjoy.
01
Profit First
Take profit before the month spends it. Operating cash is what remains, not what you hope remains.
The moment revenue lands, split it: profit, owner pay, tax, operating. Four pots beat one current account.
Start with 1% profit if 10% feels absurd. The habit is the asset; the percentage can rise in surplus months.
In Keel, log owner pay and tax as their own lines so surplus is after you have been paid, and after the taxman.
If cash is tight, still move a token amount to profit. A pot that exists gets protected; a leftover never does.
02
Runway thinking
Runway is not a vibe. It is opening cash plus credit, divided by net burn, counted in months.
Net burn is recurring costs minus recurring revenue. One-offs do not count as a business model.
Three months is a weather warning. Six is a working buffer. Twelve is the room to make a slow decision well.
Keel’s planner colours the year: growing, tight, critical, or a breach of cash plus credit.
A growing firm still tracks runway. A sales slump should not be the first time you do the division.
03
Zero-based operating
Give every unit a job. Revenue minus assigned jobs should equal the plan — leftover money without a name disappears.
List the next 30 days of expected cash in. Assign it to payroll, tax, rent, suppliers, and profit until nothing is unlabelled.
A sinking fund is a named envelope for irregular costs: annual insurance, stock builds, a laptop cycle, a conference.
When a line overspends, pull from another job. That friction is the point. Silent overdraft is not a strategy.
Review weekly for 15 minutes while the month is still alive. Monthly is too late to catch a quiet leak.
04
Contribution, not vanity revenue
Turnover is a vanity metric if contribution cannot pay payroll. Price from the unit, not from the neighbour.
Contribution is revenue minus the costs that move with it — COGS, payment fees, contractor hours on the job.
If contribution cannot cover rent and payroll after a normal month, the price or the mix is wrong. Spreadsheets will not save it.
Keel maps COGS against revenue as gross margin. A cafe at 25% and a studio at 80% are different machines.
Discounting to win a logo is a loan you make to a customer. Log it as a decision, not as a rounding error.
05
A boring tax reserve
VAT, PAYE, and corporation tax are not surprises. They are a monthly line that happens to be paid later.
Park tax in a separate account the week revenue lands. Instant-access, not investments. The job is sleep, not yield.
A starting map: 15% of revenue for mixed income, more if you are VAT-registered and the output tax is real.
Windfalls — a fat invoice, a grant — are how people skip a quarter. Split them the same day, or they become lifestyle.
Log the reserve as a cost in Keel even if the HMRC payment is quarterly. The cash left the operating pot when you set it aside.
When cutting is not enough
A budget cannot outrun a shortfall. If payroll and rent consume take-home cash, work on revenue, not on the colour of the chart.
Price the next ten jobs 8–12% higher. Tell existing retainers on a date, not in a panic.
Invoice the day the work ships. Seven days to pay, not thirty. Chase on day eight.
A productised service with a floor beats an untested marketplace listing. Package what you already do.
See Channels for places that already have buyers — retainers, storefronts, recurring, grants.