TBL Episode 48: Do online businesses need a CFO?

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is one of the most important leadership positions in an organization. But are they really necessary for most online businesses?

A CFO, with the help of their finance team, is ultimately responsible for tracking, organizing, reporting, and analyzing all the financial data in a company. A business is only as successful as its profit and loss statement, and when you’re doing things like managing inventory or multiple payments in and out of a business with millions of dollars on the line, you need to have someone constantly keeping track of how you’re doing financially.

But what about for an online business like yours? Do you need a CFO?

The short answer is no…the vast majority of online businesses do not need a monthly CFO involved in their operations. There simply isn’t the same amount of complexity around an online business’ finances that an eight-figure business selling physical products has. There ARE, however, some instances where it makes sense to get some sort of extra help.

That’s why in this episode, we discuss

• How we are able to help our clients master their finances without the need of a CFO or financial consultant

• When a CFO or financial consultant can be helpful for an online business

• What financial roles are non-negotiable in an online business

• Why creating simple financial systems in your business is so important

• Why our clients spend far more money on their marketing, sales, and operations labor than their financial labor

• What we’ve learned over our years working with online businesses of all shapes and sizes

• Why it’s more important for larger organizations to have more robust financial support

• Why some online businesses might benefit from a comptroller or other help instead of a CFO

• When an online business should consider making a transition with how they handle their finances

The decision to go into business with another person is a HUGE one. Mainly because there is so much you must consider when it comes to bringing on a business partner.

When I hear other entrepreneurs talk about business partners, they usually recommend staying solo–and to be honest, I don’t blame them. Being a solo-preneur is just easier in a lot of ways.

My own experience at Evolved Finance, however, has shown me just how powerful a business partnership can be. We can rely on each other in a way that really lets us work to our strengths and shore up each other’s weaknesses.

That being said, I do think it’s super important to know exactly what you’re getting into when you go into business with someone else. There’s a lot more to it than just splitting the revenues, so it’s important to get a handle on how everything works.

That’s why in this episode, we discuss:

• Why you need rock solid financial tracking if you have a business partner.

• Why partners need to have complimentary personalities and skills to succeed.

• Why revenue goals need to be bigger for businesses with two owners.

• What most people overlook about a business partnership.

• Why it’s important to understand the difference between “equal income” vs “equal owner benefit.”

• How your taxes can get trickier with two business partners.

• Why Parker and Corey’s partnership has worked so well for Evolved Finance.

For most business owners, finance might as well be a four-letter word. It can definitely be scary to get a handle on your numbers—after all, what you don’t know can’t hurt you.

The problem is that running your business without knowing what’s going on financially is a little like driving a car with cardboard taped over the dashboard. Sure you can do it for a while, but how will you know if you’re running out of gas? 

Nobody longs to become an entrepreneur so they can crunch numbers and organize financial data, and many financial services companies contribute to this by making it sound more complicated than it is.

The financial side of running a business gets a bad rap, which is why in this episode, we discuss:

• Why every single online business owner can and should understand their own numbers.

• How I came to love numbers even coming from a very creative background.

• Why finance professionals have done a horrible job of making finance an accessible topic.

• How you can get help with the crappy part of finance so you can focus on what matters.

• Why every CEO needs to have a solid understanding of the financial side of the business.

It’s incredibly difficult to find good bookkeeping in an online business. We’ve onboarded 125-150 online businesses over the years and this generally rings true: if a new client signs up to work with Evolved Finance and they had a previous bookkeeper, the books are going to be a hot mess over 90% of the time.

Bookkeepers don’t need any special certification; they don’t have to follow any standardized industry practices, and very few specialize in specific industries so they can become experts.

That’s why in this episode, we discuss:

• Why finding a good bookkeeper is so difficult

• Why bookkeeping options for online businesses are so crappy

• How bookkeeping works and why it’s important for your business

• Why your bookkeeping shouldn’t just be about your taxes

• What you need to understand about what a bookkeeper does for your business

• Why we made the decision to specialize in online businesses at Evolved Finance

Cash Flow is an often overused financial term, but most online entrepreneurs aren’t exactly sure what it means for their own businesses.

The most important thing to know is that it’s the lifeblood of any successful business—mainly because it’s not only related to the profitability of your business, but also to the timing in which money goes into and out of your business.

For larger organizations, cash flow can be complex and time-consuming to manage and analyze.

Thankfully, it’s much simpler for online businesses, but still very important to pay attention to.

That’s why in this episode, I discuss:

• What cash flow really means for an online business

• The difference between cash flow and profitability

• Why ignoring your cash flow can put you in debt or behind on your taxes

• Why cash flow for large corporations, ecommerce businesses, and retail business is much more complicated than the online businesses we serve at Evolved Finance

• Why tracking your finances is vital for keeping your business cash flow positive

• How our FREE forecast and budgeting tool can help you get ahead of your cash flow

Get our free forecast and budgeting tool at https://evolvedfinance.com/salesforecastingtool.

 

Last week, we had our first group call for our bookkeeping clients at Evolved Finance.

It was so exciting to have a handful of our clients together on a call talking about the financial sides of their businesses.

This got me thinking about how important it is to have an entrepreneur community you can connect with and learn from.

So in this episode, I discuss

• Why the majority of our clients are in some sort of master mind or group coaching program

• Why I underestimated the power of being part of an entrepreneur community when I first started working with clients at Evolved Finance

• The benefits I’ve seen our clients get from being connected to other entrepreneurs

• What sort of return on your investment you should expect from being part of paid entrepreneur groups

• What percentage of our client’s revenue we like to see them spend on business education and entrepreneur communities

Debt can be a tricky topic when it’s regarding business.

In startups and corporations, debt can be a tool for jumping on opportunities that demand extra cash the business doesn’t have on hand.

In certain types of small business, a line of credit might be necessary to manage the ups and downs of monthly cash flow.

For online businesses, debt is rarely needed though.

That doesn’t stop many online entrepreneurs from getting into situations where they take on debt due to poor financial management.

That’s why in this episode, we discuss:

– Why it’s not super common for our clients to need loans or credit.
– Why debt happens when online entrepreneurs don’t pay close enough attention to their finances.
– Common situations that force online businesses to take on unwanted debt.

There was a time about 4-5 years ago when 95% of our clients hired contractors exclusively for their businesses. A lot has changed since then. Much to our satisfaction, we’re seeing online business owners hire full time and part time employees more than ever before. ..and for good reason!

 

That’s why in this episode, we cover:

 

• Why contractors are still important but only for certain positions

• How employees are helping our clients manage their labor costs

• Why hiring employees can be scary but worth getting over the discomfort

• How balancing employee and contract labor is a step towards building a more stable business

• Why financial tracking is so important as you start to hire any new contractors or employees

Once most online businesses hit $100k-$200k a year, they start to get very interested in evergreen funnel strategies due to the grind of constantly having to launch and promote their offers.

If you’ve never heard of an evergreen funnel before, it’s essentially using paid traffic and software automation to drive sales on a daily basis.

On the flip side, launches are more manual and happen less often but can take weeks to prepare for.

Successful evergreen funnels are not easy to create, but we’ve still seen a number of online entrepreneurs think that their evergreen strategy will completely erase the need for monthly, quarterly, or yearly launches.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

That’s why in this episode, I talk about:

– Why launches are still the best way to maximize sales despite the heavy lifting involved with doing it successfully

– Why evergreen strategies are inherently risky due to the investment in advertising

– Why our clients with evergreen funnels still have launches

– Why you still have to plan out your launches even while you’re getting your evergreen strategy in place

– Why financial tracking and planning become immensely more crucial when you start to combine launch and evergreen strategies

If your online business doesn’t deliver results for your customers, you’re probably going to have a difficult time continuing to get new customers. It doesn’t matter if you sell digital products or services — your offer has to deliver the goods. Over the last couple years, we’ve seen our clients at Evolved Finance double down on making sure their products and services provide an experience that gives their customers the best chance at getting results, but it’s changing how they structure their offers, their internal operations, and their profitability.

In this episode, we cover:

• The state of course based, service based, and agency based business models and how they’re starting to blend together

• Why course creators are starting to create offers that go beyond just their courses

• Why hiring internal employees is becoming more common but making it difficult to maintain higher profits

• Why the way you get results for your customers can be a competitive advantage

Profit and predictability are extremely important for online businesses once they start generating consistent revenue. But how does finance play into it and why should you care?

In this episode, we cover:

• Why online entrepreneurs get confused about what profit actually is

• What profit means for your personal wealth

• How to track your profitability

• How your past financial data can make your business more predictable

• How forecasting and planning help make your revenue and expenses more predictable