Profit Advisor, Episode #85

Pam Jordan Profit Advisor

Pam Jordan is the President of Pivot Business Group. She is a no-nonsense financial expert and speaker who specializes in analyzing and streamlining the backend of fast-growing companies while efficiently creating more profit and strategic growth. Pam started the Pivot Business Group and works day-in and day-out to identify and eliminate errors, create financials businesses can trust, and work with her clients long-term to maximize growth and profit.

As a certified Profit First professional, Pam recognized that most entrepreneurs begin their business on an idea or passion—but many are uninterested in the financial side of running a company. They are laser-focused on growth, innovation, and dominating their industries. Pam has been honored with numerous awards and accolades, including “Outstanding Business and Financial Executive of the Year” and the “40 under 40” in the Triad Business Journal. Listen in for some great takeaways about the importance of knowing your numbers—and how you can add value to your business immediately.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…

  • Learn more about Pivot Business Group [2:47]
  • Why Pam chose the route of entrepreneurship [7:15]
  • How do you know when you need a CFO? [9:06]
  • When should you pivot to a full-time CFO? [10:23]
  • The top three mistakes business owners make [11:54]
  • How a fractional CFO can help with cashflow [16:09]
  • The KPIs that are important to focus on [18:32]
  • Simple techniques to increase the value of your business [24:36]
  • What Pam recommends to track numbers for your business [31:15]
  • What’s on the horizon for Pam Jordan and Pivot Business Group? [33:46]
  • What brought Pam joy and put her in the right mindset for success [37:51]

How do you know when you need a CFO?

Pam jokes that the answer is “Yesterday.” Whether you’re a startup or grossing $20 million, you need someone by your side who understands business financials. Numbers tell a story and many business owners don’t pause to listen to what that story is. And when they find out what story their numbers are telling, it doesn’t line up with their goals for their business’s future—or theirs. Pam emphasizes that you need to understand the story that your numbers are telling you. If you don’t, it’s time for a CFO. Once your business hits $20 million, you need a CFO to manage the internal accounting team and advise the leadership.

The top three mistakes business owners make

Pam shared three common mistakes that she sees business owners make that can—and should be—avoided:

  • Not knowing the end goal. You can’t just put your head down and grind. You need to think about where your company is going, what your goals are, and start planning an exit strategy. There are very different strategies depending on your goals. So she encourages business owners to start by nailing down their goals. Then they can build a plan to reach those goals.
  • Mixing personal with business. It’s dangerous. If you’re a business owner and you have personal bills to pay, do not use company funds. The main reason you start a company is to be separated legally and financially from your personal life. If you co-mingle your expenses, the IRS will see them as one on the same. They’ll audit both, tax everything, and it gets ugly. Secondly, if you’re using your company as a piggy bank, you don’t look profitable. No one will want to buy your business if you aren’t profitable.
  • Not focusing on profit. Many business owners focus on top-line revenue. But how much do they have leftover? Pam has seen companies that make $9 million but are negative $800,000 and the owner is using personal funds to make payroll. Instead, start with the bottom line. Every business needs to make money. If you focus on top-line revenue, you won’t have anything at the end of the day.

What KPIs should you track for your business?

Pam notes that the KPIs you want to track depend on your industry and business. Pam has a client in the health space who tracks percentage of capacity. The more people he has in the gym, the more money he’s making. She recommends that you dig deep to come up with 3–5 KPIs that are specific to you.

That being said, Pam recommends starting to focus in these areas:

  • What are your collected sales for the week? Money in the bank is what counts.
  • What money do you owe to someone else in the next 10–15 days? What’s going in and out?
  • What’s leftover? When people look at cashflow, they look at invoices and don’t think about overhead.

Look at your numbers. What number is having the biggest effect? A service provider might look at payroll. If they cut down overtime, they can save money. If you’re in insurance, you probably track policies quoted. It comes down to what tips the scale for your business. What can you do every day to tip the scale so both you and your customer benefit? Foot Locker has to report how many feet they measure at the end of every day. Why? They’ve found that if they measure feet, they increase the chance of a sale by 64%.

What simple techniques can you implement to increase the value of your business incrementally? How can a fractional CFO help with cashflow? What tools should you use to track the numbers for your business? In this episode of Mitlin Money Mindset™, Pam covers a plethora of tactical financial advice that you can implement for your business now. Don’t miss it!

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect with Pam Jordan

Bio

Pam Jordan is a no-nonsense financial expert and speaker. Pam specializes in analyzing and streamlining the backend of fast-growing companies as well as efficiently creating more profit and strategic growth. Roughly five years ago, Pam Jordan started the Pivot Business Group. Carrying the title CEO and CFO, she works day in and day out to identify and eliminate errors, create financials businesses can trust, and work with her clients long term to maximize growth (and profit). Pam recognized that most entrepreneurs begin their business based on an idea or passion. This being the case, many of them are not interested in the financial side of running a company. That’s where the Pivot team steps in. They focus on untangling businesses’ finances while you continue to grow your company, create ideas, and take over the industry.

Guests on the Mitlin Money Mindset Show are not affiliated with CWM, LLC, and opinions expressed herein may not be representative of CWM, LLC. CWM, LLC is not responsible for the guest’s content linked on this site.

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