- Best for
- Owners who get plenty of reports but still can’t say in one sentence how the business did last week.
- Time to run
- One afternoon to set up. Fifteen minutes every Monday after that.
- You finish with
- A one-page scorecard with five numbers and a target for each, that you can read before your first coffee.
01 The problem
You’ve got your bank app, your accounting software, your booking system and a few spreadsheets. Each one tells you something. None of them tells you if this week was good or bad.
So you either check everything and lose your morning, or you check nothing and go with your gut. Problems like slow payments or a dip in new work show up weeks late, when they’re harder to fix.
02 The numbers
Pick five numbers: one for cash, one for sales coming in, one for work getting done, one for margin and one for customers. Here’s how to pick three of the hardest.
| Measure | How to get it | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Cash in the bank | Write down the balance first thing every Monday, next to what you owe in the next two weeks. | Cash is what keeps the doors open. Seeing it weekly means no surprises at payroll. |
| New work booked | Add up the value of new jobs, orders or signed quotes from the past week. | It tells you what next month looks like, not just what last month was. |
| Money owed to you | Pull the total of unpaid invoices and how much of it is past due. | Work you’ve done but haven’t been paid for is a loan you didn’t mean to make. |
Rule of thumbEvery number needs a target and an owner. If a number is off target two Mondays in a row, it gets a fix with a name and a date next to it.
03 The steps
- 1Pick your five numbersWho: you. Time: one hour. Done when you’ve chosen five numbers and know exactly where each one comes from.
- 2Set a target for eachWho: you. Time: one hour. Done when each number has a target based on your last few months, not a wish.
- 3Fill in the scorecardWho: you or whoever does the books. Time: fifteen minutes a week. Done when the scorecard is filled in by Monday morning without anyone being reminded.
- 4Review it every MondayWho: you and your team leads. Time: four weeks. Done when you’ve run the review four Mondays in a row and acted on every number that was off target.
This Monday, write down just two numbers: what’s in the bank and what customers owe you. Do the same next Monday. Once those two feel easy, add the other three.
04 The template
A one-page scorecard you can read before your first coffee.
BIZPLAYBOOKS
Kevin helps owners use AI to get time and money back, then turns what works into free playbooks.
