In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to Certified Fractional CFO and the Chief Profit Officer at The Business Profit Coach, Diana Miret. The Business Profit Consultancy helps small to medium size business owners understand, navigate, and really get a hold on their numbers. The numbers are just the beginning, though. Diana explains that once she has a business’s numbers, she can start to unravel the company so she can find what needs to be fixed. Diana is also an expert at project management, processes, and system execution. She takes a holistic, step by step approach to her work. Growing when you’re not stable isn’t good, Diana shares. Sales are good, but they’re not going to fix your problems. If you don’t address your problems, or you apply Band Aid solutions through just trying to make more revenue, you’ll eventually implode. There are separate drivers to push sales/revenue, profit, cashflow, and more. Diana and her company break it down further to really address the root cause of a company’s individual problems.If you drain your profitability, it doesn’t matter how many sales you make. You need to zero in on every piece of the business and determine where you’re not operating optimally. You need to maximize the money you do have before trying to make more. Don’t make great money if you can’t keep great money!Diana shares some signs that indicate a business needs to talk to a CFO. Diana’s target clients make over 7-figures in annual revenue but might still struggle to make payroll, might struggle to pay the business owner, and/or might struggle to pay vendors during the cash conversion cycle. These entrepreneurs are usually burned out and exhausted – and are finding that more sales aren’t actually fixing their problems. Diana believes very strongly in the profit first model. You have to learn how to measure yourself. Use the envelope method, if needed. Allocate firm, fixed budgets and don’t scramble to pay taxes or payroll. You will be profitable if you’re disciplined and organized. Yes, you can be profitable on day one. But how do you operate under a profit first method? If you take profit first, but don’t have enough to pay the rest of your expenses, don’t just jump straight to the numbers as they are. If you know you don’t have enough money to allocate things the way you want to, you need to restructure and plan for the future. Diana says this reframing might take some time, but if you allocate more to yourself gradually, you’ll see your profit go up over time. It’s not overnight, but it is effective. You’ll get ‘there’ (wherever that goal is for you) – just give it the time, planning, and dedication it deserves. Profitability is stability, so dedicate yourself to aligning your finances with your business foals. Want to learn more? Check out The Business Profit Coach’s website at https://www.dianamiret.com/. Check out Diana Miret on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebusinessprofitcoach/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.