Cash flow: revenue feels good until reality hits.
Running with your eyes closed is dumb. Forecasting now helps avoid freaking out later.
You know what feels good? Revenue.
You know what keeps your business running? Cash.
Welcome to the gap between revenue and reality: Cash flow.
Profit looks lovely on paper, but you can’t pay staff with P&L screenshots. Cash flow is the messy, unfiltered truth behind your business’s ability to keep going.
“But we’re making a profit! Where is the cash?”
Have you ever uttered those words? The classic cry of a confused business.
Your margins look great, but your customers are paying 45 days late.
You’ve got growth, but inventory is consuming all your cash.
Your aged payable list is longer than the 40-foot trailer that just delivered your stock.
This is why your balance sheet matters. This is why forecasting matters!
Your balance sheet shows you where cash is currently locked up. Forecasting helps you plan. Relying solely on a P&L is only looking at one piece of the puzzle.
Because today’s revenue doesn’t cover tomorrow’s freakout.
Forecasting = Eyes Open.
Trying to run a business without a forecast is like doing a marathon blindfolded. Sure, you might stay on the track for a while, but eventually, you're tripping over something and blaming the wind. Forecasting removes the blindfold before you face plant.
What forecasting does:
Shows when your cash will dip (Before it dips).
Highlights when to chase customers (What’s coming in before it gets awkward).
Helps you plan to pay expenses and pay for stock (What’s going out and when).
Includes debt repayments (Oh yeah, that office refurbishment didn’t come for free).
Tells you if that big new project = exciting or terrifying
Things are running smoothly, do we really need a cash flow?
Yes. You don’t need a forecast because things are falling apart. You need one so they don’t. You need visibility.
Cash flow forecasting gives you your baseline for scenario planning.
Want to buy equipment? Run a promo? Bulk up stock for Q4? Forecast it.
Want to stress test the business? Run the good, the bad, and the terrifyingly realistic.
Scenario planning: Like That Child Who Asks 100 “What Ifs (Aaaarrgh!)
What if we lose our biggest client?
What if we increase prices 10% of customers leave?
What if we drop our prices? What is the impact on volume?
What if we don’t get paid on time?
What if I start crying in the boardroom?” (OK, maybe that’s just me.)
Life is a constant array of decisions. Your business is no different. You make the best decisions when you are informed and understand their impact.
Forecasting is essential to help you know when you can invest, when to move, when to hold, and when to panic (spoiler: rarely, if you forecast properly).
By taking time to analyse worst-case, most likely and best-case projections, you have added to their risk strategy.
When revenue lied & cash flow cried. How we helped a client with forecasting.
Meet Deep Denial Design Studio (not their real name)
6 months prior, they had grown significantly.
New retainer clients
Large projects signed
Revenue increased with large double-digit growth
Everything felt great... until it didn’t.
They described it as “cash disappearing like socks in a tumble dryer”.
Spoiler: it wasn’t the cash that vanished. It was the visibility. Forecasting could have helped.
What went wrong?
They weren’t doing any reporting.
They waited until year-end to speak to their accountant (gulp).
Revenue was up, but profit? Not so much.
No one was tracking project margins or chasing payments.
They’d hired too fast and priced none of it properly.
Let’s break that last one down:
They brought on new staff to handle growth.
Wage inflation! They raised pay to keep talent.
But… they didn’t/ couldn’t reprice the projects already on the books.
Retainer clients? Paying the same fee they’d been charged since “the before times.”
And because “everyone was too busy,” nobody followed up on late invoices.
It wasn’t a cash problem. It was a cash planning problem.
What we did.
Built their first proper cash flow forecast, with actual data.
Created monthly reporting,with job margins & gross profit dashboards.
Flagged pricing gaps and helped restructure their retainer model
Implemented financial processes for chasing payments
Automated recurring revenue (hello, direct debit!)
Built a pricing model with real cost data
Helped them say “no” with confidence.
The result:
Visibility.
Strategy.
Breathing room.
Profitability.
Now, they check their forecast more often than their group chat (not quite true, but you get the picture).
They plan in advance. Debtor days dropped below 30 days. Retainer clients are paying on time.
And meetings with us? Booked. Monthly. On purpose.
Moral of the story?
They didn’t have a cash flow issue. They had a “too busy to look” issue. Until it hit.
Forecasting didn’t just help them grow. It stopped them from accidentally imploding while celebrating success.
What forecasting is not:
It’s not another tool you forgot to open or read.
It’s not a glorified budget.
It’s not just “something for your accountant or bank”.
Whatforecasting is:
A sanity-saver.
It can be the difference between lying awake at 2am, and a good night’s sleep.
A decision-making tool.
Revenue feels good... until reality hits.
Profit on paper is not money in the bank. Running your business without a forecast?
That’s not bold — that’s blind.
At Enubilous, we help create:
Build forecasts that mean something.
Turn reporting into planning tools.
Financial systems that think ahead.
Help you ‘see before you stumble.’
So by all means, go ahead, enjoy the revenue. Celebrate the wins.
Just don’t forget the numbers that really matter. For the love of cash flow…. check the forecast.
Because one more time, for the businesses in the back:
Revenue feels good until reality hits.
Running with your eyes closed is dumb.
Forecasting now, helps you avoid freaking out later.
And yes — we mean that with love.
