Direct writing, from the floor to the boardroom, on what really stalls and unblocks a company: margin, cash, dependence on the owner, governance and the smart use of AI in industry.
Every month the books close in the black, but the money vanishes before the 20th. It's not a contradiction: the profit is locked up in idle inventory and in invoices the customer hasn't paid yet. In the average factory, the owner finds this out the hard way — when they have to factor receivables to make payroll. In the leading factory, they track cash, not just profit.
Cash coverage is the number that warns you before the squeeze: how much cash you have divided by your average daily outflow. Below 30 days, a single large sale on credit can already jam up payroll. Your task this week: calculate yours and set the floor it can't drop below.
Run the 7 numbers in your factory →The average owner closes the month on the 5th and only then finds out whether they won or lost — when there's no longer anything to fix. They drive looking in the rear-view mirror. The leading factory tracks 4 or 5 numbers every week and knows, by the 10th, where the month is heading. The difference isn't size: one decides by the numbers, the other by panic.
It's not about an expensive system. It's about choosing a few numbers that move the needle — margin per order, cash coverage in days, bottleneck utilization — and looking at them before the problem blows up, not in the post-mortem. Your task this week: pick 3 numbers you only see at month-end and start looking at them every Monday.
Run the 7 numbers in your factory →List the 5 types of decision that only go through you: off-list pricing, purchases above a certain amount, payment terms for a big customer, credit approvals and hiring. Count how many times each one landed on your desk this week.
The average factory concentrates those five in the owner and calls it control; the leading factory turns each one into a written rule, with an owner and a limit. As long as the decision lives only in your head, the company is worth less and you never really take a vacation — turn ONE of the five into a rule this very week.
Read the full analysis: how to free the company from depending on the owner in 90 days →Add up the money available today (banks and immediately redeemable investments) and divide by your average daily outflow over the last 90 days — payroll, suppliers, taxes, everything. The result is your cash coverage, in days.
The average factory discovers this number in a crisis; the leading factory tracks it every week. Below 30 days, one rule is worth it: no large purchase or new investment without first simulating the effect on your coverage.
Go deeper: working capital in industry →Take your last 20 invoiced orders and write next to each one its real margin: price minus direct cost, freight and commission. Not the list margin — the order's, with the discount that was actually given.
In almost every factory, 2 or 3 of those orders will surprise you: they're the ones paying for the discount nobody controlled. Once you find the leak, there's one rule — a discount above X only with approval, and X is set by the margin, not the salesperson.
Go deeper: why the company earns revenue but has no cash left →An advisor isn't a consultant who delivers a report or a stage coach. It's someone who sits beside you to turn decisions into results.
Fee structures, what makes the price vary and how to see it as an investment — not a cost.
When to start, who to invite, how to run the meetings and the mistakes that hollow out a board.
Succession isn't an event, it's a process. Preparing the company, the family and the successor — and why to start early.
High revenue and tight cash is a symptom, not bad luck. The five real causes and how to turn it around.
The money stuck between paying and getting paid — and how to free it up in the operation.
If the company stalls when you stop, the problem is structural. The signs and a 90-day path.
The practical step-by-step for the first 90 days to give the team real autonomy.
Board, consulting or coaching? The difference in practice and when to bring in an advisor.
Who decides, who's accountable and which format makes sense for your privately held company.
What separates the assets from the emotion: roles, a partners' agreement, succession and decision-making.
Swapping control-by-physical-presence for control-by-method — in the right order.
What turns an operation into an asset — organization, predictability and governance.
AI doesn't start with the tool — it starts with the right bottleneck.
From salaried job to the helm: an owner's mindset and why method beats effort.
Partnership, culture and the decisions that separate those who grow from those who just earn more.
Where there's real gain in efficiency and margin — and where it's still just a promise.
How to lead with judgment and why a company only grows when leadership decides.
A 30-minute alignment call to read where your company stands and define the next step.
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