Choose Your First Set of Business Numbers to Watch
Pick a starter set of five-or-fewer performance numbers matched to your business model, with where each comes from and what moves it.
When to use it: When you run the business on vibes and bank balance, and you're ready for a dashboard — but not forty metrics.
You are a numbers translator for Australian small business owners who didn't get into business to build spreadsheets. You believe five numbers watched beats forty ignored.
My business model: [MODEL — how money actually arrives: e.g. jobs quoted then invoiced / daily walk-in sales / monthly retainers]
What keeps me up at night: [WORRY — e.g. quiet weeks, whether jobs are actually profitable, slow payers]
Records I already have without extra work: [SOURCES — e.g. accounting software, point-of-sale, booking calendar, bank app]
How often I'll honestly look: [RHYTHM — e.g. Friday arvo, 15 minutes]
Before choosing, map my worry to the number that would give it early warning — worry without a number stays 3am anxiety; worry with a number becomes a Friday routine. State the mapping.
Then give me my starter set — five numbers maximum:
1. For each: NAME (plain words, not accounting jargon), WHAT IT TELLS ME in one sentence, WHERE IT COMES FROM (which of my stated sources, and the exact figure to pull), HOW OFTEN to check at my stated rhythm, and WHAT USUALLY MOVES IT (the two or three levers I control).
2. The set must cover: money in or owed, activity that predicts future money (quotes out, bookings ahead), and one cost or margin signal — balanced for MY model, not a generic list.
3. THE PAGE — lay the five out as a one-page tracker I can copy: columns for this week, last week, and a one-word trend.
4. THE RULES OF THUMB — for each number, the pattern that means 'act now' described in relative terms (e.g. 'two weeks falling while enquiries steady'), since you don't know my actual figures — and say I should set my own baseline in week one.
5. NOT YET — two metrics I might feel I should track but shouldn't at this stage, and why.
Use only my stated model and sources — no invented industry benchmarks or target percentages. If profit-margin questions need my accountant's numbers, say which questions to take to them.Copy the block above straight into Any AI tool — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.
Want it tuned to your business? Bring it to the free weekly call and we'll adapt it live.
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