ProfitCON is where the most forward-thinking accountants, bookkeepers, and business advisors come to sharpen their strategy. Hosted by Profit First Professionals, the organization behind the Profit First methodology created by Mike Michalowicz. The event attracts leaders who want more than clean books – they want real financial clarity and sustainable growth.
That’s why it meant something when Arron Bennett, Founder and CEO of Bennett Financials, was invited to speak.
His session, The Evolving CEO, focused on how business owners can shift from reactive decision-making to proactive planning – using data, not assumptions, to scale with intention. Below is one of the key moments from his talk, shared exactly as it was delivered.
Transcript – ProfitCON 2024 Clip “Strategic Planning for a $10M Business”
“We need to be able to look at it and go, okay, we want to go to $10 million.
We need to look at it more than just on the financial side.
We need to look at it from the very first thing, because revenue is a lagging indicator.
We need to be looking at it from the very first thing, which could be impressions.
It could be a lead. It could be a booked call.
We need to understand it from the very beginning all the way to the end, and we need all of that data.
And from that point, we can then start to position correctly.
It’s like, okay, I can now build a forecast with the data, and I can go to the captain of the ship and say,
hey, to get to $10 million this year, you need 150 leads a month with a 30% close rate to get us to the revenue necessary to get there.
Is that possible?
Aaron, absolutely no way.
Okay, well, if we can’t do that, we can’t get there any year.
Thank you.”
What This Means for Founders
Too many business owners focus on top-line revenue without asking what’s required to achieve it. Revenue is the result. But if you can’t identify the inputs – leads, conversions, activity – you’re not planning. You’re hoping.
The path to $10M starts with understanding whether your current structure can actually support it. If the numbers don’t work, the plan doesn’t either.
This is what strategic planning really looks like. Honest math. Clear expectations. No guesswork.
Read Chapter 1 of our ebook, Profit First, Unofficial: A CFO’s Playbook for Owners to learn more about how Profit First can help your small business.