Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes

Hi everyone,

It’s Stephen Edwards from Gro Profit First Accountants, and welcome to this week’s Profit First Club Newsletter!

This week, I hosted our first Profit First Live Drop‑In Session—a more relaxed Q&A format to give business owners direct support. We had a great turnout with two attendees, Tom and Gary, who shared valuable insights into their Profit First journeys. Whether you’re just getting started or fine‑tuning your financial systems, there’s something here for you.

To get the maximum value from this week’s topic, I highly recommend watching the full video recording or listening to the podcast version of our live session. You'll hear firsthand insights and questions from business owners like you.

Tweaks, TAPs & Takeaways Inside Our First Live Session

Watch the full video here

Key Topics Covered This Week:

Starting Profit First in a New Business

Tweaking Target Allocation Percentages (TAPs)

Handling Seasonality and Cash Flow Gaps

Building Buffers and Emergency Pots

Advanced Strategies for Long‑Term Profit Planning

Tom, who runs a heating and plumbing business, shared his experience starting Profit First from day one of launching his limited company. He’s using a system that transfers income into a Metal account with pots for tax, OpEx, and profit—based on the book’s recommendations.

What stood out was how Tom’s proactive approach (and listening to the Profit First audiobook) helped him start strong with cash allocation. His biggest concern? Making sure he’s saving enough for tax when January rolls around. We advised him to consider shifting from monthly to biweekly allocations for better clarity and control.

Gary, who runs a promotional merchandise business, has been implementing Profit First for four years. He’s tweaked his system over time, recently moving toward our recommended model that subtracts VAT and cost of goods sold (COGS) before making allocations.

One of his key challenges is seasonality and cash flow timing, especially when he’s invoicing clients on 60‑day terms but paying suppliers upfront. Gary’s solution: build buffers in every account and track net worth weekly—including pensions, crypto, and emergency funds.

He also emphasized the value of separating salaries from general OpEx for greater control—a more advanced tweak we sometimes recommend when it fits the business.

Profit First isn't about rigid rules—it’s about creating a system that brings financial clarity, control, and consistency to your business.

Open income and expense accounts. Use apps like Starling or Metal with “pots” to split funds for Tax, Profit, and Owner’s Pay. Simplicity sustains the habit.

Whether it’s the OpEx, Owner’s Pay, or Profit pot, build reserves to handle lean months. Seasonality is no longer a stressor if you've got a fallback.

Weekly or biweekly reviews help you catch problems early. Use a simple scorecard (Revenue, Profit, Cash, Debt, Payroll %, OpEx) to stay on course.

Review your TAPs quarterly. Your real revenue (after VAT and direct costs) should guide your allocations. Benchmark against your history and industry—but don’t copy blindly.

Differentiate your business to increase pricing power. Don’t just follow industry averages—design your own Profit First system based on your unique needs.

We’ll soon be running a workshop on business planning and financial forecasting, especially for those in their first trading year. Keep an eye out for the invite—we’ll help you model expected income and fine‑tune your TAPs with realistic projections.

To go deeper and hear the full context, join us on YouTube or your podcast app of choice—search Gro Profit First Live.

If you’d like help setting up your Profit First system or reviewing your current TAPs, just drop me a line at [email protected].

Until next week—keep putting Profit First!

Stephen Edwards
Profit First Accountant
Gro Profit First Accountants