05/11/2026
A quick sum for a Thursday.
Add up what the business must pay every month to stay open: wages, rent, loan repayments, the suppliers you can't trade without. Say it comes to £16,000. Divide by four: £4,000 a week.
Now look at the cash you could get at today. If that's £10,000, the business could run for two and a half weeks with nothing coming in.
That's your runway. Whether two and a half weeks is fine or frightening depends on the business. A firm with forty customers on monthly direct debits can live with less cover than one waiting on three big invoices.
The direction matters more. A runway that has shrunk from six weeks to two and a half over a year is telling you something the profit figure won't.
Most owners I ask have never done this sum. It takes five minutes.
If you'd like a second pair of eyes on yours, Book in a call, the link is in the Bio☝️