About Financial and Lifestyle Freedom for UK Business Owners
Financial and Lifestyle Freedom for UK Business Owners
Profit First Professional, Chartered Accountant and Small Business Growth Strategist, Annette Ferguson, teaches UK small business owners and entrepreneurs how to achieve both the financial and lifestyle freedom they crave.
Tune in weekly to learn money hacks and business tactics so you can build a dream team, serve your clients better, and ultimately take home more money.
Annette and her guests give no-nonsense finance strategies and profit-increasing tips.
Subscribe today to maximise your profit, find the hidden wealth in your business, and achieve financial and lifestyle freedom through the business that you have!
In this special Community Q&A episode, Annette Ferguson answers the top 10 most common questions about implementing Profit First in your business. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your system, this episode is packed with practical advice for UK business owners.
Key Takeaways:
• Profit First is for Everyone (with a catch): Learn why Profit First works for any business size or industry, but why you can't just take the percentages straight from the book.
• VAT is Not Your Money: Discover the right way to handle VAT in your Profit First system to avoid nasty surprises from HMRC.
• Feeling Overwhelmed? Start Here: Find out the one simple exercise you can do today to get your business finances under control, even if you're not ready for the full Profit First system.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
• The 10 Most Common Profit First Questions: Get clear, actionable answers to your biggest questions about bank accounts, percentages, VAT, and more.
• Why Spreadsheets Don't Work: Understand the psychological and practical reasons why you need to physically separate your money.
• How to Reduce Your Operating Expenses: Learn the "Money Leaks Exercise" to identify and eliminate unnecessary spending in your business.
• The Right Way to Get Started: Discover how to determine your initial Profit First percentages and map your journey to financial health.
Resources Mentioned:
• "The Profit Plan" Book: Amazon UK (http://annetteandco.co.uk/ppbook)
• Money Leaks Exercise: Find it on the YouTube Channel (https://youtu.be/tKDmRApyrww?si=XAagfgQWv1YTsOOj)
• Book a Fitting Call: annetteandco.co.uk/fitting (annetteandco.co.uk/fitting)
22 Sept 2025
557. Advanced Profit First: Scaling Your Business Beyond £500k
In this episode, Annette Ferguson takes you beyond the basics of Profit First and into the advanced strategies you need to scale your business past the £500,000 revenue mark. If you're an established business owner looking to level up your financial game, this episode is packed with actionable advice for evolving your Profit First system as your business grows.
Key Takeaways:
•Your Percentages Must Evolve: Learn why the Profit First percentages that got you to £100k won't work for £500k and beyond, and what the key revenue milestones are for reassessing your allocations.
•Strategic Hiring is Non-Negotiable: Discover how to use Profit First to support strategic hiring, avoiding the common mistake of letting payroll balloon and erode your profitability.
•Systems are the Key to Scalable Profit: Understand why "winging it" is no longer an option at this level and how to build robust, scalable financial systems on top of your Profit First foundation.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
•5 Advanced Profit First Strategies: A deep dive into adjusting your percentages, handling multiple revenue streams, strategic hiring, tax optimization, and building scalable systems.
•Real-World Case Studies: Learn from the experiences of other business owners who have successfully navigated the challenges of scaling with Profit First.
•How to Be Proactive, Not Reactive: Shift your mindset from simply managing your finances to strategically planning for growth and profitability.
•The Importance of Professional Guidance: Understand why working with a Profit First professional becomes even more critical as your business scales and your financial situation becomes more complex.
Resources Mentioned:
• Book a Call with Annette & Co: https://www.annetteandco.co.uk/fitting/ (https://www.annetteandco.co.uk/fitting/)
• Profit First for UK Business Workshop £27: https://www.annetteandco.co.uk/profit-first-for-uk-business/ (https://www.annetteandco.co.uk/profit-first-for-uk-business/)
17 Sept 2025
556. From £0 to £4k Monthly Profit: A Business Transformation Story
In this inspiring client spotlight episode, Annette Ferguson walks you through the incredible transformation of Sarah, a marketing consultant who went from zero profit to £4,000 a month. If you feel like you're working harder than ever but not seeing the financial rewards, this episode provides a repeatable roadmap for transforming your own business.
Key Takeaways:
• Profit is Hiding in Your Business: Learn how to uncover the hidden profit potential in your business by addressing the four key problem areas: cash flow, expenses, pricing, and systems.
• The Power of a Profit Plan: Discover the exact steps to stop money leaks, implement value-based pricing, and set up a cash management system that works for you.
• Scaling the Right Way: Understand why you must fix your business's foundations before you scale, or risk creating a "bigger monster to feed."
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
• Sarah's Starting Point: The emotional and financial reality of a business with good revenue but no profit, and the breaking point that led to change.
• The 5-Step Transformation Process: A detailed breakdown of the steps taken to transform Sarah's business, from an expenses audit to implementing Profit First.
• How to Increase Your Prices Without Losing Clients: Learn how Sarah increased her prices by 60% for new clients and retained 80% of her existing clients.
• The Importance of Operational Efficiencies: Discover how to free up your time and resources by documenting processes, creating templates, and delegating effectively.
Resources Mentioned:
• Money Leaks Exercise Video: https://youtu.be/tKDmRApyrww (https://youtu.be/tKDmRApyrww)
• The Profit Plan Book by Annette Ferguson: https://www.annetteandco.co.uk/ppbook (https://www.annetteandco.co.uk/ppbook)
• Book a Fitting Call with Annette & Co: https://annetteandco.co.uk/fitting (https://annetteandco.co.uk/fitting)
Inside a recent episode
Leveraging Service-Based Businesses Through Podcast Guesting with Jessica Rhodes
Published 27 Dec 2021 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Many people think I want to be a podcast guest so I'll just you know post on social media and say hey who wants to interview me and there's no rhyme or reason there's no targeting at all and there's no like clarity around the goal of what you're going to get from the time you're spending on those interviews and with those people. So that's number one. I always recommend the first step is getting clear on your goal for the strategy. For example if you're going to send an email to your list why are you sending it? Like know what the result is that you want to achieve from that strategy because many people I talk to that say well I've done podcast interviews I never got anything out of it. […]
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