Last week, I sat down with a founder who told me, “I just want to feel confident about my numbers.” She wasn’t talking about investor-ready confident. She just meant sleep-through-the-night confident.
And of course, this is exactly what every founder wants. Founders can easily get into panic mode when they don’t know what’s going on with their money and they feel like they’re going to run out of cash without even knowing it!
So I’ve been experimenting with a 15-minute weekly cashflow check-in that’s so simple you will enjoy it, and powerful enough to completely change how you see your business.
15 minutes a week will change everything
If you’ve ever looked at your Xero or accounting software, sighed, and then clicked away I don’t blame you. Where would you even start!
Finances can feel like a mix of dread and guilt. But the reason they stay scary is because we avoid them until they become a big ugly monster.
The magic isn’t in mastering how to use Xero or to understand everything all at once. It’s in building a rhythm.
Fifteen minutes is short enough to do every week, but long enough to notice patterns:
You start seeing how money moves through your business.
You spot issues before they become emergencies.
You stop feeling behind, because you’re checking in often enough to stay ahead.
Think of it like brushing your teeth for your business, yeah it’s not thrilling, but absolutely transformational if you do it consistently.
The 15-Minute Routine
Here’s what the routine looks like, minute by minute:
Step 1: Login to your online banking (2 min)
Open your business bank account and take a quick look at what’s come in and what’s gone out over the last 7 days. My tip is to do this on a Tuesday so that all transactions from the weekend have pulled through into your bank.
Step 2: Open your simple 12 week cash flow spreddie which I’ve provided below (1 min)
Step 3: Add today’s cash balance at the top of your spreadsheet (1 min)
Step 4: Capture the money coming in and out (3 min)
Add the cash that’s come in this week (sales) and what’s gone out (expenses, subscriptions, payroll, refunds, any other payments).
Step 5: Find one transaction that sticks out (4 min)
Look at your spreadsheet and pick one number that stands out or tells a story. Maybe your sales dipped, your ad spend jumped, or you made fewer sales than usual.
Ask yourself: Did it go up, down, or stay flat and importantly, why?
The goal isn’t to find every answer, just to start noticing patterns in how money moves through your business.
Repeat step 1-5 for 4 weeks.
After 4 weeks you will have a whole month’s worth of data. Now you have enough to estimate the next 4 or even 8 weeks.
Some tips:
Ask one question. Something like:
“If this trend continues, what happens in 4 weeks?”
“Which cost surprised me?”
“Where did we grow faster than expected?”
Write your answer down. This is where the insight happens.
Choose one micro-action (3 min)
Decide one thing you’ll do next week based on what you saw:
Follow up on an unpaid sales invoice
Review a rising cost (watch out for subscriptions you pay and never use)
Adjust an ad campaign
Revisit pricing
That’s it. Close the laptop.
What starts to happen
At first, it feels small. Then something begins to shift.
You’ll notice:
The numbers stop feeling scary.
You know your cash position without looking it up.
You can answer investor or co-founder questions in seconds.
You start to see your financial story.
And that’s when confidence clicks in.
The truth
Confidence doesn’t come from having a CFO. It comes from paying attention. Allow yourself to get ‘‘in-flow’’ with your finances. Get really close with them.
Fifteen minutes a week is all it takes to shift from “I hope we’re okay” to “I know exactly where we stand.”
You don’t need to overcomplicate it. You just need to start.
And the best part? It compounds. Every week you show up, your confidence doubles down.
Want to try it?
I made a simple Google Sheet template you can copy, link below.
