Make Calm your new KPI // Host, Beyond Margins Podcast // I help business owners build calmer businesses with comfortable margins // Speaker, CFO + COO, Consultant

Susan Boles

Stay safe when you show up online// Founder at Unpublic & Beyond Margins // I help creators stay safe when they show up online // Make Calm Your New KPI

Most privacy companies will tell you to get off social media. 
That's not realistic for creators. 

You NEED visibility. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲.
 
You can be both. You just need the right systems - systems that protect what matters (your home address, your family, your peace of mind and mental health and sensitive info) while letting you stay visible where it counts (your platform, your content, your public appearances).
 
Think of it like this:
 
In the Old West, stagecoaches crossing dangerous territory had a guard with a shotgun riding beside the driver. (Yep, that’s where “shotgun” comes from when your friends pile into the car.)
 
The guard didn't grab the reins. Didn't tell the driver where to go. They watched the road for trouble so the driver focused on getting everyone to their destination.
 
That's what safety should be for creators: someone riding shotgun while you drive.
 
You've got the reins. You're building something that matters. You've got somewhere important to go.

That's why I created Unpublic. We handle the landscape so you can focus on the road ahead. We’re riding shotgun so you can enjoy the drive and get there faster.

We need to rethink the role of safety in our creator businesses and online platforms:
 
❌ Go from thinking: "I'm not big enough to be at risk"
✅ To instead embrace: Risk exists at every level. Prevention is easier than reaction.
 
❌ From "I feel fine" (incomplete tips from friends or ChatGPT)
✅ To actually BEING protected (layered, systematic approach)
 
❌ From safety as emergency response
✅ To safety as business infrastructure
 
This ensures you’re prepared, not scared.
 
This isn't about hiding or going private. You can't - and shouldn't - stop building your platform. This is about 𝘀taying safe while staying visible … so you can get even more visible.
 
Most privacy companies will tell you to get off social media. That's not realistic for creators. You NEED visibility. But you also deserve to be safe.
 
You can be both. You just need the right systems - systems that protect what matters (your home address, your family, your peace of mind and mental health and sensitive info) while letting you stay visible where it counts (your platform, your content, your public appearances).

Privacy isn't a crisis response plan. It's business infrastructure. 

You can't build a calm, sustainable business without it. 

Every growing business runs on invisible systems - finance, operations, publishing, monetization. Privacy, security and safety belong in that list. They're not exciting - they're foundational. And like your accounting system, they should work in your favor without constant attention. 

Here's what all these systems have in common: when they fail, everything stops. 

You don't wake up excited to think about your chart of accounts or your privacy settings. But the moment something breaks - or you realize there's no system at all - it becomes the ONLY thing you can think about. Existential. All-consuming. The opposite of calm. 

That's the difference between infrastructure and crisis management. 

Reliable systems create margin. Broken systems - or missing ones - create chaos. 

Privacy is no different than any other foundational system. The question is whether you build it before you need it or scramble to fix it when everything's on fire.

Safety as a creator shouldn't require going dark. 

As a creator, you build your platform to connect, to teach, to entertain, to sell. 
That work matters. Your voice matters. 

And you shouldn't have to disappear in order to feel safe.

Colin Hewitt

CEO & Co Founder @ Float | cash (flow) is King 🦍

With over two decades of experience in the software industry, I am the CEO and co-founder of Float, the award-winning cash flow forecasting tool for small businesses. My passion is to make small business finances make sense, by providing easy and accurate scenario planning and budgeting features that integrate with popular accounting platforms. 

Float is the culmination of my previous entrepreneurial journey as the founder and MD of IfLooksCouldKill, a digital agency that specialised in brand development, communication strategy, and website design. I co-founded Float in 2011, after facing the challenges of managing cash flow for my own business and clients. Since then, Float has grown to serve tens of thousands of customers worldwide, and has been recognised as one of the top accounting apps by Xero and QBO. I am also an active participant and supporter of the startup ecosystem in Scotland, having helped TechCube get started and being based in CodeBase, Scotland's largest tech incubator. 

I enjoy mentoring and supporting other entrepreneurs, and sharing about financial management and scaling businesses. 

CEO & Co Founder

Float - the award-winning cash flow forecasting tool for small businesses.

Float makes forecasting cash flow really accessible by integrating with FreeAgent, Xero and QBO. Create budgets, add scenarios, and change the expected payment dates of invoices and bills to see your forecast on a daily, weekly or monthly level. 

www.floatapp.com

"𝘔𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘊𝘍𝘖 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴. 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘵 3𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘩."

A founder told me this last year.
The problem wasn't accuracy. It was confidence.

What the CFO delivered:

47 rows of variance analysis
Complex sensitivity tables
Detailed EBITDA breakdowns

What the CEO actually needed:

"We've got 13 weeks of runway"
"Here's what happens if growth slows"
"This is when we need to act"

Same data. Completely different delivery.

Elliott Gaspar said it perfectly on The CFO Huddle: "What an impact to have… to let people sleep at night."

That's the real job.

CEOs don't hire fractional CFOs for spreadsheets. They hire them for peace of mind.

Your technical accuracy means nothing if your client is still losing sleep.

What's the most valuable reassurance you've given a client recently?

#FractionalCFO #CFOHuddle #FinanceLeadership #Float

CEO & Co Founder @ Float | Cashflow Intelligence💡 for Xero and QBO

"𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 60 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 60 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵."

Ciaran O'Donnell said this on The CFO Huddle, and he's absolutely right.

CEOs don't fail because they lack options. They fail because they see the problem too late.

Last month, a CEO asked their CFO: "What happens if our biggest client delays payment by 60 days?"

CFO's response: "I'll need to model that out."

Three weeks later, the client actually delayed.

By then, it was too late to adjust.

Better approach:
Always have three scenarios ready:

🙂 Base case: Current pipeline converts as expected
🤨 Stress test: Major client delays or revenue drops 20%
🥳 Opportunity case: Big deal closes early

When reality changes, you already know what to do.

60 days is enough to:
→ Renegotiate supplier terms
→ Arrange invoice financing
→ Cut non-essential spend
→ Line up emergency funding

But only if they know they have 60 days.

That's what short-term forecasting does. It buys time by giving clarity.

How much runway do your clients need to turn things around?

#CFOHuddle #FractionalCFO #CashFlow #Float

I used to know the cash crunch was coming.

Three weeks out, I could see it clearly. The invoice was solid. The customer would pay.

But the timing was wrong.

So I'd pick up the phone: "Any chance you could pay this a bit early?"

Uncomfortable every single time.

Building Float Cash Flow Forecasting solved half of that problem. We became the market leader in 13-week forecasting because businesses could finally see what was coming.

But visibility alone doesn't solve timing gaps.

You still need cash when the forecast says you're going to be tight.

That's why the TRIVER partnership made sense.

Here's what changes:
🧐 You spot a timing gap in your 13-week forecast. An invoice is sitting there, waiting to be - paid. 
💸 You fund it through TRIVER. If approved, cash hits your account within hours.
❎ No awkward phone calls. No lengthy applications. No system changes.

Jerome Le Luel and I talked about this back in 2023. It took time to build properly. But now it's doing exactly what we hoped.

You see the problem. You solve it. Same platform.

Small businesses shouldn't have to chase early payments when they can predict the gap weeks in advance.

They should be able to act on what they can see.

If timing is your challenge, this could help: https://buff.ly/p3Q5u2O

#cashflow #finance #Float #Triver

Two similar businesses.

Same revenue. Same margins. Same market.

𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐀: 
No cash forecast.
Reactive decisions.
Constant stress.
Missed opportunities.

𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐁: 
13-week rolling forecast.
Proactive planning.
Confident execution.
Strategic investments.

12 months later:

Business A spent their time managing crises.

Business B spent their time capturing opportunities.

Same starting point. Different outcomes.

The reason? Cash visibility creates strategic options.

When you know your runway, you can:
→ Negotiate better supplier terms
→ Invest in growth confidently
→ Weather client delays
→ Make bold moves safely

This is what Karen Stephen shared with us on The CFO Huddle- with proper forecasting, her clients plan six months ahead instead of reacting to crises.

The best CFOs understand: cash flow forecasting isn't admin work.
It's competitive strategy.

Crisis management or strategic advantage - which describes your approach?

#CFOHuddle #FractionalCFO #CashFlowIntelligenceHub #Float

Making big decisions without checking your cash runway?

That's not strategy. That's a recipe for chaos.

Through Float, I see this pattern constantly:
CEOs making hiring decisions before checking the payroll impact on cash. Planning market expansion without modelling the burn. Committing to equipment purchases before seeing the timing gap.

The spreadsheet says they can afford it. The forecast says they can't (not yet, anyway).

The question isn't  just "Can we afford this?"
It's "Can we afford this now given our runway?"

Mark Mountford used to spend 6-12 months per client engagement. Most of it doing prep work in Excel, not strategy.

Now? Three months. One day of setup to see runway clearly, then straight to strategic decisions. 

The difference? He can see runway immediately from Xero or QuickBooks. No days moving data around in Excel.

When you can see your runway clearly, you can:
→ Time strategic moves properly
→ Build in buffers for delays
→ Make bold decisions safely

Strategic decisions without cash context? That's gambling with the business.

How do you check runway before committing to big decisions?

#FractionalCFO #CashFlow #Float

If you only look at the bank balance, you're flying blind on cash.

I see this pattern constantly through Float Cash Flow Forecasting.

The bank balance shows where you are today. It doesn't show what's hitting your account tomorrow.

In my last business, I'd check the bank balance and feel comfortable. Then I'd remember:

🫣 VAT payment due next week
🫠 Quarterly bills about to land
🙃 That big invoice delayed another month

Suddenly "comfortable" became "scrambling."

This is why we built Float around 13-week forecasting.

Bank balance shows where you've been. Cash forecast shows where you're going. 

One shows a moment in time. The other shows what's actually coming and when you need to act.

That visibility isn't about being sophisticated.

It's about making decisions before problems become crises.

Bank balance = rear-view mirror
Cash forecast = windscreen

When did the bank balance mislead you?

#CashFlow #Finance #Float

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The Battle

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