Profit First: A Simple System to Transform Any Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine Paperback – 1 Jun 2016

I've been following the broad principles of this book for the past couple of months and I can honestly say it's already changed my relationship with my two main companies. Rather than being the dog on the floor waiting for crumbs to be dropped from the table or, if I'm really lucky, being offered the remains of the dinner after those good friends Expenses and HMRC had had their fill, now I get my share first.As an example, right now, the Owner's Pay account of one of my companies contains enough money to completely run our household for two months even if we didn't earn another penny (and we've only been running the system since September) - this has never happened before. We get incredibly busy in October-December but, in previous years, I've always been a bit depressed by how little seemed to remain for us. Not any more - now every payment in from our payment processors gets divvied up according to a formula that works for us so money is now put aside for our pay, for profit (play time!) and to pay HMRC. And we manage the business from what remains. This has been very hairy at times and we've needed to be extremely innovative but I can tell you, our approach to buying in materials has completely changed - as has our attention to Adwords. This had led not only to us taking more money out of the business but also the business generating more profit in the first place because we're running it leaner.In essence this book is about having your business cut its cloth to suit what money it has to operate on rather than spending what it likes and leaving you to survive on what's left over.I like the author's style, in the main, and found this to be the most useful of his three books.This book should be on the shelf of everyone intending to be an entrepreneur and current business-people. It's that important. If you want your business to serve you rather than the other way around.#UPDATE 17TH DECEMBER 2014#My main business is seasonal so the period between October and the end of December is critical to us. In past years, despite working our arses off and seeing a healthy looking balance in our current account at the end, we'd then watch that balance whittled away in tax payments etc leaving meagre reward for our efforts. This year was different. I set us a target that I wanted to aim to have in our pay and profit accounts by the end of December - at the time it felt like a challenging target. We passed it in mid November. By this point, we've achieved a figure three times greater than our original target, whilst having plenty of money in the separate tax account so this money is truly ours. It's all down to the techniques covered in this book and our determination to implement them.

Simply genius, and I do mean simply. It's such an obvious idea, but an incredibly powerful one. It hadn't occurred to me to think about profit (or business, for that matter) this way, and the realisation is nothing short of groundbreaking! We get so stuck in what we're doing, and the way we've always done it, we don't look up from our hussle for long enough to realise how arse-backwards it is.Besides which, I like Mike's flair! He’s himself, and that’s something I have a huge amount of respect for in today’s marketplace. I don’t do dry, dull and samey.Blunt, brilliant and… um… another B… Buy it? It’ll pay for itself. It already has for me, and then some. I took my first salary in months shortly after buying it, and am reorganising the way I manage, and think about, money in my business.If you want to take charge and feel like you’re running your business, instead of having it run you (into the ground) then you need to put profit (and yourself) first.Thanks Mike! I owe ya one!

Not just simple and easy to implement, but a real mindset switch. I've helped a client put together his "profit first" plan, and I've done my own. Does wonders for the self-image!

Great book, now time to implement.

The simplest ideas are sometimes the greatest. In Pofit First the author as given ALL businesses an effect and simple cash management system to make their businesses deliver REAL returns. The book explains all in the simplest of terms so an entrepreneur can make it work in their situation, all with it appearing like a dry "accountancy" exercise.I will be recommending this book to my clients

Wow !! Literally WOW !! This is an eye opener... got the Audible and the Book and it is so obvious it smacks you in the face.... Life changing stuff !!!

this book is a conversation that makes sense and is easy to follow, many accounting and business books are tomes or are rah rah things, this book can change your outlook about your business.

Brilliant book! It transformed the way I ran my business and helped me save a few pennies!