Guides

Plain-English explainers for the numbers that decide whether a small business works. Each one pairs with a free calculator.

• Break-Even Analysis: A Plain-English Guide for Small Businesses — What break-even analysis is, how to calculate it, the fixed vs variable cost trap, and how to use it to set prices and targets — with a worked example.
• Cash Flow Runway: The Number That Decides Whether Your Business Survives — What runway and burn rate mean, how to calculate them honestly, what a healthy runway looks like, and the levers that extend it — with a worked UK example.
• How to Work Out Your Freelance Day Rate (Without Underpricing Yourself) — The honest method for setting a freelance or contractor day rate in the UK: working backwards from required billing over realistic billable days, with a worked example.
• LTV:CAC Explained: When Growth Makes Money and When It Just Burns It — Customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, the LTV:CAC ratio and CAC payback — what they mean, how to calculate them honestly, and why the 3:1 rule is only a heuristic.
• Margin vs Markup: The Pricing Mistake That Quietly Costs You Money — Margin and markup are not the same thing. This guide explains the difference with worked UK examples, the conversion between them, and how to price without losing money.