This week: why a profitable job can still create a cash-flow crisis, how the right business bank can make financial management easier, and why AI-assisted marketing should always retain your experience, judgement and personality.

1. Can You Afford to Win the Job?

When I ask clients this question: Could you afford to do your biggest job if the customer didn't pay you for 60 days?

There's usually a bit of silence. The thing is, a profitable job can still put you out of business.

You win the work. Great. But before you've even put a shovel in the ground, you've bought materials, paid wages, hired plant, organised skips and fuelled the vans. The cash is disappearing long before the invoice is paid.

If you've got enough cash behind you, it's just part of running a business. If you haven't, every job becomes a punt and you start delaying suppliers. You hope the customer pays early. You cross your fingers that nothing unexpected happens.

That's not a business plan. It's wishful thinking.

This is why I'm forever banging on about cash flow forecasting. Not because spreadsheets are exciting, but because they answer a really important question:

Can we actually afford to take this job on?

Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes the answer is yes, but only if we ask for a deposit or stage payments. And sometimes the answer is no, despite the job looking profitable on paper.

Profit matters, of course it does, but it’s cash that keeps you alive long enough to enjoy it.

2. Your Bank Account Isn't Just Somewhere to Park the Money

Most business owners spend more time choosing a coffee machine than they do choosing a business bank. They'll stick with the high street bank they've had since they were 18 because it's familiar, then they wonder why managing cash flow feels harder than it should.

A good business bank isn't just somewhere your money sits. It's part of your finance system.

Can your accountant access transactions without you downloading PDFs every month? Does it connect properly to your accounting software? Can you create pots for VAT, Corporation Tax and payroll so you don't accidentally spend HMRC's money? Can you issue payment cards to staff with spending limits? How quickly does customer support actually respond when something goes wrong?

These things matter.

We've moved a lot of clients onto banks like Mettle, Starling and Monzo over the last few years. Not because they're trendy, but because they generally integrate better with modern accounting software and make running the financial side of the business simpler.

The difference isn't usually dramatic on day one., it's the hundreds of tiny frustrations that disappear over the course of a year.

Like most business decisions, don't choose based on habit. Choose based on whether it helps your business operate more efficiently.

Your bank shouldn't just hold your money. It should make your life easier.

3. Your AI is Showing, Mate

I'm a big fan of AI.

We use it every day. It saves hours, helps with research, gets you past the blank page, and makes good people more productive.

But if you're using it for your marketing, here's one piece of advice. Don't make it obvious.

You know the posts. Every paragraph is one sentence long. There's a dramatic pause after every line. It starts with, "Here's the thing..." or "In today's fast-paced world..." It talks about unlocking potential and ends with a question that nobody really wants to answer.

Your AI is showing. The irony is that AI isn't the problem. Laziness is. The first draft is almost never the best draft. Add your own opinion. Change the wording. Tell a story. Make it sound like something you'd actually say over a coffee.

People don't follow you because you have access to ChatGPT. They follow you because of your experience, your judgement and your personality.

AI should help you write. It shouldn't replace you.

Ironically, one of the biggest giveaways is the formatting. Endless one-line paragraphs aren't a sign of good copywriting anymore. They're increasingly a sign that nobody has edited what the AI produced.

By all means use AI. I'd be daft not to. Just don't publish the first thing it gives you. If someone who knows you can read the post and immediately think, "That's ChatGPT, not Alan," you've missed the point.

The best AI-assisted content doesn't sound like AI at all. It just sounds like you.