Example business · made-up numbers that ship inside the workbook

The example business: 33 weeks of cash, under its floor by week 6

Its dashboard says OK. Its 13-week line says otherwise. Nothing went wrong in this business. Two ordinary things happened close together.

Example business

What the dashboard says

33.3weeks

OK - over 16 weeks of oxygen.

What the 13-week line says

36,550low point

Week 13, 13,450 under the floor

Week 3
A client pays 3,000 instead of 7,000. The missing 4,000 arrives in week 7.
Week 6
An 8,500 tax payment takes cash from 50,250 to 40,600, under the 50,000 floor.
Week 13
The low point, 36,550. Nothing went wrong. Two ordinary things happened close together.

Example business

Fig 1. Example business: the 13 weeks

Show the 13 weeks as a table

Example business: the 13 weeks
Week	Cash in	Cash out	Ending cash	Against the 50,000 floor
Week 1	7,000	8,150	58,850	Above the floor
Week 2	7,000	8,150	57,700	Above the floor
Week 3	3,000	8,150	52,550	Above the floor
Week 4	7,000	8,150	51,400	Above the floor
Week 5	7,000	8,150	50,250	Above the floor
Week 6	7,000	16,650	40,600	Under the floor
Week 7	11,000	8,150	43,450	Under the floor
Week 8	7,000	8,150	42,300	Under the floor
Week 9	7,000	8,150	41,150	Under the floor
Week 10	7,000	8,150	40,000	Under the floor
Week 11	7,000	8,150	38,850	Under the floor
Week 12	7,000	8,150	37,700	Under the floor
Week 13	7,000	8,150	36,550	Under the floor

Why it happens

Then two ordinary things happen

In week 3 a client who normally pays 7,000 pays 3,000. The missing 4,000 arrives in week 7. In week 6 an 8,500 tax payment lands. Together they take cash from 50,250 to 40,600 in one week. That is under the business's cash floor of 50,000 (two months of fixed costs), and it does not get back above it before the quarter ends. The lowest point is 36,550, in week 13.

Weeks of cash33.3wksOK - over 16 weeks of oxygen.

If sales stopped tomorrow15.1wksNo new sales, bills paid

Minimum cash floor50,0002 months of fixed costs

13-week low point36,550Week 13, 13,450 under the floor

Dashboard of the example workbook. Example business, made-up numbers.

Week 6 is when the business drops under its floor. The low point comes in week 13.

Test a decision

In the workbook this is one yellow cell: "New monthly commitment".

Today

33.3weeks

The dashboard says OK.

Hire at 5,000 a month

20.3weeks

The business can afford the hire.

Bad quarter (sales down 30%, costs up 5%)

13.8weeksTIGHT

Without the hire, a bad quarter already makes it tight.

Hire in a bad quarter

10.9weeksTIGHT

It can afford the hire. It can't comfortably afford the hire and a bad quarter at the same time.

That doesn't mean "don't hire". It means decide now what you would do in the bad quarter: a later start date, a part-time start, building the buffer first, or finally chasing the 36,000 that customers owe. You argue with the numbers before you have to argue with your bank balance.

The quiet version: three short Fridays in a row

Collections are planned at 7,000 a week. Here is what actually came in: 6,400, 6,600, 6,700. Each week is within 10 percent of the plan. Three in a row, all short, is different. The workbook's variance log says so: "Collections short 3 weeks running."

Flag in the variance log: Collections short 3 weeks running.

Example business

Fig 2. Example business: collections, plan and actual

Try it on your numbers

Try the hire test yourself Get the free starter, which opens on this example Look inside (PDF)

Free, no time limit

Get the free 13-week starter

One 13-week tab. A standard .xlsx file, checked in Apple Numbers. Not yet checked in Excel or Google Sheets. It opens with an example business already filled in, so you can see the week its cash drops under the floor before you type a number. It shows your runway in weeks and the week your cash is lowest.

Download the starter (no email)

A 13-week cash line with the week your cash is lowest
Your runway in weeks
No account, no bank login

Want the full system instead? See what is inside.

Get the starter and the Friday routine by email

Email address

Where is your business?

What best describes your business? (optional)

First you'll get an email asking you to confirm your address. The starter arrives as soon as you click the link inside.

Questions about the example

Is this a real business?

No. It is made up, but every number in it is ordinary.

Why does the simulator show different numbers for a similar story?

The simulator is a quick four-slider model over 26 weeks. The workbook builds 13 weeks line by line from your categories. They use different inputs, so the same story reads differently. Run the hire test in both.

Do I need the paid workbook to do this?

No. The free starter shows the 13-week line and your lowest point. The workbook adds the floor tied to a status, the log, the scenario test and the working-capital view.