Root Causes: Inventory, People, Forecasting

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley shares hard-earned lessons from a cash flow crisis in January 2024, when his business couldn’t fund payroll. He explains how this pivotal moment led him to develop a “CEO dashboard” with three essential tools: the Weekly High Five Tracker, a departmental scorecard for leading indicators, and a 52-week cash flow forecast. Josh also reveals advanced credit card strategies to optimize cash flow, emphasizing proactive management, team accountability, and the importance of focusing on activities that drive results for sustainable business growth.

Join Josh Hadley on the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast as he shares his journey scaling an ecommerce business from zero to eight figures. Discover essential business tips for effective business management, including strategies for tracking leading indicators, optimizing cash flow, and understanding key KPIs. This podcast is your guide to significant business growth and success. 🚀

Tools and Dashboards

"Weekly High Five Tracker": "00:08:36"
"Custom GPT for Role Profiles": "00:17:03"
"Weekly Scorecard": "00:18:51"
"Cash Flow Forecast Sheet": "00:26:10"

Books
"The One Thing by Gary Keller": "00:14:06"

Websites and Services
"ChatGPT": "00:16:06"
"Melio": "00:39:37"
"Plastiq": "00:39:37"

Key Metrics and Indicators
"Total Advertising Cost of Spend (TACOS)": "00:19:47"
"Conversion Rate": "00:20:12"
"Average Order Value (AOV)": "00:21:12"

Credit Cards Mentioned
"Chase Sapphire Reserve": "00:44:19"
"Amex Gold Card": "00:44:19"
"Amex Plum Card": "00:44:19"
"Chase Business Preferred Card": "00:44:19"
"Chase Business Premier": "00:44:19"
"Capital One Spark Cash Plus": "00:44:19"
"Citi Executive World Elite": "00:44:19"

Concepts and Strategies
"Credit Card Hack": "00:36:40"

Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction to the CEO Dashboard
Josh introduces the concept of the CEO Dashboard and the importance of tracking business health with three key reports.

00:00:58 Personal Story: Running Out of Cash
Josh shares a pivotal January 2024 experience when his business couldn’t fund payroll, leading to key lessons learned.

00:01:52 Lessons Learned from the Cash Crisis
Josh discusses the root causes of the cash shortfall: inventory issues, team misalignment, and lack of cash forecasting.

00:04:46 The CEO’s Three Key Priorities
Josh outlines the CEO’s main responsibilities: casting vision, having the right people, and ensuring the business never runs out of cash.

00:05:38 Desert Island Exercise & Dashboard Mindset
Josh introduces the “desert island” exercise and the mindset shift from lagging to leading indicators in business management.

00:06:32 Leading vs. Lagging Indicators Explained
Explanation of leading and lagging metrics, and why CEOs should focus on leading indicators for future business impact.

00:08:36 Tool #1: Weekly High Five Tracker
Introduction to the Weekly High Five Tracker, a tool for tracking the five most important weekly actions for each team member.

00:09:37 How the Weekly High Five Tracker Works
Step-by-step process for using the tracker: team member input, manager review, and accountability conversations.

00:13:13 FAQs and Best Practices for the Tracker
Josh answers common questions about the tracker, role profiles, and the importance of defining “the one thing” for each role.

00:16:06 Customizing Leading Actions for Your Team
Advice on using ChatGPT to identify high-leverage actions for each role and building custom role profiles.

00:17:54 Tool #2: Weekly Scorecard
Introduction to the Weekly Scorecard, which tracks leading indicators and metrics at the department level.

00:19:47 Examples of Departmental Leading Indicators
Detailed examples of leading indicators for sales, marketing, product development, project management, and account health.

00:21:12 Year-over-Year Metrics and Warning Signals
Importance of tracking year-over-year metrics to spot early warning signs and avoid surprises in business performance.

00:25:09 Supply Chain and Inventory Management Metrics
Key inventory and supply chain metrics to monitor for maintaining efficiency and preventing stockouts.

00:26:10 Tool #3: Cash Flow Forecast Sheet
Introduction to the Cash Flow Forecast Sheet for projecting cash balances and preventing cash shortfalls.

00:27:18 How to Build and Use a Cash Flow Forecast
Step-by-step guide to forecasting cash inflows and outflows, including vendor payments, payroll, and credit card expenses.

00:36:40 Credit Card Strategy for Cash Flow Management
Josh’s credit card “hack” for extending payment cycles and maximizing working capital using multiple cards.

00:39:37 Paying Vendors with Credit Cards & Fee Arbitrage
How to pay vendors via credit card (using services like Melio or Plastiq), offsetting fees with rewards and tax deductions.

00:41:36 Optimizing the Cash Conversion Cycle
Strategies for negotiating payment terms, stacking credit card float, and improving the cash conversion cycle for growth.

00:44:19 Favorite Credit Cards for E-commerce
Josh shares his top business credit cards for maximizing rewards and extending payment terms.

00:46:17 Recap: The Three Dashboard Tools
Summary of the three dashboard tools and how they help CEOs maintain focus, accountability, and cash flow.

00:48:13 Call to Action & Closing
Josh invites listeners to leave a review, share the episode, and access the templates, closing with a reminder about focus and systems.

Transcript:

Josh Hadley 00:00:00  So imagine you're on a desert island. You're stranded, you don't have your computer, you don't have your phone. You're just going to get three paper reports delivered to you. How are you going to know whether your business is going to be crushing it while you're away, or it's about to fall into the pits of despair? So today I'm going to introduce you to that answer. And this has been the CEO dashboard. Welcome to the Econ Breakthrough Podcast. I'm Josh Hadley. I've scaled my own e-commerce brand from 0 to 8 figures, and I'm actively building towards nine figures in sales. This podcast is where I document that journey and share the systems, the strategies, and the lessons learned in real time so that you can learn what actually matters and scale your own business. Have you ever wondered the best way to actually manage your business as a CEO, and do you wish you could actually see one specific dashboard that would tell you the exact health of your business, whether you are winning or losing? Today, I'm going to be introducing to you three different tools and dashboards that will allow you to effectively manage the business as the CEO.

Josh Hadley 00:00:58  So today we're going to dive into the CEO dashboard. First off who am I. My name is Josh Hadley. First and foremost I am a man of faith. I am a husband to a beautiful wife and four children, and I have been selling in the e-commerce space for over ten years now, and a multi-million dollar seller on all sorts of platforms TikTok, shop, Shopify, Amazon and more. And also the host to the number one business strategy podcast for ecommerce that is the E-com Breakthrough Podcast. Today, I want to start by sharing with you a story. I want to bring you back to a point in time. In my business, this was January of 2024, and I remember like it was just yesterday going upstairs to my office and it was a cold day. So I love...