Your Business Will Run Better And With Less Stress If You Learn Finance Speak, Its Love Language

I majored in comparative literature but ended up in finance.

The two fields are more alike than you’d think. Numbers are an alphabet, and financials are the language your business speaks. If you don’t understand your financials or are intimidated by them, or if you rely on others to translate or interpret them, you won’t have an intimate relationship with your business.

You’d be missing out.

Many people become accidental entrepreneurs and run successful businesses but aren’t 100% comfortable with their business’ love language. 

Becoming fluent in finance speak will attune you to the rhythms of your business. You’ll notice fluctuations sooner, and react faster. Little course corrections are less stressful. 

Metrics are value neutral, like temperature or rainfall. It’s just information about existing conditions. It’s not a reflection of your character.

Ask how do you FEEL about knowing your numbers?

We can’t hide from data forever, even if there are decisions we can no longer put off, and we’re afraid to make the wrong one, or they’re tough decisions. They may also be unconscious money scripts we all carry, like believing that paying too much attention to the bottom line makes us evil, or invalidates our identity as creators.

We can have a two-way conversation with our business, if we learn how to both listen and speak to it (that’s what variance analysis, budgets and projections are for). And, if we explore and accept the emotions that create communication blocks, we can have a healthier relationship with our business.

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1963