Profit First Coaching
Working this hard and still not paying yourself? That’s the problem we fix.
You haven’t taken a real paycheck in months. The tax bill shows up and the money isn’t there. Revenue is up, and somehow there’s nothing to show for it. You check the bank balance before every purchase because you honestly don’t know what’s safe to spend. None of that means your business is broken. It means nobody ever built you a system that pays you first.
The system we coach is called Profit First. The mechanics are simple: the moment income lands, it gets split into set percentages. Profit. Your pay. Taxes. Operating money. You run the business on what’s left, not on the whole pile.
- ✓ Cash flow you can predict
- ✓ Profit set aside first
- ✓ Owner pay you can count on
- ✓ Taxes already covered
Who it’s for
Built for owners who are tired of flying blind.
If your business is making money but you never seem to have any, you’re not alone, and it’s not a math problem. It’s a system problem.
One client of ours hadn’t run a real paycheck for themselves in over a year. The business was profitable the whole time. Every dollar just looked spoken for, so “pay myself” kept losing to “cover this month.” Two months after we set up their allocations, they ran their own payroll. Nothing about the business changed. The order the money moved in changed.
That’s what the coaching gives you: a simple, repeatable cash system so you always know what’s yours to keep, what’s owed, and what’s safe to spend.
Sound familiar?
You check your bank balance to decide if you can afford something.
Tax season is a stressful scramble to find the money.
You pay yourself last, if there’s anything left.
Revenue is up but your stress is higher than ever.
You have no idea if you’re actually profitable.
A P&L tells you what happened. Profit First tells you what to do next.The Smoky Mountain way.
How it works
A system, not a spreadsheet you’ll abandon.
Three steps turn cash chaos into a calm, predictable routine you can actually stick to.
Set up your accounts
We open a handful of purpose-driven bank accounts: Profit, Owner’s Pay, Taxes, and Operating Expenses. Every dollar has a job the moment it arrives.
Allocate by percentage
On a simple rhythm, income gets divided into those accounts by target percentages tailored to your business, not a generic template.
Run on what remains
You spend from Operating Expenses with total clarity. Profit, pay, and taxes are already handled. No more end-of-quarter surprises.
Pricing
Profit First isn’t a separate line item. It’s built into every bookkeeping package.
We don’t sell Profit First coaching on its own. Every level of our bookkeeping package includes the full Profit First system: account structure, allocations, and the meetings to keep it on track. One place to see the numbers:
The cash system is one third of the picture
It runs on clean books
Allocations only work when the numbers underneath them are real. That is why the cash system comes bundled with monthly, CPA-reviewed bookkeeping, never as a standalone.
It makes tax season boring
The tax account fills up all year, and we prepare and file the return from the same books. When the estimate comes due, the money is already sitting there.
Why a CPA
Profit First is better with a CPA in your corner.
Plenty of people read the book and stall out. The accounts get messy, the percentages drift, and the tax side never quite gets handled.
As CPAs, we connect your cash system directly to your tax picture, so the money you set aside is the right amount, and the profit you keep is actually yours.
Tax-accurate allocations
Your tax-savings percentage is based on real projections, not a guess.
Watched all year
We spot opportunities before year-end, not after the deadline.
Clean books
Your accounts and bookkeeping stay in sync and audit-ready.
One team
Coaching, compliance, and strategy under one roof. No hand-offs.
Start the system this week, free.
Three tools straight from this playbook, each one email away.
The Pay Yourself First Starter Kit
The four account setup, starting percentages by revenue band, and a one page bank visit checklist.
The Tax Set-Aside Cheat Sheet
The 15 percent habit that makes April boring, with the set aside table by monthly revenue.
What Can I Pay Myself?
Six steps from last month's deposits to a pay number you can trust, worked example included.
Ready to make profit a habit, not an afterthought?
Book a free discovery call. We’ll talk through your situation and map out the right first step. No pressure.
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