Friday 15 May
The rest of 2026 — what changes, and where you end up.
As at 30 April 2026 — based on actual figures from QuickBooks and the engagement plan agreed with Trent.
Stay the course
No engagement, current trajectory.
35%
no margin for surprise
Once Alberto leaves at end of May and the family arrangement winds down, the business limps along — break-even-ish month-to-month, cash slowly growing. There's enough to keep going, but no headroom to invest in growth and no buffer for a bad month. Chelsea continues doing everything herself.
With this plan
Six-month picture below.
~40%, blended
comfortable headroom for the year
You finish the year with a meaningful cash buffer. The system absorbs the routine layer of account management, supplier comms and marketing delivery — freeing the team for strategic work and new business. Your £3k monthly draw is protected throughout.
| Item | Monthly | Jun-Dec total | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vpress subscription (replaced by portal) | £600 | £1,800(Oct-Dec) | On migration, Q4 |
| Middleware project cancelled | £1,400 | £9,800 | Immediate — pending WIP check |
| Sarah's Fassa retainer absorbed | £1,500 | £9,000 | Week 3 deliverable |
| Dormant tool subscriptions cancelled | ~£100 | £600(Jul-Dec) | Week 1 systems audit |
| Loss-maker client triage | TBD | TBD | Subject to profitability audit (month 1-2) |
Most of these are decisions the business can make immediately. The loss-maker triage needs the system in place first. The family arrangement ending in May is already in the cash baseline above; both scenarios benefit from it. Vpress comes out when the customer-facing portal absorbs its function in the autumn.
| Item | When | Monthly impact | Jun-Dec total | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing-as-service: Fassa upgraded | Jul | +£1,490 GP | £8,940 | Sarah replaced, Fassa retainer protected |
| Marketing-as-service: Client 1 | Aug | +£2,490 GP | £12,450 | Two new clients targeted by year-end |
| Marketing-as-service: Client 2 | Oct | +£2,490 GP | £7,470 | |
| LinkedIn-driven new business | Jul | +£3,000 revenue | £18,000 revenue / £6,300 GP | At 35% blended margin |
| Customer-facing portal (USP) | Q4 | No 2026 impact | — | Foundations laid; revenue uplift from 2027 |
Marketing-as-service is the biggest near-term lever. Fassa is the existing proof — once Sarah is replaced, the same retainer becomes nearly £2,500 of monthly margin. Two more clients on that model produces meaningful additional cash inside the year, and the LinkedIn pipeline begins compounding from month two onwards.
Cash trajectory
The plan pays for itself inside the engagement window. From 2027 onwards, with all three marketing-as-service clients at full-year contribution, LinkedIn at run-rate, the customer portal absorbing Vpress, and the system continuing to take more on (see Improvements), the return scales considerably. The loss-maker client triage isn't in these numbers yet — that's the week 1-2 deliverable that typically uncovers another £20-40k of recoverable margin.