Ep 30: How to Plan for Profit, Cash Runway, and Hiring Before You Hit a Revenue Ceiling with Geily Romero
“If you can't set aside three months of what you would pay that person, you're not ready to hire them.”
Geily Romero
I love a good spicy internet claim as much as the next person, but if I see one more “I hit $XX,XXX months!” post with zero context, I’m going to start asking people to drop their profit margin in the caption like it’s their rising sign.
Because revenue is loud. Profit is honest.
In this guest episode, I’m yapping with Geily (Haley) Romero (aka the numbers queen) about what actually matters when you’re building a service business: understanding your numbers, planning before January, having a cash runway, and not hiring or investing based on vibes.
We talk about why VIP Days are such a smart move this time of year, how bookkeeping and CFO advisory are really about peace of mind (not spreadsheets), and the uncomfortable truth that avoiding your finances is usually what makes things worse.
Also, I share a very real story about literally laying on the floor during a financial meeting years ago, yes, I was that unwell, and why I regret opting out instead of building the skill.
If you’ve ever said, “I’m just not a numbers person,” this episode is for you.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode
Why planning for 2026 starts now (not in January when you’re buried in tax chaos)
What Geily covers in a bookkeeping + CFO-style VIP Day (and why it’s not just for taxes)
How to reverse engineer Q1 so it’s not your annual financial panic spiral
Why raising rates in January is self-sabotage (and what to do instead)
My “numbers avoidance” origin story (floor meeting era) and what I’d do differently now
The real value of CFO advisory: visibility, forecasting, and “seeing around corners”
Why business savings isn’t optional (the “you are the landlord” analogy you won’t forget)
A simple way to think about take-home pay, taxes, savings, and expenses when setting targets
The profit conversation no one wants to have when they’re screaming revenue online
The hidden profit-killer moves service providers make when they pivot to low-ticket or one-to-many
Why you need a 90-day cash buffer before hiring (and why expecting immediate ROI is delusional)
Cash runway, forecasting, and being conservative so you don’t bleed out while waiting on ROI
Expense audits, money trauma, and why overspending on “education” can be protective behavior
Profit is the point, and revenue is just the headline
Geily and I both have the same reaction when someone markets top-line revenue like it’s the whole story: okay, but how much did you actually keep?
Because I’ve seen it, and Geily sees it every day behind the scenes. People selling $10K, $12K offers, paying contractors to deliver, then paying themselves less than the contractors. Congrats, you bought yourself a management job and called it scaling.
This is why I keep saying some version of: stop building a seven-figure funnel when you can’t sustain six figures.
Not as a judgment, as a reality check. If your foundation is shaky, all you’re doing is creating bigger problems with bigger numbers.
Geily’s approach (and honestly mine too, just in different departments) is: when money comes in, where is it going? What does that revenue goal mean for taxes, pay, savings, and actual decisions?
Because if you set “$250K next year” as a goal without mapping where it will go, you’re basically manifesting a tax bill and stress.
Planning in Q4 is how you stop hating Q1
We talk a lot about timing in this episode, because January is a trap.
Geily sees people wait until January to get it together, and then they’re immediately slammed with taxes, 1099s, overwhelm, and they lose the chance to start the year with momentum.
I shared my own pattern from years ago: every January and February I’d be like, why is Q1 so slow? why does this feel so awful? and it would mess with my mindset and the tone of the entire year.
The fix wasn’t magical. It was reverse engineering.
I planned ahead (like actually planned) and set up Q1 in Q4. I did a big launch in the fall, and then those payment plans hit in January, February, March, and suddenly Q1 wasn’t doom season anymore. It changed everything.
This is also why rate increases need to be communicated early. If you wait until January to raise prices, you’re forcing yourself to do the hardest, most emotionally loaded admin at the exact time you’re already stressed. Tell people in November. Give them time. Let the market respond.
VIP Days: the “get your financial life together” intensive
Geily broke down what her VIP Days look like, and it’s not “hand me your P&L and I’ll file taxes.”
It’s:
Reviewing the bookkeeping software setup
Finding and fixing errors in real time
Looking at financial statements for visibility (not just compliance)
Tax strategy conversations (like estimated payments, S-corp readiness, etc.)
Goal setting for business and personal (because it’s always connected)
Pricing and offer analysis to make sure you’re pricing profitably
The theme is visibility and decisions. The numbers aren’t the end goal, they’re the language your business is speaking, and you should probably understand what it’s saying.
My old money avoidance was… dramatic (and I regret it)
I told Geily about a moment years ago where I got so uncomfortable in a financial meeting that I literally laid on the floor during the call. That was my full-body “nope” response to money conversations.
And then I did the thing I thought was “self-care,” I opted out.
The disservice: I removed myself instead of learning how to participate. I outsourced the discomfort without building the skill.
Now that I’m a solopreneur again, I’m wearing the CFO hat whether I like it or not. So I decided, if I’m wearing it, I’m going to wear it well.
Which is why I started making money conversations part of my life, not something I avoid.
The personal money date that changed my brain chemistry
This might be my favorite part of the episode, because it’s such a simple idea and it changed everything for me.
I realized I’d been goal setting for business for 10+ years, monthly, quarterly, annually. Postmortems. Metrics. Adjustments.
But I’d never done it for my personal life. Ever.
So my husband and I started a monthly money date. We go to a coffee shop or a bar (yes, I pull out a laptop, yes, I am that girl), open a spreadsheet, and review our “departments” like:
Personal goals (mine + his)
Career
Parenting
Marriage
Friendships
Health
Money and planning
And we talk. What’s working, what’s not, what needs to change. It’s not a finance lecture. It’s a check-in that keeps us aligned.
Geily loved this because it’s exactly how CFO advisory works at the 30,000-foot view. It’s not just revenue, it’s life.
Business savings: you are the landlord
Geily said something that should be printed on a mug:
There is no landlord.
If you own a house and the AC breaks, you don’t call a landlord. You pay for it.
Your business is the same. When there’s a slow season, a family emergency, a market shift, a sick kid, a holiday dip, you are the landlord. You need savings.
I asked about the common fear: “If I leave money in the business, do I pay more taxes on it?” Geily explained that (depending on your structure) you’re generally taxed on profit, not on whether you transfer it to yourself or leave it sitting there. The bigger point was: savings isn’t optional, it’s risk management.
And yes, I’m personally calling myself out because I’ve been team “pay myself all the leftovers,” and my 2026 mission is building a real cushion.
Revenue growth can destroy profit if you don’t respect the model
We also talked about what happens when service providers hit capacity.
They’re at 90% profit, because service businesses can be cheap to run when it’s just you. Then they want to “scale,” and the common advice is: launch a low-ticket offer, build a course, start a membership, create a tiny offer funnel.
But here’s what nobody tells you: one-to-many can eat your profit alive.
New platforms. New tech. Design tools. Email list growth. More marketing. Possibly ads. Different buyer psychology. Different messaging. Different systems. Sometimes an entirely different business.
And then you look up and realize you traded a high-margin business for a content machine that requires constant feeding.
If you’re going to pivot models, do it intentionally, with numbers. Not because you hit “ceiling season” and panic-built a digital product.
Hiring requires a runway, not wishful thinking
Geily dropped a hiring rule I agree with so hard:
If you can’t set aside 3 months of what you’d pay someone, you’re not ready to hire.
Because there’s a learning curve. ROI is not instant. You need a buffer so you’re not relying on “next month’s sales” to cover payroll.
We tied this to cash runway in general. Investments (ads, hires, events) have lag time. If the return takes longer than you expect, do you have the runway to survive that gap?
This is why forecasting matters. It’s not complicated, it’s a tool. Look at historical data, anticipate seasons, plan conservatively, and audit expenses regularly so money isn’t bleeding out while you’re looking the other way.
Expense audits, money trauma, and “education overspending”
I shared something vulnerable: I learned about myself this year that I overspend on education and strategy. “If I just learn this thing, everything will click.” And then I buy something I don’t even fully agree with, and I’m like, why am I like this?
A therapist question changed how I see it: when I do this behavior, how is it protecting me?
That reframed everything. And my husband gave me the blunt truth I needed: I don’t need exponential results, I need consistency. Predictability. Repeatable income. Not another shiny strategy.
That’s the work, right? Not just “stop overspending,” but understanding why you do it, so you can change it without white-knuckling.
Chapters
00:00 — No formal intro, we just start yapping
02:40 — Geily’s VIP Day breakdown (books, P&L, strategy, goals)
05:06 — Plan for 2026 now, not in January
05:20 — Why Q1 feels slow (and how I fixed it)
07:55 — Communicating rate increases in Q4
09:05 — “Numbers queen” origin story
10:02 — My floor-meeting money avoidance era
11:30 — If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know your business
16:00 — My monthly personal money date system
17:13 — CFO services: 30,000-foot view and personal goal anchoring
19:51 — My pricing/goal calculators and Geily’s take
25:01 — Why business savings matters (you are the landlord)
27:36 — Taxes, profit, and leaving money in the business
31:55 — CFO advisory = peace of mind and visibility
36:34 — Revenue bragging vs actual profit
39:08 — Service providers hitting capacity and the low-ticket trap
42:09 — Hiring runway and the 90-day buffer
43:11 — Cash runway, ads lag time, and forecasting conservatively
45:37 — Expense audits and money bleeding out
46:52 — Money trauma, embarrassment, and getting support anyway
50:56 — Profit margin workshop story (20% to 56%)
53:10 — Not being a “yes girl,” bigger fish to fry
55:38 — Where to find Geily + her offers
About the Guest
Geily Romero is a Fractional CFO and Financial Consultant. She has spent the last 8 years helping countless service-based entrepreneurs just like you transform their relationship with money and build thriving businesses. She's on a mission to increase access to top-tier financial expertise that empowers entrepreneurs to master their money, fostering growth and financial stability for themselves and their families. "Master, manage, and multiply your cash flow" is her motto, because money well managed changes lives.
HOT TAKE: Stop focusing on revenue alone and start focusing on PROFIT, friend! Profit is what truly matters. Making 6-figures means nothing if it’s not being managed well. You can be booked out and still feel overwhelmed and stressed out over money problems, feeling broke, not being able to pay yourself, maxing credit cards out and taking on loans and lines of credits. Loosing passion in your business and feeling like you want to quit, all because you're not seeing any of your hard-earned money come to you.
Connect with Geily (Haley) Romero
Website: cuttingedgefinancialsolutions.com
Instagram: @cuttingedgefinancialsolutions
Interested in Being on the Show or Working with Emylee?
Are you a service provider with a bold perspective to share? Apply to be a guest.
Ready to transform your service into a productized, scalable offer? Apply for Sold Out Services.
If you’d like to see a library of all published episodes in a gallery with easy-to-find links to all listening platforms be sure to check out the Sell The Damn Service Episode Library.
