Founderology Forum
Own your financials: 5 metrics that drive business growth
Gaining strong financial visibility by overcoming common hurdles and focusing on key metrics like sales, COGS, and net operating income is essential for leaders to make informed decisions that drive business sustainability and growth.
October 30, 2025 by Kathleen Wood — Founder, K. Wood Partners
As business leaders, we track countless metrics, but the ones that matter most for growth are financial.
If you're wondering why I focus so much on planning and financial visibility, it's because when you really look at it — the greater your financial visibility the greater your business sustainability. And in this early part of the year this is your opportunity to get ahead with your planning and financial visibility. By putting your "financial house" in order now, you can reduce uncertainty and position yourself for even greater success.
I truly get it as Founders and leaders one of the principal scorecards of our success are our financial results. When sales are up we love looking at those numbers and life is good. When sales are shaky or down it simply sucks to review the numbers and it adds more to our stress plate. That's why I take the position of "own your financials" and kick them in the ass instead of being kicked in the gut by your financial results.
Over the past two decades, I've worked with countless Founders and leaders, and one recurring challenge I've observed that slows and derails growth is a lack of financial visibility. This challenge doesn't happen by accident; it's caused by specific hurdles that we all face. These hurdles — uncertainty, fear, frustration and shame — can create blind spots that cloud our ability to make sound financial decisions or worse miss amazing opportunities.
So here's the good news: you can overcome hurdles by building solid financial practices and a proactive mindset. Just as you would tune up your car for optimal performance, taking intentional steps now to tune up your financial visibility will propel you and your business forward in any type of economy.
The following financial checklist will help you to start to identify and address potential blind spots while optimizing your financial performance. One thing we know in business is sometimes you just need to take the first step. This financial checklist gives you some great first steps — you don't have to take them all just pick one per category or just pick one action and start moving forward!
It does not matter how many you checked or did not check — I am not here to add more frustration or shame. What matters is your eyes are wide open and you have a choice to do something about it. Own your financials and take control of them. It all starts by just checking one and building from there!
Metrics that will matter the most for operational growth
I have this saying, "you can measure everything or you can measure you what matters most." The greatest opportunity to increase financial visibility is to focus on metrics that really reflect the health of your business. Here are the metrics I tell all my clients to focus first on before focusing on everything:
- Sales: Understanding trends and growth opportunities.
- Customer Transactions and average check.
- COGS (Cost of Goods Sold): Optimizing cost of goods.
- Labor Productivity: Tracking labor percentage, sales per labor hour, or entrée per labor hour and leadership development pipeline.
- Net Operating Income: Focus on actual location profitability.
By identifying the hurdles that cloud financial visibility and taking intentional steps to address them, you can gain clarity, build confidence and create a financial strategy that supports your goals. Remember, financial visibility isn't just about numbers; it's about empowering yourself with the insights to thrive.
Make this your year of opportunity and financial success
You did not start your business to become an accountant, I get it! The reality is your financial visibility does drive your business ability to make great decisions to grow and prosper. The best news is you don't have to do it alone! We are ready to work with you to accelerate your business with proven strategies and solutions for success!
About Kathleen Wood
Kathleen Wood is the Founder of Kathleen Wood Partners (KWP), an innovative and award-winning growth strategy firm dedicated to propelling Founder-led businesses to new levels of success. Kathleen and her team work with Founders in scaling and accelerating their visions into actionable results through strategic growth solutions, operational excellence, competitive sales strategies, and transformative leadership development. The KWP expertise includes range of Founder-led businesses in the restaurant, hospitality, technology, and manufacturing industries.
