Every business death boils down to one of two things:
- You run out of cash.
- You (the owner) quit.
There’s a way to beat both: shorten your feedback loop.
If new customers pay you back in 30 days, cash will never choke you.
If you install the Rule of 100, you’ll never stall.
Do both, and you’ll outlast 99% of competitors.
1) Don’t Run Out of Cash: Hit 30-Day Payback
This is called client-financed acquisition.
If customers cover the cost to acquire and serve them in the first month, money stops being your bottleneck. You can scale on your own cash flow.
How to Hit It Fast
- Add Day-1 Cash: Introduce an implementation or onboarding fee. Offer upfront or annual payment options with a fair discount.
- Bill Smarter: Switch to 28-day cycles. That’s 13 billings per year instead of 12 — an instant 8.3% lift if conversions hold.
- Raise First-30-Day Gross Profit: Enforce price floors, set scope guardrails, and add a zero-delivery-cost Day-1 upsell (like a reporting pack or executive workshop).
- Inject Cash on Demand: Run a limited-time promo for warm customers or past buyers, offering a high-margin add-on.
Bottom line: If you break even in 30 days, you can recycle dollars into more customers — indefinitely.
2) Don’t Quit: Install the Rule of 100
Most owners don’t burn out from work. They burn out from slow feedback.
The fix: set a daily volume rule you can’t wiggle out of.
The Rule
100 primary actions per day, for 100 days straight.
Examples:
- 100 minutes/day creating content (publish at least one piece daily).
- 100 reach-outs/day (email, DMs, calls) to warm or cold prospects.
- Advanced: work open-to-goal — keep going until the outcome is hit, not just until the clock runs out.
Put in the reps. Ten days of real outreach will teach you more than ten months of reading.
Run It Like an Operating System
- Cash Scoreboard: Payback days, DSO, and first-30-day gross profit per new client.
- Input Scoreboard: Content minutes, outreach count, and Rule of 100 compliance.
Decision Rules
- Payback >30 days? Add a Day-1 upsell, push 28-day billing, or offer annual prepay.
- Inputs <100/day? Block your calendar and go open-to-goal until you hit it.
Bottom Line
If clients pay you back in 30 days, you’ll never run out of cash.
If you enforce the Rule of 100, you’ll never lose momentum.
That’s how you beat the only two killers of business.
Call to Action
I’ll calculate your real payback period, design a 30-day cash stack, and set a 90-day Rule of 100 plan so you never run out of money — or momentum.
We run just two slots per month — book HERE to claim one.
About the Author
Michael Argento, CPA
Founder + Fractional CFO at Argento CPA
Michael helps ambitious Canadian business owners align compensation with performance. From creative agencies and SaaS startups to scaling construction trades businesses, he builds financial systems that reward results — without sacrificing sustainability.