Why this matters
Most owners look at their finances once a month — or only when something goes wrong. By then, the problem is already baked in: the cash is gone, the invoice is 60 days overdue, the quiet month has become a crisis.
You don't need to become an accountant. You need a ten-minute weekly habit and five numbers. Check them every Monday morning with your coffee. The point isn't precision — it's noticing a problem in week one instead of week six.
How to think about it
Everything in your business eventually shows up in one of five numbers. Watch these, and you'll feel trouble coming before it arrives:
Cash on hand — what's actually in the bank right now. Not profit, not what you're owed. The real number. This is the one that keeps the lights on.
Money owed to you — your unpaid invoices, and how much of it is overdue. Money stuck here is money you earned but can't spend.
Money you owe — bills and supplier payments due in the next few weeks. What's about to leave your account.
Revenue so far — what you've billed this month compared to a normal month. A number that's quietly dropping is your earliest warning sign.
Runway — how many weeks or months you can keep going at your current spending if income stopped. Your margin of safety.
A worked example
Layla runs a small design studio. Here's her Monday check:
Cash on hand: 8,400 JOD
Owed to her: 6,200 JOD — but 2,100 of it is more than 30 days overdue
She owes: 3,500 JOD, due in two weeks
Revenue this month: 4,000 JOD so far, against a usual 5,500 by this point
Runway: about 2.4 months at her current spending
On the surface, Layla looks fine — 8,400 in the bank, more owed to her than she owes. But two numbers should make her act today: 2,100 JOD is sitting overdue (that's most of the gap that's making this month feel tight), and revenue is running below normal. Her Monday to-do list writes itself: chase the two overdue invoices, and find out why new work is slow before it becomes next month's problem.
Without the weekly check, she'd have noticed both a month later — when the overdue invoice is harder to collect and the slow pipeline is a slow quarter.
Your weekly 10-minute check
Run down this list. If any line trips a "red," it goes to the top of your week:
Cash on hand | 🟢 covers 2+ months of costs | 🟡 covers 1–2 months | 🔴 under 1 month |
Overdue invoices | 🟢 nothing over 30 days | 🟡 something aging | 🔴 a big or very old one |
Bills due soon | 🟢 comfortably covered by cash | 🟡 tight | 🔴 a big or very old one |
Revenue vs normal | 🟢 on track or ahead | 🟡 slightly behind | 🔴 clearly down |
Runway | 🟢 3+ months | 🟡 1–3 months | 🔴 under a month |
Green across the board? Close the tab, you've earned it. Any red? That's your one priority for the week.
Do this in NuMetric
You don't have to gather these by hand. NuMetric already tracks all five:
Open Get the big picture for cash, revenue, and the overall health view.
Use Focus on customers to see who owes you and what's overdue.
Use Focus on vendors for what you owe and when it's due.
Bookmark them, and your Monday check becomes three clicks.