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The Real Plan
Financial strategy for the life you’re actually living. Not the one you planned.
THE HONEST TRUTH
Your business looks good on paper. But it isn't paying for the life it was meant to build.
You’ve built something real. The revenue is there. On paper, things look fine.
But fine isn’t the same as steady. Somewhere between the turnover and your take-home, the picture gets blurry. You’re working hard, the money is coming in, and yet you still don’t feel any richer. You’re still not sure what you should be paying yourself. You still avoid looking at the numbers.
Most financial plans are built for when everything stays the same, and life doesn’t stay the same. The curve balls come, a child who can’t go to school, a slow month, a second business, a health issue. It doesn’t go away, it layers. And, and, and. The business still has to work through all of it, and the financial plan you had, if you had one, was never built for any of it.
What you need isn’t another spreadsheet. It’s a plan built for the life you’re actually living, one that holds when things get hard, so that when the waves come, you don’t fall over.
THIS IS FOR YOU
If any of these sound familiar, keep reading.
“We’re busy, but where is the money?”
“Turnover is growing and I don’t feel any richer.”
“I don’t really know what I should be paying myself.”
“I know enough to get by, but not enough to feel confident.”
“I wish somebody would just tell me what matters.”
“I avoid looking at the numbers.”
WHERE WE START
Most people build the business around what they think they should earn. I start somewhere less comfortable.
What does your life actually cost?
Not the stripped-back version where you tell yourself you don’t need much. Not the fantasy version from a vision board. The real one, including the months that go sideways, the things that don’t go away, and the buffer you need so that one bad quarter doesn’t take the whole thing down with it.
THAT’S YOUR REAL NUMBER
What your life genuinely costs to run, curve balls included. It is almost never the number people expect, and it is almost always the most useful thing they leave with.
Everything else gets built backwards from it. What the business needs to turn over. What you charge. What you can afford to say no to. What you pay yourself, and when.
Once you know your Real Number, the decisions stop being a guess. You’re not pricing on gut feel or hoping it adds up at the end of the month. You know what the business has to do, because you know what it’s for.
"Most financial plans are built for when everything is fine. Life isn't always fine."
DEBBIE BAILEY · MONEY CONVERSATIONALIST
Debbie Bailey
THE MONEY CONVERSATIONALIST
Make your business work for you, not you for your business.
© 2026 Debbie Bailey. Southbourne Accountancy Limited, registered in England and Wales No. 14274528 · Policies