Finance in Plain Language

Team Bonuses from Project Profit: How to Calculate Them

Revenue-based bonuses make you pay out even on loss-making projects. What to actually base a bonus on (real project profit), how much to set aside and when to pay it, so that motivation works for profit rather than against it.

How Much to Pay Yourself as an Agency Owner

Some owners pull everything out of the business, others pay themselves nothing — both extremes come from the same mistake. How to separate the owner's salary for work from the owner's profit and set yourself a fair paycheck.

Team Utilization and Profit: How to Connect Them

Two agencies with the same headcount can post very different profits because of one invisible metric — utilization. How to calculate it, what the healthy range is, and why a 10% drop can wipe out your entire profit.

Agency Payroll: What Percentage of Revenue Is Normal

Payroll is an agency's biggest cost, and it's what decides whether there's any profit at all. What the payroll benchmark is (40–55% of revenue), why it depends on utilization, and what to do when payroll eats up too much.

Retainers and one-off projects: how to track them together

Retainers give you a stable base; one-off projects give you spikes. Run them in one pot and a big one-off month masks a weak base. Here's how to split the two flows and measure how stable your agency really is.

Agency Finances Across Several FOPs: One Clear Picture

The money is scattered across several sole proprietors (FOPs) and accounts, and the owner can't see how much the whole agency actually earns. How to pull every FOP into one set of books, strip out internal transfers, and finally see the business as a whole.

How to Split One Payment Across Several Projects and Months

A client pays one lump sum for several projects — or months in advance — and your analytics fall apart. How to split a payment correctly by purpose and period, so each project's profitability stays honest.

Tracking Multiple Projects at Once: How Not to Get Lost

Five projects, each at a different stage, all the money in one pot — and no way to tell which one earns and which one drags you down. A four-step system to see every project on its own, even when you're running dozens.

A Payment Calendar for Your Agency: Advances, Milestones, Contractors

If you roll out just one financial tool in your agency, make it the payment calendar. Here's how to build one for an agency — advances, milestones and retainers against payroll, contractors and taxes — and catch a cash gap two weeks ahead.