Fiscal Advocate, Inc.

?? 20% Revenue Increase vs 3% Expense Increase ?? I hate budgeting. I do. I hate financial plans and closing the books every month...always have and always will. But I had a conversation with an agency owner (and super good dude) this morning that made me see the power in this... Jon Morris & Marcel Petitpas are probably laughing...but this agency owner has been working with Fiscal Advocate, Inc. for about a year and a half and in 2024 generated a 20% revenue increase vs only a 3% increase in expenses. Wow!

Most professional service companies struggle with gross margins. Here’s how to check (and fix it fast): When I talk to professional service firms, “gross margin” is a term that either doesn’t come up… … or, if it does, it’s not well understood But gross margin is everything when it comes to profitability. It shows what’s left after serving clients. (Money you can actually use to grow.) In my experience, fixing a poor gross margin often means fixing the way your team works: - Are senior staff doing junior work? - Have you automated key processes? - Is your org structure efficient? (At least 4 direct reports per manager is ideal) When your gross margin is strong, you: - Free up the resources needed to invest in growth - Cover overhead - Stay profitable So don’t skip this metric. Know it, improve it, and let it fuel your business.

Loved being on Robert Plank's show. If you own a professional service company and want to know how to harness the data from your finances to scale, please have a listen. https://lnkd.in/emD4bSKA

It sure feels like Summer, but Labor Day is just around the corner. Schools are already starting the new year. The election is less than 90 days away. And for most of us, there are fewer than 100 business days left before...BOOM! Next year is upon us. Have you begun to think about 2025 yet? Your new budget? Most companies I've worked with started in October. I'd sit down with my team, figure out goals, check existing vendor renewals... how much again? Didn't we want to look at a new partner? How are sales now and where will they be, come Jan? We winged it and did our best. SO: How do YOU do it?

Jon Morris is the Founder & CEO of EngineBI, Inc. and Chairman of Fiscal Advocate LLC. Prior to EngineBI and Fiscal Advocate, he established Rise Interactive in 2004 with prize money from his second-place finish in the University of Chicago's prestigious New Venture Challenge. Over the next 16 years, he grew Rise from a one-person shop to one of the largest independent marketing agencies in the world. After selling Rise, Jon pondered his next move and realized that he was most energized when connecting and helping fellow entrepreneurs grow their businesses. EngineBI and Fiscal Advocate are the product of this inspiration. Focusing on insights-driven finance was instrumental in Rise’s success—Jon recognized this and realized other agencies could benefit from it. So, like at Rise, Jon developed a proprietary, tech-enabled approach for surfacing hidden financial insights that drive critical business decisions. EngineBI helps agency owners learn the B.A.S.E. Decision Making Framework for Agencies and provides the software and community to help implement the approach to help agencies scale. Fiscal Advocate provides Fractional CFO services for agencies. The two companies compliment each other and under Morris's leadership provide agency owners everything they need to increase revenue, profit and cash. In his spare time, Jon enjoys spending time with his wife, three daughters, and two dogs. He loves soccer, having played on his alma mater’s team, Kenyon College, and is fascinated with studying data driven approaches to developing youth players.