What Your Numbers Are Trying to Tell You Before 2026

Before you plan forward, you need to understand the patterns that shaped 2025

You’ve reviewed your year. You’ve looked at margins, revenue, cash flow, costs, and clients.

Now comes the part most founders skip: reading the patterns behind those numbers.

Because numbers don’t just show results. They show behaviour, timing, pressure points, and blind spots. If you can read those patterns now, you stop repeating them in 2026.

Here’s what I consistently see when reviewing founder financials at this time of year:

1. The Margin Squeeze

Revenue grew. Profit didn’t. Not because you did something wrong, but because costs crept up faster than pricing or efficiency.

Look at: Gross margin per product or service. Month-on-month shifts. Where labour or delivery time quietly expanded.

Ask: What needs repricing? What needs streamlining? What needs retiring?

2. The Cash Crunch Cycle

Every year the same months hurt. Same cash dip. Same scramble. Same stress.

That’s not a surprise. It’s a pattern.

Look at: Cash in vs cash out, monthly. Identify recurring pressure points.

Ask: What caused those months to be tight? Timing? Debtors? Seasonality? Delivery? Plan 2026 around the pattern, not against it.

3. The Capacity Plateau

You grew, but your systems didn’t. So even with more clients, you hit a ceiling: delivery, team, process, or tech.

Look at: Where work slowed. Where errors increased. Where bottlenecks appeared. The tasks that always break when things get busy.

Ask: If demand doubled tomorrow, what would snap first? Fix that before scaling.

4. The Busy But Low-Profit Quarters

You felt slammed, but the numbers don’t show it. That’s the difference between being busy and being profitable.

Look at: Effort vs margin. Which projects drained time but added little profit?

Ask: Which types of work should you retire, reduce, or price differently in 2026?

5. The Creeping Overheads

Costs rarely spike overnight. They expand quietly. Software, subcontractors, admin, tools, extra hands, all growing faster than revenue.

Look at: Month-by-month fixed cost movement. What increased without you noticing?

Ask: What genuinely supports growth, and what is just noise?

6. The Client Pattern You Can’t Ignore

Every business has clients who are a dream and clients who drain.

Profit isn’t just financial. It’s operational and emotional.

Look at: Profitability per client (not revenue). Time, complexity, responsiveness, payment terms.

Ask: Who are your profit clients? Who are your drains? What does your ideal portfolio for 2026 look like, and what needs to shift to get there?

These Patterns Predict Your 2026 Results

If you only look at numbers, you’ll repeat 2025. If you read the patterns, you’ll change 2026.

Patterns tell you:

• Where cash will tighten
• Where margin will slip
• Where you’ll hit capacity
• Where profit will actually come from
• Where you need boundaries, pricing changes, or system upgrades

This is the turning point. This is where your 2026 plan begins.

Your Pattern Recognition Checklist

Do this week:

✅ Review your 2025 P&L, cash flow, and revenue mix 

✅ Identify your recurring patterns 

✅ Document your profit rhythms: strong months, weak months, margin shifts 

✅ List the bottlenecks that slowed you down 

✅ Identify your profitable vs draining clients

This is the foundation for your 2026 forecasting and planning.

Next week: How to turn these patterns into a 2026 Profit Plan.

Lianne Grove | Profit Strategist CFO

If you would like help interpreting your 2025 patterns or building a clear plan for 2026, book a PROFIT POWER HOUR.

I have a limited number of appointments throughout NOVEMBER and a special offer: $97 (normally $997).

BOOK NOW

Let’s make 2026 your most financially intelligent year yet.

Lianne Grove
Profit Strategist CFO