Ever see those gorgeous brand photo shoots on Instagram? You know the ones — power suit, perfect hair, confident smile…

Well, I just did mine last week. And while you’ll soon see some pretty amazing photos (ahem my new blue suit above from Saks is FIRE), here’s what you won’t see:

• A broken window and glass everywhere at our second studio location… and as a bonus, we were even locked out!
• Me changing clothes in a hallway corner because the second studio was unusable
• Our kids’ ‘perfect smiles’ deteriorating into eye rolls and dramatic sighs with each outfit change (2 hours is apparently an ETERNITY in kid-time)
• Oh, and did I mention it was just days after it was literally raining from the kitchen lights due to an unexpected plumbing issue upstairs?

But here’s the thing… this photo shoot drama? It’s actually the perfect metaphor for what I see happening in business ALL. THE. TIME.

You scroll through Instagram and see:
“Made 100k in my first 6 months!”
“Crossed the 7-figure mark in 2024!”
“Best launch ever!”

What you don’t see? The real numbers behind those headlines.

Just last month, I spoke with a business owner who was about to hit $1M in revenue. Impressive, right? Except… she couldn’t pay herself. Her team was getting paid. Her ads were getting paid. Her fancy systems were getting paid. But her? Not a dime.

This happens more than you think. And it’s not because these entrepreneurs aren’t smart or hardworking. 

Most of us were never taught how to actually track or understand our numbers, let alone make strategic money decisions. 

So we invest in what we think we “should” have:

• Meta ads (because everyone says that’s how you scale)
• High-ticket masterminds (hoping for the next big breakthrough)
• Fancy funnels and websites (because that’s what “successful” businesses have)
• Team members (because isn’t that what growth looks like?)

And as we look back at last year’s results, we’re left wondering why the bank account doesn’t match the “success” we’ve built on paper.

Just like my photo shoot looked perfectly polished (despite the chaos behind the scenes), these revenue numbers often mask a very different financial reality.

Here’s the truth: Revenue without profit is just expensive busy work — wasting precious time we could be spending with our families instead of chasing vanity metrics.

That’s exactly why I created Cash Flow CEO — because I’m tired of seeing talented entrepreneurs trapped in the “looks good on paper, broke in reality” cycle.

Oh… want to know what happened with that broken window situation? 

We got creative — shooting in unexpected spots around the building, from stairwells to brick walls to… a local florist shop.

Here’s what making it work looked like:

(And hey, maybe the universe was trying to tell me to slow down and enjoy the moment… even if it had to get creative about it!)

Sometimes the best solutions come from complete chaos… but that’s a story for another day.