Money Is A Cruel Mistress
- Jillian Stidd
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
A mentor once asked a business owner three simple questions: How much money did you deposit last month? How much did you spend? How much do you owe? She couldn't answer a single one. That's when he said, "Money is a cruel mistress. If you don't pay attention to her, she'll leave you for someone else." In this article, I explore why financial clarity isn't about becoming an accountant—it's about becoming a better business owner. Because your business is constantly communicating through revenue, expenses, debt, profit, and cash flow. The question is: are you listening?
Money Is A Cruel Mistress
If you don't pay attention to her, she'll leave you for
someone else.
A mentor once asked a business owner three simple questions.
How much money did you deposit last month?
How much did you spend?
How much do you owe?
She couldn’t answer a single one.
That’s when he said:
“Money is a cruel mistress. If you don’t pay attention to her, she’ll leave you for someone else.”
When I first heard that quote, I laughed.
Then I thought about it.
Then I realized how many business owners live exactly that way.
Not because they’re lazy.
Not because they don’t care.
Because they’re busy.
They’re serving clients.
Creating content.
Building products.
Managing employees.
Answering emails.
Putting out fires.
Trying to keep everything moving forward.
And somewhere along the way, the numbers become something they plan to look at later.
The problem is that later has a way of becoming never.
Many business owners know exactly how many followers they have.
They know how many likes their last post received.
They know how many people opened their email.
But ask them:
How much did your business make last month?
How much did it spend?
How much do you owe?
And suddenly the answers become less clear.
That’s not a judgment.
It’s a reality.
Because most of us didn’t start our businesses because we loved spreadsheets.
We started because we loved helping people.
Creating something.
Building freedom.
Pursuing a dream.
The numbers felt secondary.
Until they weren’t.
Because eventually every business owner discovers something important:
The numbers are telling a story.
Revenue tells one story.
Expenses tell another.
Debt tells another.
Cash flow tells another.
Profit tells another.
The challenge isn’t that the story is hidden.
The challenge is that many business owners aren’t reading it.
Imagine walking into your kitchen and refusing to open the pantry.
You might still cook for a while.
You might even create some great meals.
But eventually you’re going to run into problems because you don’t know what ingredients you actually have.
Business works the same way.
You cannot make informed decisions with information you don’t understand.
You cannot improve what you don’t measure.
You cannot create clarity from confusion.
And you cannot build freedom from numbers you never look at.
One of the biggest misconceptions I see is the belief that paying attention to money means becoming obsessed with money.
Those are not the same thing.
Obsessing over money creates anxiety.
Paying attention to money creates awareness.
Awareness creates clarity.
Clarity creates confidence.
Confidence creates better decisions.
And better decisions create freedom.
That’s why The Business Cookbook™ isn’t really about accounting.
It’s about understanding the ingredients that make your business work.
Money is one of those ingredients.
Not the only ingredient.
But an important one.
The goal isn’t to stare at your bank account all day.
The goal isn’t to check Stripe at 3 AM.
The goal isn’t to become consumed by numbers.
The goal is simply to know them.
To understand them.
To pay attention.
Because your business is talking to you every day.
Through revenue.
Through expenses.
Through debt.
Through profit.
Through cash flow.
The question is:
Are you listening?
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Because every business has a different recipe.
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