Hey Reader,

"Have you done the SPIT?"

Every Tuesday morning the same question was asked of the sales office* and dutifully we would go round and confirm that we had updated our numbers in the file called SPIT.

Same Place in Time.

It was how all success was measured - how were we doing at this point last year, have we improved or have we fallen behind and what has caused those changes in circumstances?

So every week I would dutifully update those numbers for weddings, watching the plan grow.

But my part of the SPIT didn't share the full picture. It looked like I was down on numbers, when my AOV (average order value) was double what it had been the year before. Bigger weddings, less of them.

Why did that matter? Well for the hotel it meant less costs on wages and food. It meant the rooms were free to book more lucrative conferences (the Daniel O Donnell convention every year is etched in my memory) and it also meant that the quality of client was higher than it had been prior to my time there.

There were downsides too - it meant that there wouldn't be a bar take on those days and sometimes it ran to the thousands HOWEVER being in a predominantly Asian community, often there was no paid bar anyway because we were hosting dry hire Nikahs - full of sports cars and beautiful outfits, not so full of beer. But the spend on bedrooms would also be down, as well as treatments in the spa.

I can remember all of this 11 years on because the nuance of the data wasn't communicated with my bosses. I just didn't get a bonus because my bookings were down. An empty room makes zero money. And yet....

In my eyes, it was far better to be getting double the money for the same staff spend, without having to later in anything extra on the top. But management didn't see it that way and a drive to increase bookings by lowering the prices started. And all the hard work I had put in went by the wayside.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because if you don’t have the whole picture of a business — the numbers, the context, the timing — it’s like going to the cinema and watching a film with the sound turned off. You only get the story you can see.

Take the Instagram growth coach. They’re massive on Instagram, but their email open rate is 12%. If Instagram went poof tomorrow, so would their business. That’s not proof of a growth strategy, that’s proof of over-reliance.

Or the person teaching you how to create courses. Their course looks like it’s flying — until you realise the bulk of their revenue is from affiliates. Without that, their numbers look very different. That’s not the same as building a healthy, sustainable course business.

And the launch strategist? The one shouting about their six-figure launch? That was in 2020. They’ve not been able to repeat it since. Which tells you it wasn’t a bulletproof strategy, it was good timing.

Without the context, you’re only ever seeing half the story.

And gorgeous one - I can give you that context.

I have 2 more spaces available on the pilot run of my service Main Character Money. I don't even have a sales page for it yet - you'll need to ask me for the deets. It is £3k+VAT but the pilot is 30% of that price so that I can tweak the service and hopefully get some amazing testimonials in return. I've already run 3 of these days and they have flowwwwn. It is my special interest, and I am obsessed.

And here is the fun bit: If I don't find you at least 5x your investment in revenue opportunities I will give you your money back.

All you need to do is reply to this email or whatsapp me 07983501817.

Because at the end of the day, numbers on their own are just noise. Context is what turns them into a story worth acting on. And if you don’t have the full soundtrack playing, you’ll make decisions that look smart on paper but tank in practice, like lowering prices when higher-value clients were already the win. Main Character Money gives you that soundtrack.

Speak soon

Zx

*the office was actually portacabin at the back of the building which was freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer - joy