What if your business is profitable on paper but you still feel like there’s never enough cash in the bank? In this episode of Show Up with Priyanka, Priyanka Khandalkar sits down with Michael Barbarita, founder of Next Step CFO, business strategist, author of Powerful Business Strategies, and creator of the Seven-Step Pathway to Profit. Michael shares lessons from nearly two decades of helping business owners improve profitability, cash flow, and growth and from his own experiences building, growing, selling, and even failing in businesses. From understanding why profitable businesses can still experience cash-flow problems to knowing when to hire a fractional CFO, Michael breaks down the financial and strategic decisions that can change the trajectory of a business. He also walks through his Conversion Formula, the 80/20 principle behind his Seven-Step Pathway to Profit, and how business owners can use AI to save time and create leverage. At the heart of the conversation is one powerful idea: you can't keep doing what your competition is doing and expect a different level of growth. Connect with Michael Michael Barbarita Founder, Next Step CFO Author of Powerful Business Strategies Creator of the Seven-Step Pathway to Profit 🌐 Website: https://nextstepcfo.net Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbarbarita/ Michael offers a free one-hour consultation for business owners looking for greater financial clarity and strategic direction. You can also explore his Find Hidden Revenue assessment, a five-minute diagnostic designed to identify six strategies your business could implement that your competitors may not be using.
Michael’s path to becoming a fractional CFO and business strategist wasn't a straight line.
After studying accounting at Babson College and beginning his career as a financial analyst, he went on to build and operate several businesses.
One of his early successes came from Ski Town USA, which he helped grow from $2.5 million to $8 million in five years. He shares the story of introducing a ski guarantee that dramatically reduced the perceived risk for customers and became a powerful lesson in creating an offer that people couldn't easily find elsewhere.
He later built a frozen cookie dough business and found another unconventional way to create value: providing customers with a $200 convection oven with their opening order.
But Michael also experienced failure. When he started Freedom Therapy Center, he admits that he essentially copied what competitors were doing instead of creating something different. The business ultimately failed.
That experience became an important lesson that shaped his approach today:
You can't keep doing what your competition is doing.
In 2007, Michael started Next Step CFO, bringing together his financial expertise and business strategy experience to help owners understand not only what their numbers are saying, but what those numbers mean for the decisions they need to make next.
Throughout this conversation, Michael and Priyanka explore what it really takes to build a business that is profitable, scalable, and capable of giving the owner greater freedom, not simply another job that happens to have their name on it.
Michael Barbarita
Founder, Next Step CFO
Author of Powerful Business Strategies
Creator of the Seven-Step Pathway to Profit
🌐 Website: https://nextstepcfo.net
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbarbarita/
Show Up With Priyanka is a Top 1% globally ranked podcast where we have conversations with heart-centered, soul-led entrepreneurs exploring leadership, healing, intentional living, and sustainable success. Hosted by Priyanka Khandalkar, a transformational Business Scaling Coach, and founder of SynrGEE LLC, this show is devoted to helping you rise, reset, and lead from within.
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As founder and CEO of SynrGEE LLC and Fractional COO to multiple businesses, I support business owners in simplifying and systemizing their operations and marketing so they can scale sustainably while staying aligned with their vision.
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