How to Know If Your Small Business Is Making Money (The 5 Numbers That Tell You)

How to Know If My Small Business Is Making Money

Here is something worth celebrating. Women now own more than 14 million businesses in the United States, generating around $2.7 trillion in revenue every year, according to Wells Fargo's 2025 Impact of Women-Owned Businesses report. That is not a small corner of the economy. That is a powerhouse, and you are part of it.

And yet the question I hear most often is a quiet one: how do I actually know if my small business is making money? So many women love what they do and are wonderful at it, but when it comes to the money side, they feel like they are guessing. They either try to look at everything at once, which is exhausting, or they avoid looking at all, which is stressful in a quieter way.

I want to take that uncertainty away. Because knowing whether your small business is making money does not require a finance degree, and it does not require accountant language. It requires five numbers. When you know these five, you can answer that question with confidence any day of the week, make clear decisions, and feel genuinely in control of your business instead of at the mercy of it.

Think of these five numbers like the dashboard of your car. You do not need to understand every wire under the hood to drive well. You need to know your speed, your fuel, and a couple of warning lights. Your business is the same. Learn to read the dashboard, and everything gets calmer. Let me walk you through each number, how to find it, and why it matters.

Step 1: Know Your Money In

Your first number is simply how much money came into your business over a set period, usually a month. This is your revenue, or your sales. It is the total of everything your customers paid you, before any expenses come out.

To find it, add up every payment you received this month. If you run everything through one business account, your deposits tell the story at a glance. If money lands in a few places, a card processor here, a checking account there, some cash, gather each source and add them together into one figure. Write that total down somewhere you will actually see it.

Why does this number matter so much on its own? Because it shows you the true size of what you have built, and it shows you the trend. When you write down your money in every month, you start to see the shape of your business. You notice that certain months are strong and others are quiet. You notice when a new offer lands well. That single number, tracked over time, teaches you more about your business than any outside advice ever could, because it is the truth of your own numbers speaking back to you.

Step 2: Know Your Money Out

Your second number is how much money left your business over the same period. This is your total spending, or expenses. Software subscriptions, supplies, contractors, payment processing fees, advertising, everything that went out the door to keep the business running.

The simplest way to find this is to look at your business account and any business card, then total what went out. Do not sort it into perfect categories yet. That comes later, and honestly it matters less than people think when you are getting started. Right now you only want the one big number, the total that left.

Here is what usually happens when a woman does this for the first time. She is surprised. Not always in a bad way, but almost always surprised. Small recurring costs add up quietly, a subscription she forgot about, a fee that crept higher, a tool she stopped using. Simply seeing your money out as one honest number gives you the power to trim what no longer serves you. And when you set your money in right next to your money out, you are already halfway to knowing whether your small business is making money.

Step 3: Know What You Keep

Your third number is what is left after money out is subtracted from money in. This is your profit, and it is the number that most directly answers our big question. Is this business actually making money right now?

Take your money in and subtract your money out. If the result is positive, wonderful, your business kept money this month, and now you get to decide what to do with it. If it is negative, please hear me clearly. That is not a failure, and it is not a verdict on you. It is information. It simply tells you that this month, more went out than came in, and now you can respond on purpose, either by bringing in more, trimming what goes out, or both.

The reason this number is so freeing is that it replaces feeling with fact. So many owners walk around with a vague sense of "I think I'm doing okay" or "I feel like I'm always behind." Profit turns that fog into something you can see and act on. This is the heart of how to know if your small business is making money, and it takes about ten seconds of subtraction once you have your first two numbers.

Step 4: Know What You Are Owed

Your fourth number is money that is coming to you but has not arrived yet. If you send invoices and clients pay later, this number matters a great deal. It is remarkably easy to feel broke when you actually have money on the way, and just as easy to feel flush when you have big payments still owed to others. Both mistakes lead to poor decisions.

Make a short list of every unpaid invoice and add up the total. Now you can see the money you have already earned that is simply in transit. Keep this list current, because it also quietly protects your income. When you can see at a glance that an invoice has been sitting unpaid for weeks, you know to send a friendly follow-up, and following up is one of the most direct ways to get paid what you are owed. This one number separates a timing gap from a real shortage, and those two things are not the same at all.

Step 5: Know Your Cushion

Your fifth number is how much cash your business has on hand right now, today. Not last month, not projected, right now. This is your safety and your flexibility, and it may be the number that changes how you feel the most.

Check your business account balance and set aside anything you already know is committed, like taxes you are holding or a bill due tomorrow. What remains is your true working cushion. When you know this number, decisions get calmer. You stop making choices out of fear and start making them out of clarity. A healthy cushion lets you say no to work that is wrong for you, invest in something that will help you grow, or simply sleep well during a slow week. Watching this number grow over time is one of the clearest signs that your small business is making money and getting stronger.

How to Know If Your Small Business Is Making Money in Real Life

Let me show you how these five numbers work together with a simple, realistic example, because seeing them in action is where it clicks.

Say you run a small service business. This month your money in was $6,000. Your money out was $4,200. That means what you keep, your profit, is $1,800. Not a fortune, but real money that stayed with you, and money you now get to direct on purpose. Right there, in one subtraction, you have answered the question. Yes, this month, your small business is making money.

Now you look at what you are owed and see two unpaid invoices totaling $1,500. So even though your account might look a little thin at the moment, you actually have $1,500 arriving soon. That knowledge alone changes your whole mood, because a slim account with money on the way is a very different situation from a slim account with nothing coming. Finally you check your cushion and find $2,400 sitting in the account after setting aside the taxes you are holding.

Put it together and the picture is honest and reassuring. You made $1,800 in profit this month, you have $1,500 on the way, and you are sitting on a $2,400 cushion. That is a business standing on solid ground. And notice, none of this required fancy software or complicated guesswork. It required five numbers and about ten minutes of your attention.

Now imagine you do this every month. By month three, you can see that your money in is slowly climbing. You notice one subscription in your money out that you keep meaning to cancel, so you finally do, and your profit ticks up. You spot an invoice that has gone quiet, send a kind reminder, and get paid. Your cushion grows a little each month. None of these are dramatic moves. They are small, clear decisions made possible entirely because you can see your numbers. That is how confidence is built, not in one big leap, but in a steady rhythm of knowing.

This is exactly the kind of clarity the Money Mastery Starter Kit is built to give you. It walks you through capturing these five numbers step by step, so instead of wondering how to know if your small business is making money, you simply know. You can download the free Money Mastery Starter Kit at moneymastery-system.com/starter-kit and set up your own five numbers this week.

If you would like to start even simpler, the free tool at moneymastery-system.com/welcome helps you see your full financial picture in one place, and the upcoming Money Clarity Assessment at moneymastery-system.com/money-clarity-assessment will help you pinpoint exactly which number to focus on first.

The point is not to track everything. The point is to know the handful of numbers that actually run your business, and to check them often enough that nothing surprises you. Five numbers. A few minutes. A clear answer to whether your business is making money, and a whole lot more confidence steering it.

Want a second set of eyes on your numbers? If you would like to talk through what your five numbers are telling you, you can schedule a call with a coach who has 20 years of business coaching experience. Sometimes one honest conversation is all it takes to turn confusion into a clear next step.

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About Donna Roggio

Donna Roggio is the founder of the Money Mastery system and has spent 20 years helping women build real financial clarity and confidence in their businesses. She created Money Mastery to give women a supportive community and a simple, learnable way to understand their money, without shame, jargon, or overwhelm. Donna believes every woman can learn to run her numbers with confidence, and she is here to help you do exactly that.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if my small business is making money?

Subtract your total expenses (money out) from your total income (money in) for the month. If the result is positive, your business kept money and is making a profit. Tracking this alongside what you are owed and your cash cushion gives you the full, honest picture.

What numbers should I track to see if my business is profitable?

Track five: money in (revenue), money out (expenses), what you keep (profit), what you are owed (unpaid invoices), and your cash cushion (current balance). Together they tell you clearly whether your small business is making money.

Do I need accounting software to know if my business is making money?

No. You can find all five key numbers using your business bank account, your card statements, and a short list of unpaid invoices. The Money Mastery Starter Kit walks you through it step by step, no software required.

How often should I check whether my business is making money?

Once a month is enough for most small businesses to stay in control and spot issues early. It usually takes only a few minutes once you have a simple system in place.

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