The Mid-Year Business Toolkit. Run the review, not just the score.
The online scorecard grades 5 areas of your business in five minutes. This toolkit is what you use to actually sit down and do the review: the full scoring workbook to keep year over year, plus a 30-minute agenda that walks the conversation question by question.
"Five questions. Thirty seconds."
A quick take from Joe on the 5 questions your books should be able to answer on the spot, why most owners can only answer two of them, and what the second half of the year looks like once you can answer all five.
A workbook to score it. An agenda to run it.
Two files, built to be used in the same sitting. Score the 5 areas in the workbook and write down the real numbers behind each one. Then run the agenda: 30 minutes, question by question, ending with the two things you're fixing in the next 90 days.
- Mid-Year Business Scorecard (Excel) — score all 5 areas, record the numbers, re-score at year end
- Mid-Year Review Agenda (PDF) — the 30-minute meeting, question by question
- Free. No upsell. Same 5-question model as the online scorecard.
Mid-Year Business Scorecard
The workbook version of the online scorecard. Rate each of the 5 areas 1 to 10, record the actual number behind the rating, and the sheet returns your overall grade, your strengths, and the two areas to work on.
- Rate all 5 areas, 1 to 10
- Room for the real numbers, not just the gut feel
- Overall health grade, calculated
- Re-score at year end and compare
Mid-Year Review Agenda
The meeting itself. A printable agenda that walks the 5 questions in order, with the follow-up to ask on each one and a place to land the two commitments for the next 90 days.
- The 5 questions, in the right order
- What a good answer sounds like
- Where to look when you can't answer one
- Two 90-day commitments to close the meeting
The five questions your books should answer.
Not in a week. Not after your CPA calls you back. In about 30 seconds, from numbers you already have. The area you can't answer is the area to fix first.
Did you make money?
Not revenue. Profit, for the first 6 months, and whether it's better or worse than the same stretch last year.
What's your average job margin?
Across every job you closed, not the one you remember. 30% is the floor for most trades; 35% to 45% is where healthy lives.
How long can you cover payroll?
Profit on paper and cash in the bank are different questions. This one is about weeks of runway, not the P&L.
Are you on track for the year?
Halfway through the calendar, are you halfway to the number? If not, the second half has to be built differently, and you have time to do it.
What's coming next?
The next 10 jobs: what's sold, what's quoted, and what that's worth. The number that tells you whether to hire or hold.
Two of five is normal.
Most owners can answer two of these cold. The review isn't a test you pass. It's a map of which two things to fix over the next 90 days.
Score it, run it, re-score it.
Rate the 5 areas honestly
Open the workbook and rate each area 1 to 10, then write the actual number next to it. If you can't find the number, that's the rating.
Run the 30-minute review
Print the agenda and block 30 minutes, alone or with whoever runs the money with you. Walk the questions in order and end with two commitments.
Do it again at year end
Same 5 questions in December. Two answers you couldn't give in July should be easy by then, and the grade moves with them.
The episode this toolkit was built for.
Joe on the 5 questions your books should answer in 30 seconds, why most owners can only answer two of them, and what a real mid-year review looks like when the numbers are already there. The workbook and agenda on this page are the review from the episode.
Watch on YouTube →
Built to pair with the Mid-Year Business Scorecard.
The online scorecard grades the 5 areas in five minutes and emails you a branded PDF with your 90-day action plan. This toolkit is the workbook you keep and the agenda you run. Same 5-question model, designed to be used together.
Open the Mid-Year Business ScorecardPair it with these.
Mini CFO Dashboard
Set your margin target and see which segments clear it and which drag.
Open the tool →Cash Flow Stress Test Toolkit
Find out how many weeks of payroll you can actually cover.
Get the toolkit →Job Cost Tracking Toolkit
The checklist and 30-job tracker built around the 30/35/45 margin zones.
Get the toolkit →Books that answer the questions the day you ask them.
Best Decision Bookkeeping installs construction-grade books and job costing so profit, margin, cash, pace, and pipeline are one look away. 30-minute call. No pitch. We'll walk your numbers and tell you which two to fix first.