askthecfo

When I invited Paul Sippil to join Ask the CFO, I expected an interesting conversation about retirement plans.

What I didn't expect was how many assumptions—even my own—would be challenged.

As CFOs and business owners, we spend a lot of time managing costs that directly affect our organizations. We negotiate health insurance renewals, review vendor contracts, and scrutinize operating expenses.

But when it comes to 401(k) plans, many of us assume that because they're highly regulated, everythi…

Insights from Ask the CFO with John Gies

In our most recent Ask the CFO session, I had the opportunity to sit down with John Gies, founder of Resonant Business Solutions, to talk about something most business owners rely on—but very few truly manage well:

Referrals.

Before we get into it, here’s where you can connect with John and learn more about his work:

• Website: https://johngies.com
• Company: https://resonantbusinesssolutions.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnrgies/ (he’s…

In this session of Ask the CFO, I sat down with Ken Scales to talk about AI.

It’s everywhere right now. Every company feels like they need an AI strategy. Boards are asking about it. Leadership teams feel like they’re behind if they don’t have an answer.

But most of the conversations I’m having with business owners aren’t about strategy—they’re about pressure. It usually comes out like this: “What are we supposed to be doing with AI?”

So instead of trying to cover everything, we focused on wh…

One of the most common things I hear from business owners and sales teams is this:

“We can’t raise prices. Customers will leave.”

I’ve been hearing some version of that for decades, and in most cases, it simply isn’t true.

On this recent Ask the CFO session, we talked about pricing, margins, and why too many businesses wait too long to make adjustments. If your costs have gone up but your pricing has stayed still, you are likely putting pressure on your margins whether you realize it or not.

In this week’s Ask the CFO, we stepped away from financial statements and numbers for a moment and talked about something that affects nearly every small and family-owned business: making the tough people decisions.

If you run a business, you know exactly what I mean.

Most of the time, the hardest problems in a company aren’t spreadsheets or strategy. They’re people. And in smaller organizations—where teams are tight and relationships run deep—those decisions can be especially difficult.

But …

Banking whiplash, real estate reality, and what to control when everything feels uncertain

Our final Ask the CFO session of 2025 didn’t have a formal guest lined up—and honestly, that made it even better.

It turned into the kind of conversation small and family-owned business leaders actually need: practical observations from the field, a few strong opinions, and a reminder to keep your focus where it belongs when the market refuses to behave.

Here’s what we covered.

1) “The banks are acti…

One of our final Ask the CFO sessions of the year brought a timely and highly practical conversation with Amanda Martinez of VCU Risk Advisors. As many business owners wind down for the holidays, issues like insurance coverage, cyber threats, personal risk exposure, and multi-state assets tend to surface—especially for owners with both business and personal holdings to protect.

Amanda works in a niche most people don’t even realize exists: high-net-worth personal risk management. Her firm speci…