Your Business Is Built On Sand (Here's How To Pour Concrete)

This is Step 1 of our 5-part Storm-Proof Your Business series.

From the outside, your business might look rock solid. 
Revenue’s coming in. Customers seem happy. You even sprung for a Nespresso machine in the breakroom. 

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: most businesses are built on sand. 
They look great until the tide rolls in — a missed payroll, a surprise tax bill, a partner blow-up, or an owner suddenly out of commission — and suddenly that “stable” company is sinking like a kid’s sandcastle in the surf. 

We know because we’ve been there. Many of us at BGW have run or turned around companies with our own money before joining this firm. We’ve also coached hundreds of entrepreneurs who were secretly gasping for air while posting confident selfies on LinkedIn. 

So, let’s talk about pouring concrete — the unsexy but essential foundations that will actually hold your business up when the waves hit. 

Cash Isn’t King. It’s Oxygen. 

One of our clients — a wildly talented, high-growth owner — used to joke that every payroll was like Russian roulette. Every two weeks, they’d hold their breath to see if just enough checks cleared to cover employees. When it didn’t, they’d juggle vendors, beg for extensions, and float expenses on maxed-out credit cards. 

On paper? They were “successful.” In reality? They were suffocating.  

Here’s the rule: you need access to at least one payroll in cash or credit. Period. 

Because when you’re gasping for air, you’re not thinking about growth or strategy. You’re thinking, “Which vendor can I stall until Friday?” And if your business plan sounds like a ransom call, you’re in trouble. 

We’ve watched business owners breathe an instant sigh of relief the moment they stockpiled just one payroll in cash. Overnight, the panic lifted. Suddenly they weren’t playing defense anymore — they could finally focus on offense. That’s the power of pouring concrete under your business. 

Concrete steps this week: 

• Call your bank and line up a business LOC, even if you never touch it. 

• Run your numbers — can you cover one payroll tomorrow if the world stops? 

• Start a reserve account and funnel profit until you hit that target. 

It’s not sexy, but neither is bankruptcy. 

Taxes: Stop Funding Uncle Sam’s Beach House 

Here’s an ugly BGW truth: nearly every single new client we’ve ever taken on was overpaying taxes before we met them. Seriously. 

One client was convinced their cash flow problem was “slow-paying customers.” Nope. The real problem? They were structured incorrectly, paying themselves in the most expensive way possible, and ignoring six-figure credits available to their industry. They weren’t broke. They were just unintentionally funding Uncle Sam’s new addition on his beach house. 

And they’re not alone. We’ve even joked that some clients practically bought their old accountant’s boat — with money lost to missed deductions. 

The leaks we see most often: 

• Paying yourself as 100% W-2 wages (hello, payroll tax overload). 

• Forgetting every allowable owner fringe benefit. 

• Entity structures pulled out of a hat instead of planned for tax efficiency. 

• Capital gains planning ignored until the sale is already on the table. 

And here’s the kicker: none of this is hard to fix. But because owners treat taxes like a seasonal nuisance, they bleed cash year after year. 

Concrete steps this week: 

• Audit how you’re paying yourself (W-2 vs. distributions). 

• Ask your CPA point-blank about industry-specific credits. 

• Check if your entity structure still makes sense for your growth stage. 

Taxes aren’t something you “deal with in April.” They’re part of your foundation. Ignore them, and the cracks will widen until you fall through. 

Protection: The Day You Don’t Show Up 

Entrepreneurs act like bad stuff only happens to other people. Until it doesn’t. 

We once had two best-friend partners, running a business they’d built from scratch. One had a health scare, and suddenly the “what happens if” questions weren’t theoretical anymore. When we looked at their docs, their “operating agreement” was basically a handshake. No buyout terms. No insurance. No instructions for keeping the lights on. 

That’s not protection. That’s a house of cards. 

We’ve also seen widows walk into businesses with nothing but grief and a pile of sticky notes. Payroll still due. Customers still calling. Zero instructions left behind. We implore you not to leave that kind of legacy. 

Bare minimum protection looks like this: 

• Operating agreements that spell out death, divorce, and “you’re fired.” 

• Insurance (life + disability) that wipes out company + personal debt and buys your family breathing room. 

• Emergency instructions so your spouse or team isn’t left guessing. 

Yes, it’s uncomfortable. No, it’s not fun. But you only have to do it once. And if the worst happens, your family will thank you forever. 

Concrete steps this week: 

• Review your operating agreement with an attorney (if you even have one). 

• Calculate how much life + disability insurance your family would actually need. 

• Create a one-page “in case of emergency” doc with critical logins, payroll steps, and customer billing instructions. 

Spend an afternoon on this. It could save your family years of chaos. 

Alignment: When Partners Want Different Blueprints 

We’ve seen companies implode not because of cash or taxes, but because the partners never agreed on what they were building. 

One partnership we worked with looked perfect on the outside — great revenue, polished branding, that “best friends” vibe. Inside? Disaster. One wanted to scale nationally, the other wanted to keep it small and local. They never said it out loud for years, just kept grinding, resenting, and clashing over every decision. By the time it came to light, the relationship was unsalvageable. 

It was like a bad marriage: smiling in public, fighting in private, and staying together way past the expiration date. 

Alignment doesn’t need a 50-page deck. Sometimes it’s just an honest sit-down with a few beers and three questions: 

1. How big do we want this to get? 

1. How much risk are we willing to take? 

1. What does “success” look like in 5 years? 

If you can’t answer those together, you’re not working from the same set of blueprints. And eventually, the walls will crack. 

Concrete steps this week: 

• Schedule a founder alignment meeting (beer optional, honesty required). 

• Write down your answers to the three questions above. 

• Compare, debate, and get clear. 

It’s better to have an awkward conversation now than a catastrophic one later in a courtroom. 

The Foundation Checklist 

Let’s put it plainly. If you can confidently say the following, you’re in good shape: 

• “I can cover one payroll tomorrow without selling my soul.” 

• “I’m not overpaying taxes (and have a plan for capital gains).” 

• “I have real protection in place (agreements, insurance, instructions).” 

• “My partner and I agree on where the company is headed.” 

If any of these statements made you wince, let’s talk. 

Why This Matters 

You can build a gorgeous house on weak ground. Nice office. Killer branding. A logo that slaps. 

But without concrete underneath, the first storm takes it down. Foundations don’t care how pretty the paint is. 

The “fun” stuff — sales, marketing, scaling — only works if your foundation holds. Pour the concrete now, and you buy yourself peace of mind and the freedom to actually think bigger. 

Want the Rest of the Blueprint? 

This is just Step 1 of our 5-part playbook. 

Next up: the support structure — how to keep your back office from turning into a three-ring circus. Get notified the moment that drops.

👉 Can’t wait for the next blog? Download BGW’s guide to storm-proofing your business before the next tide rolls in.