Your business coach says it's time to grow — funding the plan without overreaching

A good business coach pushes you to think bigger: win the larger contract, open the second location, hire the operations manager so you can step back from the tools. Those are often the right calls. But growth has a cash cost that arrives before the reward, and that gap is where many growing businesses come unstuck. This page is about funding the plan in a way that doesn’t put the business at risk.

Why growth needs cash before it creates it

Think about what happens when you act on a typical coaching recommendation:

• New hire — recruitment, onboarding and wages start straight away; their productivity builds over months.
• Bigger contracts — materials and labour are paid weeks before the first progress claim is paid.
• Second site — lease bond, fit-out and stock before the first sale.
• Marketing push — spend this month, leads next month, revenue the month after.

Every one of these opens a gap between money out and money in. Your coach can help you see the opportunity; your accountant can measure the gap.

Turning the coach’s plan into numbers

Before you talk to any lender, ask your accountant to convert the plan into a month-by-month forecast for the next 12 months. It should show:

1. Current trading as the baseline
2. The new costs, in the month they actually land
3. The expected new revenue, in the month it’s actually received
4. The resulting cash position each month

The business.gov.au cash flow statement template works fine for this. What you’re looking for is the lowest point and when the plan becomes self-funding. That tells you how much finance you need and for how long.

Matching the finance to the growth move

Growth move	Cost pattern	Finance that usually fits
Hiring staff	Gradual, ongoing until productive	Line of credit or short-term loan
Larger contracts	Lumpy, tied to project milestones	Line of credit or cash flow loan
Equipment or vehicles	One-off, long-lived asset	Term loan matched to asset life
New site or fit-out	Large, up-front	Term loan; property-secured if larger
Buying a competitor	Large, one-off	Property-secured or structured term loan

The principle is simple: don’t fund a long-term asset with a short-term facility, and don’t lock a short ramp-up into a long loan you’ll be paying long after the need has passed.

What lenders look for in a growth application

Lenders lend mostly on evidence, not ambition. Expect them to focus on:

• Recent trading — bank statements, BAS turnover and the year-to-date profit and loss (how P&L links to servicing)
• Existing commitments — current loans, leases and any ATO arrangement
• The plan — a one-page summary of what the money is for and how it pays back
• Security — if the amount is large or the business is young, property often makes the difference

Business.gov.au’s list of what lenders may request includes a business plan and financial forecasts. A tight, realistic plan — ideally reviewed by your accountant — beats a glossy deck every time.

Stress-test before you sign

Ask your accountant two “what if” questions about the forecast:

• What if the new revenue arrives three months later than planned?
• What if it’s only 70 per cent of what we expect?

If the business can still meet the repayments in those scenarios, the plan is robust. If it can’t, consider a smaller first step or a longer term. Our guides on funding a new hire and buying equipment walk through two of the most common growth moves in detail.

An illustrative example: the second crew

Picture a hypothetical plumbing business turning over steadily with one crew. The owner’s coach suggests adding a second crew to take on the commercial maintenance work they keep turning away. The accountant maps it out:

• Months one to three: a second van, tools and two wages, with only part of the new work invoiced
• Months four to six: the new crew reaches full utilisation, invoices rise, but commercial clients pay on 45-day terms
• Month seven onward: the extra revenue covers the extra costs with margin to spare

The lowest cash point lands in month four. The accountant suggests a term loan for the van and tools, matched to their working life, and a line of credit for the wage gap during the ramp-up, repaid as invoices are paid. The coach keeps the owner accountable for winning the work; the finance simply covers the timing. The figures are illustrative, but the pattern is very common.

Questions your coach may not ask (but a lender will)

• What existing loans and leases does the business already carry?
• Are BAS lodgements and tax returns up to date?
• Is there any ATO balance owing, and is it on a plan?
• Who are the directors, and will they guarantee the facility?
• If the plan stalls, how would the business repay?

Have honest answers ready. Owners who can speak to these points calmly tend to have smoother conversations and more options.

Put the growth plan in front of a lender

If your coach has you fired up and your accountant agrees the numbers stack up, take the next step. Tell us about the plan in a 60-second enquiry. We don’t run a credit check when you enquire, we link your file to one lender that suits rather than shopping it around, and a real person calls you to work through it. Please give us accurate figures about current trading and what the money is for — the better the information, the better the first match. See how much growth funding is realistic.