Trading flat, costs coming down, and sales now the job
Since the July board meeting the business has traded close to breakeven: −$12,936 across four months on nearly $600,000 of turnover. Cutting costs was a focus and it is working, with variable costs forecast to halve between July and January. The pressure is cash over the summer. With no Hot Spring Spas billing in November and December, the conservative forecast puts the low point on 19 March at about $53,000 beyond the $100,000 facility. Hot Spring Spas is signed into the new year at $35,000 a month; SiteMinder, at $25,000 a month, is unlikely to continue after December.
Where our focus has been
Automation
The goal is an automated agency by the end of the year. DigitalArchitect® and Key Content have both reached version 2. The operating system that brings everything onto one platform is scoped and ready to build.
Sales and marketing
Slow. One contract signed: Hot Spring Spas, $105,000 over January to March. The Upwind pilot was a quick test; it failed, so we stopped it. The paid campaign has only just gone live, and the pipeline is light.
A product of our own product
We treat Growth Partners as a premium client: consistent blogs, social posts and SEO on our own site, built from DigitalArchitect® and Key Content. A paid campaign runs on top. What clients buy is what we use.
Team enablement
Merlin is being implemented across the team so they can work with the technology. Alongside it, the team has been trained in account management and customer engagement, so they spend more time with clients.
The months to March
This is now about sales. About four new clients, two of them before Christmas, would bring the low point back inside the facility. The tools and the team are in place to serve new clients. What we need now is enough qualified leads, soon enough.
Four months reviewed, three months forecast
Group figures, New Zealand and Australia combined, taken from the daily reconciled cashflow model.
Since the last board meeting
July, August, September and October 2026.
| Month | Money in | Money out | Net | Worst case, the 19th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July | $127,250 | $162,083 | −$34,833 | −$10,031 |
| August | $177,562 | $142,548 | +$35,013 | $22,480 |
| September | $153,772 | $160,251 | −$6,479 | −$3,964 |
| October | $132,147 | $138,785 | −$6,638 | $34,062 |
| Four months | $590,731 | $603,667 | −$12,936 | — |
What the four months say
The period nets out at −$12,936 across four months — close to breakeven on a turnover of nearly $600,000. July was the heavy month at −$34,833, August recovered it almost exactly at +$35,013, and September and October both landed within $7,000 of square.
The business is trading flat. It is not losing money at any pace, and it is not making any either.
The three months ahead
November and December carry no Hot Spring billing. January is the recovery.
| Month | Money in | Money out | Net | Worst case, the 19th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November | $60,642 | $143,535 | −$82,894 | +$10,803 |
| December | $58,342 | $125,558 | −$67,216 | −$77,824 |
| January | $96,675 | $106,372 | −$9,697 | −$132,654 |
| Three months | $215,659 | $375,465 | −$159,806 | — |
Hot Spring is not billed in November or December
That is the whole explanation for these figures. Income drops from around $130,000 a month to $60,642 and $58,342 while costs stay close to normal. Recovery begins in January as the deferred billing is recouped, which is why income returns to $96,675.
December turns it, January breaches the facility
January's trading is almost back to normal at −$9,697. The damage is done in November and December and carries forward. Without sales it does not recover: February −$143,727, March −$153,218 — $53,218 beyond the facility.
The forecast is deliberately conservative. It carries Hot Spring Spas New Zealand at $15,000 a month from January, against a contract of $20,000, which could improve the March position by up to $15,000. It also takes Storepro down to $4,000 a month from January and allows $5,000 a month in Australia for legacy services ending.
Fixed against variable
Requested by the board in July. Four months actual, three months forecast. Totals are the sum of the two lines and may differ by a dollar from the headline figure through rounding in the model.
| Group | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | $91,311 | $74,681 | $87,490 | $80,458 | $71,442 | $51,350 | $44,550 |
| Fixed | $70,773 | $67,868 | $72,761 | $58,327 | $72,094 | $74,208 | $61,822 |
| Total | $162,084 | $142,549 | $160,251 | $138,785 | $143,535 | $125,558 | $106,372 |
Variable costs are coming down by half
From $91,311 in July to $44,550 forecast for January — a 51% reduction as work and contractor commitments reduce. Fixed costs sit in a band between $58,000 and $74,000 throughout and do not move with revenue.
January also carries a senior contract stepping down, which is the largest single contributor to the drop.
Bank and debt
BNZ overdraft — the facility we trade on
$100,000 facility at 31 October, a little over a quarter drawn. On the forecast above it is fully drawn by 19 January and $53,218 short by March.
Callaghan loan
| At the July board meeting | $57,007 |
| At 5 October | $53,539 |
| Repaid since July | −$3,468 |
Repaying to schedule at about $1,156 a month. No new external borrowing. No external debt in Australia.
| Account | Entity | Balance | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trading account | Growth Partners NZ | −$28,243 | Drawn against the BNZ facility. |
| Provisional tax, staff welfare & reserve (war chest) | Growth Partners NZ | $33,154 | Held as staff welfare and our reserve. We need a backup and have no other funding option to fall back on. Balance as last reported, 5 October. |
| Trading account | GPX Australia | $68,342 | No provisional tax payable in Australia for 2027. |
| Group | $73,253 | Of which $33,154 is held in reserve. | |
* Assumption. All figures are shown at the dollar value of the country they sit in. Group reconciliation is done in New Zealand dollars. Bills are paid dollar for dollar in each country; conversion only matters on the monthly management fees moving between the two. Not an audited consolidation — presented as sufficient for board reporting.
Three things worth noting
No provisional tax required in either Australia or New Zealand
Leave liability down 34%
MNO written off as bad debt for the period
One contract signed, one pilot pulled, and a gap to close by March
There is not a lot to report, and the position statement at the end says so plainly.
What sold
Hot Spring Spas — $105,000, signed
$35,000 a month across January, February and March 2027. This is a new contract and it is recorded here as a sale. It already appears in the finance forecast, but it was sold and signed in this period and belongs in the sales record.
It is our largest account renewing into a new year at a material value, with the client, part of a Fortune 500 group, managing the timing of its cash flow. That it was signed at all is the commercial outcome of the November and December billing concession.
The Upwind pilot
What it was
An opportunistic test. We went to market quickly to see whether we could generate fast cash flow from low-value website work. It was never a strategic programme and it was not treated as one.
It did not work. We took no return on investment from it and we pulled out quickly rather than letting it run.
What it cost and returned
| Spend | ~$6,200 |
| Time in market | 4 weeks |
| Legitimate leads | 16 |
| Lost | 14 |
| Carried to the new year | 2 |
| Sales closed | Nil |
Lead volume was higher, but the rest was spam. The 16 genuine leads were all followed up.
What we take from it
Enquiry volume at a low price point does not convert, and it is not the business we want to be in. The discipline worth keeping is that we set a test, it failed, and we stopped inside a few weeks rather than funding it for a quarter.
The pipeline
The pipeline is light, and here is what is actually in it
It is not empty, but it is thin. Five items: one decision due this month, two former clients we are working to bring back, one build whose net value to Growth Partners is still to be settled, and one renewal decision outside our control until the end of November.
| Opportunity | Indicative value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Aditi Law | ~$2,000 / mo | Yes or no this month. The nearest decision we have. |
| 2KO Engineering | ~$3,000–$4,000 / mo | Former client. In discussion this month to bring them back into billing. |
| D&R Architects | ~$2,450 / mo | Former client. Proposal being prepared to bring them back into billing. |
| Hot Spring Spas website build | $40,000 * | Project value, not recurring. Net value to Growth Partners still to be settled. |
| SiteMinder | Unknown | We learn at the end of November what they intend for 2027. Outside our control until then. |
* The build would be delivered by CoreShift, so Growth Partners will not realise the full $40,000. Net value to be confirmed before it is counted anywhere.
The sales programme to March
The finance section shows the cash low point reaching −$153,218 on 19 March, which is about $53,000 beyond the $100,000 facility. The job of the sales programme between now and then is to close that gap and bring the March low point back inside the facility.
A sale is worth what it bills before March, not what it is worth a month
At an average of $4,000 a month recurring, the value of each sale to the March position depends entirely on when it lands. A November close bills five times before the low point. A March close bills once. The scenarios below are built on that.
Two before Christmas, two after
November, December, January, February.
$56,000
Clears the gap. This is the target.
Two before, three after
Adds a March close.
$60,000
Clears it with headroom.
One before, three after
If nothing lands in December.
$44,000
Around $9,000 short. Funding comes back into question.
Projection only. It assumes an average of $4,000 a month recurring, billing from the month of signing, and no further attrition. We do not yet know what the marketing programme will produce in leads, so the timing of these closes is an assumption rather than a forecast.
Position statement
We signed one contract this quarter, worth $105,000. We ran one opportunistic pilot, spent around $6,200, generated 16 genuine leads, converted none of them, and stopped. The pipeline is light: five items, one decision due this month and two former clients we are working to bring back.
Between now and 19 March we need roughly $53,000 of new recurring revenue to bring the cash low point back inside the facility. On current averages that is four sales — two before Christmas and two after.
Everything now rests on whether the marketing programme, which has only just gone live, puts enough qualified leads in front of us before Christmas to make the first two of those possible.
A product of our own product
We market Growth Partners the way we would run a premium client: a paid campaign for reach, and steady organic work underneath it built from our own tools.
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Open the landing page →growthpartnersgpx.com/digital-architect
The paid campaign runs for three months. We review it at the end of January.
Treating ourselves as a premium SEO client
Blogs
Consistent blogs going out, built from our own DigitalArchitect® content plan.
Social
Consistent social media posts going up, so the brand stays visible between campaigns.
SEO on our website
Consistent SEO work on growthpartnersgpx.com, the same programme our clients buy.
Who is billing, what they bill, and how it feels
The book as it stands today, with a read on each relationship. The colour is a judgement about how safe that revenue is, not a measure of how much it is.
The client book
| Client | Monthly billing | What we know | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Spring Spas NZ | $20,000from Jan 2027 | New contract signed, Jan–Mar 2027. No billing in November or December; that billing is recouped across January to March. | |
| Hot Spring Spas AU | $15,000from Jan 2027 | As above. Billed as a separate account in Australia. | |
| SiteMinder / Little Hotelier AU | $25,000to Dec 2026 | Unlikely to continue billing into 2027 and not in the budget as an opportunity. A meeting is set for the end of November to see whether any revenue can be retained. | |
| Unistor AU | $11,880 | Rolling month to month. | |
| Storepro NZ | $6,000 | Holding at $6,000, and November and December are solid. There is talk of cash flow pressure in their business; it has not affected us, but billing may reduce. The forecast carries $4,000 a month from January to be conservative. | |
| MEX Engineering Group AU | $5,950 | Rolling month to month. | |
| Transcoast Express AU | $5,950 | Rolling month to month. | |
| LDM Finance NZ | $2,950 | Already stepped back from $5,950. If they look to move from this position, we will recoup revenue for the website build. | |
| AeroFlow Filters AU | $2,450 | Rolling month to month. |
Monthly billing as carried in the New Zealand and Australian cashflow forecasts, shown per entity. Hot Spring Spas is billed as two accounts.
Movement since the last board meeting
| Client | What happened | Monthly effect |
|---|---|---|
| Fish Vision | Lost in September. | −$4,000 |
| LDM Finance | Retainer reduced. | −$3,000 |
| Impact HR | Paused in October. May return early in 2027. | −$1,950 |
| MNO | Written off as bad debt. | One-off |
| Hot Spring Spas | New contract signed for Jan–Mar 2027. | +$35,000 |
A team built up in capability, and sized down to match revenue
The team has spent this period getting stronger. Without new clients, it will also have to get smaller.
What the team has been doing
Face-to-face account management. Training aimed at stronger client relationships and more direct client contact.
Automation. The team has been trained in it, and Merlin is being implemented across the team so they can put it to use in their day-to-day work.
Where capacity is heading
By the end of this year, the team will be over-resourced for the client book we have, unless new clients arrive.
There is no risk to current team numbers now. In the new year:
- One senior contract reduces to around 50 hours a month, about $7,500.
- The other senior contract may or may not be kept on in the business model.
The other side of the coin
Because almost everyone is on contract, the cost of the team can follow revenue down without redundancies. That flexibility is protecting the business now. It also means team size is set by sales: without new revenue, the numbers will reduce.
Health and safety, policy and governance. All up to date. The Chair reports on these separately on behalf of Growth Partners.
A key goal of the year: an automated agency by the end of it
Automation has been a key goal of the year. The aim is to run every part of the agency on an automated platform, use it ourselves, and then sell the platform to other agencies globally as a potential revenue option.
Where each build stands
- Version 1
- Version 2
- Version 3 being scoped
- Version 1
- Version 2
- Deciding how it links to the operating system, or becomes part of it
- Functions fully scoped
- User experience in progress
- Ready to build
The functions are scoped. The work still going on is the user experience: how our tools work together, both inside the operating system and alongside the tools the team uses to deliver client work.
The end-of-year goal: everything on one platform
What it does for cost
Once everything is on one platform, the cost of running and delivering the work comes down dramatically. Every client takes less time to serve.
What it does for revenue
It could become something we sell to other agencies: a fully locked-down automation programme for marketing (content, websites and the rest), run with us or independently of us. The model is not settled yet.
Why this ties back to the team
Automation lowers what it costs to serve each client. With the current client book, that means the team becomes more over-resourced, not less. The return comes through new clients, our own and other agencies', which puts the weight back on sales.
Actions from 15 July
The GM's actions from the last meeting, and the director-payments research the Board asked for.
| # | Action | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Bring the Q2 versus Q3 sales attribution and forecast breakdown into the GM report | Covered Sales position in section 03 |
| 4 | Include the fixed costs and variable costs breakdown | Complete Section 02 |
| 5 | Follow-up calls with two shareholders after the annual accounts were distributed | In process Calls completed. Annual accounts distributed for New Zealand; still to be distributed for Australia. |
| 9 | Research market rates for director payments and bring a proposal | Complete Research below |
| 10 | Separate meeting on Australian market opportunities | In progress With Steve. |
Director payments for attending Board meetings
In July the Board agreed in principle to pay all three directors for attending Board meetings, now held quarterly. It asked for a conservative starting rate. The research below covers what the market pays, what each option would cost us, and where the figures come from.
Private market
Independent directors on small to mid-sized private boards: $48,000–$65,000 a year. Advisory board members: $32,000–$45,000. The national median non-executive fee is $53,700.
Independent directors. Not a like-for-like comparison for owner-directors.
Crown boards, lowest level
Annual governance fees at the lowest level: members $12,900–$27,100, chair $25,800–$54,200.
Per-day rates
Crown committees: members $215–$295 a day, chair $295–$380. One Crown-appointed board pays $385 per meeting day plus the same again for preparation; its chair gets $572.
| Option | Director, per meeting | Chair, per meeting | Cost a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| A · ConservativeClose to Crown day rates, including preparation | $500 | $750 | $7,000 |
| B · ModerateBetween Crown and private-market rates | $1,000 | $1,500 | $14,000 |
| C · Crown annual floorLowest Crown governance band, paid as a retainer | $12,900 / yr | $25,800 / yr | $51,600 |
Options A and B pay the chair 1.5 times the director rate, the ratio the private-market source suggests for private businesses. Option C uses the Crown band as published. Costs exclude GST and any expenses.
For the Chair to take forward
The GM is one of the three directors these payments would go to, so the decision belongs with the Chair and the Board. One point the Board may wish to weigh: any payment adds to the March low point in section 02. Starting payments once that low point is back inside the facility would be consistent with the conservative start the Board asked for.
Sources. Stimulus, “Independent director remuneration — how much should you pay?” (January 2026), which cites the 2025/26 IoD/EY Directors’ Fees Report for the median · Institute of Directors, Directors’ Fees Report · Cabinet Office Circular CO (25) 2, Cabinet Fees Framework (July 2025) · NZ Registered Architects Board, Honoraria Policy (August 2023)