Grace PM Academy · Module 3

Module Home › Module Overview

The videos followed the money from a full backlog to cash in the bank. This lesson lays out the pipeline, the three behaviors that move money through it, and the Grace billing rhythm that keeps it flowing. It’s still Outcome #4 — followed one step past profit, to the cash that actually pays for it.

Where this fitsBehavior Protect IntegrityOutcome 4 · Sustained Financial HealthLifecycle Execution → closeout

Recall — before you begin

From Module 2, you learned to protect the margin. So why isn’t a protected margin enough to keep the firm running?

Because profit isn’t cash. Margin you’ve earned can sit trapped as unbilled or uncollected work — earned is not the same as paid.

Profit is an opinion; cash is a fact

A firm can be busy, winning work, and profitable on paper — and still come within days of missing payroll. Profit is what the books say you’ve earned, including work finished but not yet paid for. Cash is what’s actually in the account today.

Core idea

Profit is an opinion. Cash is a fact. Your job doesn’t end when the drawings go out — it ends when the cash comes in.

?Profitable, or paid?

You finish a $100k phase in December; the client pays in March. Is the money in the bank?

No. It’s real profit in December — but through January and February you’re paying the team out of cash you don’t have yet. Profitable on paper, cash-poor until spring.

The fee-to-cash pipeline

Every dollar a client owes travels a pipeline before it can pay anyone. WIP and receivables are real money — earned, but trapped — while the firm keeps paying the team in cash.

Stage	What it is	Can it pay a salary?
Backlog	Work won but not yet done — a promise.	No
Work in Progress (WIP)	Work done but not yet invoiced.	No
Receivables (AR)	Work billed but not yet paid.	No
Cash	Money actually in the bank.	Yes

ToolMove the money — backlog to cash

From the video: ~$150k of finished work sat as WIP. Only cash pays a salary. Move the money through the pipe and watch how much is actually spendable at each step.

Backlog

$150k

›

WIP (done, unbilled)

›

Receivables (billed)

›

Cash (spendable)

Cash you can spend today: $0. The work is earned — but none of it pays anyone yet.

ToolFee-to-Cash building blocks

Watch one month of work move through a six-month project. Each row is a month’s work ($50k); follow it as it turns from earned work (WIP) to a sent invoice (AR) to cash. Slide the lag to see what collecting faster does.

Months from finished work to cash 2

WIP — earned, unbilled AR — billed, unpaid Cash — spendable

Three moves that move money

Money doesn’t move on its own. It gets stuck in three places — and each one points to a behavior.

Bill it→finished work that’s never invoiced (ages as WIP)

Price it→scope changes absorbed for free (never enters the pipe)

Collect it→invoices sent but never followed up (ages as AR)

From Module 1

Bill it, price it, collect it is Protect Integrity — aimed straight at the money. Pricing a change protects the contract; billing and collecting protect the fee you already earned.

The Grace rhythm

Practice	Standard
Pre-bill review	By the 25th
Invoice out	By the 7th
Scope change	Additional services — priced and logged in the change log
Closeout	Chase the final unpaid invoices; don’t let the last 10% drift for months
System of record	BST

The four patterns in cash

The Competent Coordinator

Tendency: Treats billing and collections as accounting’s job.
Blind spot: Finished work ages as WIP while the log stays tidy.
Preferred behavior: Own the money to cash — bill on the rhythm, watch AR.

The Obsessed Designer

Tendency: Focused on the work itself, the next deliverable.
Blind spot: Lets invoicing slip while perfecting the drawings.
Preferred behavior: Close the billing loop before rolling onto the next thing.

The People Pleaser

Tendency: Avoids the fee conversation.
Blind spot: Absorbs the change — ‘it’s a big fee, this is small’ — and $40k is given away quietly.
Preferred behavior: Name it kindly, price it, give the client a clean choice.

The Accountable Owner

Stance: Turns earned work into cash, on every project.
Watch-out: A full backlog feels like success — but it pays no one until it’s cash.
The standard: Prices on the spot, bills on the rhythm, collects to the last invoice.

Put it to work

On your most important project

What have you earned that you haven’t billed?
What have you done that you haven’t priced?
What have you billed that you haven’t collected? — then go move all three.

Challenge — from memory

?Challenge — from memory.

Name the four pipeline stages in order, and the three moves that turn work into cash.

Stages: Backlog → WIP → Receivables → Cash. Moves: Bill it · Price it · Collect it — Protect Integrity, aimed at the money.

Then do

“Backlog is a promise. Cash is reality. You’re the person who turns one into the other.” Watch the module videos →