Finance coach & CFO to consultancies, agencies & professional services firms
You’re brilliant at what you do but finance isn’t your zone of genius.
You don't know what you don't know
Your bookkeeper and accountant are doing a great job but there’s a gap.
You know you can’t do this on your own any more, and need some expert financial help. You want someone in your corner who really gets the commercial side, and can think three steps ahead with you.
Something's missing.
No one's looking at the whole picture. No one's thinking strategically about where your business is going, and whether it will get you where you want to be.
Your plan doesn’t connect your business to your future. Your financial information doesn’t help you make confident decisions. And you know you could be managing your money better.
You want to know your business is working, that you can pay yourself properly, provide for your family, build financial security and keep doing the work you love. You want to know you're going to be okay.
I’m Serena Humphrey. Finance coach and CFO
I’ve got the commercial mindset of a founder, and the skill set of an experienced CFO - and I've been running my own business for 26 years, so I know exactly what it feels like to be where you are.
I'm the commercial and financial brain in your business. I see the blind spots and patterns you can't see from inside. I'll challenge your assumptions, connect the dots, and make sure every decision you make is in line with what you actually want.
I'm not here to crunch your numbers. Your bookkeeper and accountant do that. I'm here to tell you what your numbers mean, keep you on track, and make sure nothing slips through.
Most businesses are looking at last month's numbers and reacting. I work in the future. My job is to make sure you always know what's coming before it arrives.
I'm here to make sure your business is deliberately, consistently building your wealth. That's what I obsess over. Your future financial security.
I’m obsessed with results
Creating predictable consistent revenue - because that makes everything else possible. I'm fanatical about the upstream metrics and pipeline visibility that tell you what's coming before it arrives, so you're never caught off guard.
Building 3-6 months buffer cash, getting your taxes put away - so that when something goes wrong, (which it always will) you can breathe. You've got cash. You're not panicking.
Making your business more profitable, and getting more into your pension every month, so you're building your security consistently.
So that you get to a point where you can go: I know I can earn what I want. I can relax into my life. I know I’m going to be ok.
And with AI disrupting everything, that security matters more than ever. Are your clients going to get replaced by AI? Where will your clients come from? How do you reposition? You shouldn't have to think through all of that alone. That's what I'm here for.
We don't make decisions on logic and spreadsheets
There's an assumption that finance is just about optimising profit, cash and value. And most CFOs come from a place of pure logic: if this makes sense, just do it.
But as business owners and humans, financial success is as much about our mindset and beliefs as it is the things we do in our businesses.
That’s why we hear what we're supposed to do and then don't do it! The disconnect is our emotional response.
That's what makes the way I work different.
How it works
We start with my unique Discovery and Insight process. This goes far deeper than a financial fact-find.
I want to know what you really want for your life. What matters most to you and your family.
Not what you heard on a podcast and think you should be doing. Then everything cascades from that one thing.
Doubling your turnover? To what end? It's just a top-line ego metric. What actually matters is profit, cash, and the security it gives you for your life.
I’ll find out what you were brought up to believe about money, what drives you, what your unseen fears are around it. Because those things are running the show whether you realise it or not.
From there I get the right financial information in place - visual, clear, telling the story of your business in a way that makes sense to you.
We’ll build a financial plan tied directly to what you want to achieve. Not a generic growth target – but built around your life and goals.
I'm fanatical about upstream metrics - working out what you need to do consistently to keep your pipeline full to keep hitting revenue targets. It’s easy to get busy on client delivery and take your focus off marketing and pipeline. We’ll work out those metrics and I’ll hold you to account to hit them
Then we settle into a monthly routine. Every month I'm in your numbers, bringing them to you in a way you completely understand, looking for red flags, and bringing in ideas. Every quarter we step back, check the strategy and set new goals - so you stop getting side-tracked by new shiny things, and stay focused on what matters.
And when you need me I’m there. WhatsApp, phone, email. If something happens, if an opportunity comes in, you lose a client, if someone resigns - I'm there.
We co-create the exact scope together, depending on the size of your business, your budget, and how much support you want.
Why work with me?
I've built and sold a management accounting practice, growing from just me to a team of 12, run a training and consultancy business, and now work 1:1 with business owners, which is my absolute favourite thing to.
I've chased "success", followed the scale and exit dream, burnt out, and eventually found my own way to financial security that didn't involve selling my soul. I built it the way I teach it - a highly profitable business, regular investing, paying down debt. Mortgage-free and debt-free at 52, with a year's overheads in the bank and investments on track to never have to work again.
This isn't just a business for me. It's been a mission since my early 20s, when I went through 3 significant financial challenges that shaped everything. I'm driven to help small business owners get the financial security and rewards they deserve for all the work and sacrifice they put in.
Is this for you?
The clients I love to work with are consultancies, agencies and professional service firms billing £500k to £2m.
You’re ambitious, with a growth mindset and you’re already successful and you take action to make things happen. You’re working hard and want security and stability – for your hard work to be worth something. And you want support, inspiration and accountability along the way.
You’ve got the book keeper and year end accountant in place and you’re ready for that financial leadership you know is missing.
Or if your bookkeeping and accountant aren't great, I'll find you someone who is!
Serena has a real talent for spotting opportunities and roadblocks you may have overlooked and is brilliant at helping you see what’s right in front of you when you’re too close to the day-to-day.
You leave her meetings feeling clearer and more upbeat, even when things are tough. She doesn’t sugar-coat anything, but her outside perspective cuts through the emotion and puts everything into focus.”
Richard Stinson - MD of Brookstone Creative Ltd
Book a discovery call
This call is about you and what you need, not what I can do.
I'll listen to where you are, what you need, what you're worried about.
Then I'll tell you honestly what I'm hearing - where the opportunities, gaps and risks are, and whether I think I can help.
If I can, I'll explain exactly how. And if I'm not the right person, I'll tell you that too and point you in the right direction if I can.
Either way, you'll come away knowing more about where you are, and what you need to do next.
I only work with a small number of clients at any time, so I only work with businesses I know I can make a difference to.
