Forward Academy
Know-how that moves your business forward.
Free lessons, calculators, and step-by-step journeys for every stage of business ownership, from your first sale to your exit plan.
Start where you are
Where is your business today?
- 84lessons and guides
- 6journeys, idea to exit
- 7interactive calculators
- 3depth levels, novice to MBA
Learning journeys
Six stages. One road forward.
Every business moves through the same big questions. Each journey is an ordered path of short lessons, tools, and checklists, so you always know what to learn next.
Built for your trade
Lessons that speak your industry
Cost per mile for owner-operators. Prime cost for restaurants. Booth rent for barbers. The fundamentals, translated into how your business really runs.
Trucking & Transportation
Owner-operators and fleets: cost per mile, fuel, factoring, and equipment.
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Restaurants & Food Service
Prime cost, tips, seasonality, and menus that make money.
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Salons, Barbers & Personal Care
Booth rent or commission, tips and taxes, and growing every ticket.
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Construction & Home Services
Job costing, progress billing, bonding, and crews.
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Retail & E-commerce
Inventory, margins, sales tax, and selling online.
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Auto Repair & Services
Labor rates, parts margins, and investing in the shop.
ExploreTools & calculators
Run the numbers before they run you
Interactive tools are built right into the lessons. Compare financing offers by total cost and APR, forecast a year of cash with your seasonality, or price a hire.
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Start with these
Cash Flow vs. Profit: Why Profitable Businesses Run Out of Cash
Profit tells you whether your business model works. Cash tells you whether you can make payroll on Friday.
The True Cost of Financing: Interest Rates, Factor Rates, and APR
Learn to translate any offer into total dollars and an annual rate, so you can compare apples to apples.
Hiring Your First Employee: A Step-by-Step Guide
The paperwork, registrations, and payroll setup that turn a job offer into a compliant first hire.
Know Your Cost per Mile
The one number that tells you which loads make money and which ones just keep the wheels turning.
Pricing for Profit: What to Charge
Three ways to set prices, how to make sure your own pay is built in, and the markup versus margin mix-up that quietly drains profit.
Planning Your Exit: Selling or Passing On Your Business
Your exit options, how buyers value small businesses, and the three-to-five-year plan that makes your company worth more to the next owner.
Every level of experience
From first sale to fifth location
Lessons are tagged by depth, and many include a “Go deeper” panel with formulas and strategy for seasoned operators. Nobody gets talked down to, and nobody gets lost.
Foundations
New to running a business, or new to this topic.
- From Hobby to Business: When Your Side Hustle Gets Serious
- Separate Your Money: Business Banking From Day One
- Taxes When You Work for Yourself
Established
You have customers and history. Time to sharpen.
- Read Your Numbers: The P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement
- Benefits Small Businesses Can Actually Offer
- How to Raise Prices Without Losing Customers
Advanced
Strategy-level depth for seasoned operators.
- Unit Economics for Owners
- Second Location, New Equipment, or New Market? Evaluating Expansion
- Planning Your Exit: Selling or Passing On Your Business
Get a playbook built around your business
Answer four quick questions about your stage, your industry, and what is on your mind. We will line up the lessons and tools that matter most, in order.