Episode 3 of my series: Your numbers should make sense.

If you're a founder, check these 5 numbers every month:

1️⃣ Cash in the bank: what you can actually spend today, not your profit. 2️⃣ Monthly burn and runway: how many months until you hit zero. 3️⃣ Gross margin: what's left of each dirham after direct costs. If it's shrinking, growth won't save you. 4️⃣ Money owed to you: unpaid invoices and how old they are. Profit on paper doesn't pay salaries. 5️⃣ Tax you haven't set aside: VAT collected isn't your money, and corporate tax is building on your profit. Know the number before the deadline does.

If your monthly numbers don't tell a clear story, that's not a finance problem. It's a visibility problem, and it's fixable.

Which of these five do you check the least? Tell me in the comments.

What an easy way to explain😍

Two months later: 141 → 158. Still top 5%.

Last time I posted, my Contra Discovery Score was 141.

Today it’s 158, and I’m still in the top 5% of creatives.

A few things changed since then.

I became a Lummi Expert, which gave me an expert badge, featured placement, and more visibility inside Contra.

I also stopped treating my portfolio like a gallery and started treating it more like proof.

Recently I added a full Aegir Aqua case study series:

Brand identity, packaging & 3D

Presentation design

Website design & development

Same client, but split into separate case studies so each type of work is easier for clients to understand.

That has probably been the biggest portfolio improvement for me lately.

I’m also still sending proposals consistently.

That part hasn’t changed.

My last post was basically saying: if your profile is already strong, the problem is often not the profile it’s volume.

I still believe that.

But now I’d add one thing:

Volume gets you seen. Proof gets you taken seriously.

A strong proposal gets the click.

A strong case study gives the client a reason to stay.

And having both working together is where things start compounding.

So the progress since August:

141 → 158 Discovery Score Still top 5% Lummi Expert badge More complete case studies Better positioning across brand, packaging, 3D and web

Still refining. Still applying. Still learning what actually moves the needle.

If anyone is working on their Contra profile, case studies, or proposals, happy to share what’s been working for me.

Hey Asad congratulations on your growth. 😍 I am new to contra and I am still learning and your post was very informative for me. Could you plese guide me more on how I can grow here?