Your Online Resource Centre
How To Avoid Being Eaten Alive By Your Bad Cash Flow
By: Rudi Jansen
In olden days our ancestors had to cope with the elements, find shelter and stay out of the claws of wild animals that would rip one of their legs off for a snack.
But in today?s business jungles, entrepreneurs have something much more ferocious to cope with ? Cash Flow!
Business picks up ? you are working your backside off to get ahead, money is coming in, you rejoice and continue working your butt off.
And at some point, you just have to get bigger premises, get a car that is just a little smarter ? to impress the mother-in-law ? and of course you need to get staff to help out.
One day, out of the blue, you have a look at your bank statement ? and you ask yourself, ?Where is all the money??
My business has grown, I employ staff, I have vehicles, it is apparently going well?
As you watch your would-be empire starting to trip over itself.
And you get that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach.
The same feeling your ancestors had as they were being dragged underwater by a crocodile?
Because cash flow is your life blood.
Take your eye off that ball and you stand a very good chance of getting yourself killed.
Guaranteed.
So how do you avoid this unnecessary ? and almost unnoticed ? killing?
The same way your ancestors kept out of the clutches of crocodiles - KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CROCODILE ? All The Time!
Unless an expense actually contributes towards generating money ? then CUT it!
Unless you can actually measure the contribution ? then it probably is NOT contributing.
Get rid of it.
Immediately.
If your staff do not cover their own wages ? sorry to say, but this is a matter of life and death ? You have to do what you have to do!
Could you not do with smaller premises for a while?
Do you actually need to spend money on your accountant (careful ? this depends on your size!).
Perhaps you could get the Inland Revenue/ Tax people to help you do your tax if you are small enough and save money on an accountant.
Think.
Question.
Who says you HAVE to spend this money?
Have a serious look at how you spend your advertising money.
If you are unable to measure EXACTLY how much business each method of advertising generates ? then how do you know it is worth it?
Measure it ? and if it does not pay for itself many times over ? then stop it.
If you tell me that word of mouth is your best form of getting new customers, then my question to you is
? How Much Do You Spend On Word Of Mouth?
If you say ?Nothing? ? Isn?t there something wrong with this picture?
If that is your most effective method, could you not figure out some way of promoting/ rewarding word of mouth with the money you spend on ineffective advertising methods?
One side of the coin is to stop throwing unnecessary money down the drain.
The other side of this coin is to generate enough new business so that much more money starts flowing in.
And that again comes back to effective marketing methods that pay for themselves.
How to Avoid the Slow Death By Cash Flow?
Don?t ever lose sight of that monster.
Be awake and alert all the time ? cut away anything which does not actually measurably pay for itself.
And beware the? ?I couldn?t possibly get rid of this? ? it is far better to be alive with a small office than dead with no office!
Rudi Jansen Turns Business Profits Around WorldWide for Small Businesses through Skype Video: : |  |
