How is Your Cash Flow? Step 5
Step Five: Believe in yourself What does belief in yourself have to do with keeping track of your numbers and using a cash management system? Everything! Believe in yourself enough to be real with your business decisions, your stated goals and information shared with your staff. Managing your cash efficiently will help you sleep deeply at night and give you the confidence to move your business forward with integrity. You will discern whether you can honestly afford to hire that next employee, sign a lease agreement or take money out of the business for your own personal needs. Last, but not least, when you believe in yourself, others will believe in you. You will attract better clients, employees and vendors. And yes, your cash flow will be heads above other companies that lack sound business practices. Your fiduciary responsibilities having been met or exceeded will help you take your business to a whole other level of success.
How is Your Cash Flow? Step 4
Step Four: Keep Your Staff in the Loop Staff can and will be more effective if they know the parameters of the company needs – whether it’s how to correctly price a project, what is needed to bring the project on time and to spec, or how their performance can affect their future compensation and longevity with the firm. When staff understands with certainty what your expectations are for them, they will be more motivated, feel more trusted and help you create a company culture that everyone can enjoy. That culture should be one where everyone is on board for achieving company goals. They recognize that meeting goals is a must, not an option. If you feel your approach to cash management is lacking in some way, ask your key people for input. Some areas to ask include: Pricing How to achieve better quality sales How operations can be improved to help the bottom line Definitely get your bookkeeping staff involved. Rather than them holding back recommendations related to matters that could affect cash flow, help them to understand that it is beneficial for them to share all of their expertise pertinent with the company.
How is Your Cash Flow? Step 3
Step Three: Be Consistent. All too frequently companies set up procedures and systems that go unfollowed. This happens for a number of reasons such as the system is too cumbersome or takes too much time. An unused system, or one that is used inconsistently, will invalidate your work as well as make it much more difficult, if not impossible to achieve great results. Inconsistency leads to other issues too, such as your ability to pay employees and vendors in a timely fashion. It can also affect the business’ ability to deliver products and services to clientele. These types of situations could negatively impact your credibility with your clients, employees and vendors as well as damage your business credit. It is far better to block-off the time regularly in the calendar to correct deficiencies in the system as well as to implement the system to its greatest level of effectiveness. If uncertain on how to develop or implement such a system you can consult the internet, books on business cash management or utilize a qualified business coach. Note: There is a significant difference between cash management and cash flow. Positive Cash flow is having more than enough to pay everything that’s due and some extra. Negative Cash Flow is when you have less than what you need or you are left with less net than the last period. Cash comes in from sales, lines of credit, even credit cards, as well as investments and the sale of assets. Cash goes out to pay for operating and direct expenses including, but not limited to payroll, taxes, interest and cost of goods, in addition to principal debt service, and the purchase of assets. CASH IN is all you have available. CASH OUT is all you need to pay in the period. It…
Propel Yourself Toward Success
Genuine goal setting is the first step toward positive, deliberate action. Although goals are often imaginative and visionary, they are always a prelude to action, a track to run on, a course to take; they are never a substitute for reality. They are an expression of your noblest qualities; they are an exercise of your desire for personal leadership –the desire to be a bit better today than you were yesterday, and the determination to be even better tomorrow. For your goals to have the magnetic attraction that draws you toward them and propels you toward success, follow these principles of goal setting –these “rules of the game”: 1. Your goals must be your own personal goals. It is obvious that you are more likely to accomplish goals you choose for yourself than those urged upon you by others. But your goals must also be “personal” in the sense of “private.” Unless they are based on your own internalized values, your goals will have little or no meaning, no appeal and no value. 2. Your goals must be stated positively. Consider this simple illustration. You may say, “I’m going to stop procrastinating when it is time to make my monthly report.” What picture – what mental image – can you see of yourself “not procrastinating”? You will be much more likely to accomplish your goal if you state it positively: “I complete my monthly report the first day of each month.” Now you have a picture to visualize. You can see yourself sitting at the desk making your report. Goals, to be effective, need the motivational force created by a positive mental image of yourself doing what you want to do or being what you want to become. 3. Your goals must be realistic and attainable. Goals must represent a challenging objective…
How is Your Cash Flow? Step 2
By Valerie Cardenas Step 2: Use a Cash Projection & Management System Use a system that can project your REAL bank balance into the future for ten or more weeks. Think of what this could mean for you in the way of peace of mind. A system that predicts cash balances will give you the insight to know exactly what must be collected in the way of receivables as well as what additional sales must be made. This system will tell you what fixed and variable expenses will be covered while paying you as the business owner, paying your taxes and more. Another benefit: you will be working toward increasing your cash on hand which typically increases profitability. Using a system would greatly reduce or even eliminate the potential of having to tell vendors and even employees that their paycheck or payment will be delayed. Not only does this reduce stress, it builds credibility too. Your credit will improve. Your employees will feel more secure. Plus, you will have cash available to deliver your services and/or products as promised which will lead to more satisfied clients and referrals. One method I recommend is using an Excel Worksheet that shows weekly incoming and outgoing funds. Most accountings systems, while they do a good job showing actual cash flows (based on receivables, payables, etc.), do not easily convert to the flexibility desired in cash management projections. Using a system like I suggest here will allow for a variety of real life situations where your accounting system won’t, such as clients who pay early or late. When using Excel or a similar spreadsheet program, shifts in dollar amounts can be easily adjusted to imitate real life as to when monies will be collected and expenses can be moved forward or backwards depending on current…
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SuccessFlex ~ My-Tyme Effective Personal Management Coaching Series
Put yourself in the driver’s seat for your career, business and life! Which successful Indy driver do you know that does not have a coach? Is your professional life or business at least as important as that of a race car driver? What about your time and productivity? Is your response “Yes?” Then SuccessFlex: My-Tyme Effective Personal Management Coaching Series will be the best choice for you! How can you invest your time so it is working for you and giving you your return on investment? Learn about how the Tyranny of the Urgent may be halting further success Learn and focus on High Payoff Activities that pay off Learn and implement a time management process that has worked for millions! For every minute you spend planning . . . you can save 4 to 10 times that amount of time in execution. Paul J. Meyer, Founder of Leadership Management International
How is Your Cash Flow? Step 1
By Valerie Cardenas Step 1: If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It. Understanding the old adage that cash flow is “King” and “Queen” and knowing your business numbers inside and out will assist you to make effective business decisions that can lead to improved cash flow. Cause for consternation can be thinking that your cash balance in the checkbook should be the same as the Profit and Loss (P & L) net profit. While your true cash balance is reflected on your Balance sheet, it is not reflected on your P & L because it is only one component of your cash flow. Cash flows are affected by Accounts Receivable, Inventory, Accounts Payable, Capital Expenditures, Borrowings and Debt Service and Other Timing Differences. Some questions you can ask yourself that may uncover undesirable items that have an impact actual cash balances: Is your pricing in line with your fixed business overhead, regular expenses, and desired cash for growth and profit margin? Who are your largest customers and are they paying on time? What percentage of your total revenue relies on those customers? What is the cost of managing your high demand customers? Are they worth keeping? Are you overpaying for services whether it is employees, independent contractors or vendors? Do you know your payroll and corporate tax numbers so they can be paid on time and still meet other goals? With a good understanding of your numbers, you will enjoy more confidence, peace of mind and more income to the bottom line!
Set Your Goals from the Inside Out
Genuine goal setting is the first step toward positive, deliberate action. Although goals are often imaginative and visionary, they are always a prelude to action, a track to run on, a course to take; they are never a substitute for reality. They are an expression of your noblest qualities; they are an exercise of your desire for personal leadership – the desire to be a bit better today than you were yesterday, and the determination to be even better tomorrow. To set optimally effective goals, you need standards to follow. It is like playing basketball: you need to know the object of the game and the rules; otherwise, you would not know whether to run with the ball, kick it, throw it, or roll it. For your goals to have the magnetic attraction that draws you toward them and propels you toward success, follow these principles of goal setting – these “rules of the game”: 1. Your goals must be your own personal goals. It is obvious that you are more likely to accomplish goals you choose for yourself than those urged upon you by others. But your goals must also be “personal” in the sense of “private.” If you know that your goals plan will be seen by someone else, you may tend to distort it to impress others instead of to satisfy your real needs. Unless they are based on your own internalized values, your goals will have little or no meaning, no appeal and no value. 2. Your goals must be stated positively. Your mind functions through mental images; you literally “see” through the mind’s eye a picture of each thought. A goal expressed negatively eliminates a mental image, and the mind cannot picture a void or a vacuum. Take a simple illustration. You may say, “I’m…
