By Vanessa Bamford, Vision Beyond Business
- You might be in a position where you don’t have a lot of money in the bank and you are struggling right now with not making enough sales and you need to know how to juggle your cash flow (given the lovely c word has screwed a lot of businesses up right now)….
- Or you could be doing ok, but you really need to get better with your money, when it comes to cash flow there are two strategies I recommend for everyone.
#1 and the most important strategy for everyone in business is to KNOW YOUR NUMBERS. Understand your breakeven point and what that amount is that you need to survive. I’ve seen hundreds of businesses turn things around just by understanding the basics. This is the number one thing to know however here are some other strategies you can work on also while you’re learning your numbers…
SA Mums have the opportunity to access my online Know your numbers workshop here https://www.vbbusiness.com.au/workshop-registration/ using my promo code exclusively for SA mums to understand this – use SAMSKYN on check out.
Immediate ‘HELP ME’ Strategies:
Look at easy cash solutions first
- Double check your ‘accounts receivable or in other words customers who haven’t paid’.
- Follow up on all the money that you can that hasn’t been paid.
- Check if there is anything you haven’t invoiced
- Go through all of your sales for the last 3-6 months and check to see if there is any money you can bring in straight away that you may have missed.
- Review your costs
- Check to see if you are paying for anything you don’t need to be paying for, you’d be surprised how many of us do this. If you aren’t using it do you really need it? Ask yourself, Is it a want, a need or I ‘just because’?
- Unnecessary costs
- Subscription costs
- Membership costs
- Software costs (those monthly costs that creep up and up)
- Insurances (check you’re not over insured)
- Negotiate or renegotiate with your landlord or other suppliers
- What other costs do you have that you don’t need or are you ‘just being nice in paying for them’ ( I see this a lot), paying someone just to be nice? It might be time to have a conversation about how they can bring you more value or it might be time to stop being nice?
- Unnecessary costs
- Check to see if you are paying for anything you don’t need to be paying for, you’d be surprised how many of us do this. If you aren’t using it do you really need it? Ask yourself, Is it a want, a need or I ‘just because’?
- Hold tight on spending (once you’ve learned this it’s a good one to adopt moving forward too even in great times!)
- Stop all unnecessary spending
- Ask yourself ‘is this a necessary spend’ before you spend
- Keep yourself accountable to what you are taking out of the business (know your numbers helps here)
Change your thinking strategies
Work smart, not hard!!
- Where in your business can you make money smarter not harder:
- Pricing review
- Ie are you on-charging your costs to customers
- When is the last time you reviewed your pricing
- Pricing review
- Review your gross profit margin and your strategy around this:
- How efficient are you with the sales you are currently making
- How effective are your staff or direct costs to making the sale
- Can you be smarter in the services and products you are selling
- Where could you make money quickly and simply without requiring a ridiculous amount of resources?
- Is there a possible quick side project
- Any new opportunities with a collaboration partner or joint venture
- Think outside the box with your business and what you could do…
Take yourself out of fear (as much as it’s easier said than done) and the more you can stop and think and work with people who can think strategically with you, the easier it is to see the light!
Reach out if you’re interested in being held accountable, more strategic thinking and brainstorming or just need to know more about how to understand your business. https://www.vbbusiness.com.au/contact/