Paula Groves is Main Street Launch’s Senior Vice President – Business Consulting. She offers tips and advice to entrepreneurs to help them start and grow their small businesses. This tip is about how to build a healthy relationship with your business’ cash.
Just last month we celebrated Valentine’s Day. During this time of love and relationships, I began to wonder, how many entrepreneurs know what it means to be in love and in a healthy relationship with their business’ cash?
When an entrepreneur first gets a loan or secures financing, they are often quite happy and feeling proud with the cash they have in the bank. I think the same is true at the start of a new relationship – we feel happy, proud, and secure. After a bit we start to wonder, how can I make sure this relationship stays strong and healthy over the long term? I think we should ask ourselves the same question regarding our business’ cash. Here are three tips for having a happy relationship with cash:
- Pay attention. Just like with a life partner, make sure you pay attention to how they are doing. With cash, this can mean making sure you read your bank statement every month. Not only will you have a better perspective on cash balances, you may also catch errors or fraud.
- Become an expert. With a partner, you might think about what makes them happy. With cash, make sure you understand how and when cash flows in and out of your business. With my clients, I often create a weekly or monthly cash statement of all their banking a credit card transactions so they have a clear understanding of how their business’ cash works to help them better plan.
- Do the things you did when the relationship first began. With our partners, maybe it was hiking or going to the movies. With cash, maybe you set up new bookkeeping systems and excel spreadsheets because you were inspired to stay on top of things. Well, are you still using those systems? Now might be a good time to reconnect and start using those systems again.
If you want to build a healthier relationship with your business’ cash, please schedule an appointment by phone (510) 830-3202 or email paula@mainstreetlaunch.org.
