Breakeven Point: What Does It Mean for You?
The term “Black Friday,” was coined to mark the day that officially kicks off the holiday selling season when many retailers reach their breakeven point for the year. For small business owners the breakeven point is denotes the volume in dollars of revenue at which revenue and expense [...]
Payroll: Managing Your Biggest Expense
When 16-year-old Rosalinda Ahuatzi started her own nutritional shake business in Lexington, Kentucky, within months she had to hire an employee to operate the shop while she attended her high school classes. Now 17, this busy young entrepreneur is hoping to generate enough cash flow to hire another [...]
Fixed Assets: Think Before You Spend: 3 Questions to Help Evaluate Your Capital Expenditures
Fixed assets are assets such as land, buildings, and equipment that are not likely to be consumed, sold or otherwise converted into cash in the normal course of business. These are assets you don’t expect to part with any sooner than a year’s time. Another definition is an [...]
Controlling Your Cash Flow: 7 Steps to Keep Accounts Receivables Flowing Smoothly
Accounts receivable (A/R) is the amount of uncollected revenue you expect your company to receive from your customers. It represents the largest and most accessible source of non-financing cash available to most companies. How efficiently you manage A/R will go a long way to determining your company’s profitability. [...]
The Cash Crunch Conundrum: It’s the top reason businesses fold. How can you prepare?
Why do businesses fail? Maintaining cash flow is the number one reason, showing up in 82 percent of business failures, according to this infographic from Insurancequotes.com. The graphic pulls together information from sources such as the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and many [...]
Celebrating America’s Independent Entrepreneurial Spirit
Happy July 4! Independence Day got me thinking again about the 2017 America’s Voice on Small Business Study by America’s Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and The Center for Generational Kinetics. They surveyed 1,011 U.S. adults aged 21-65 back in March to conclude that America has enormous untapped [...]
In Business to Profit: New Survey Shows Gen Y Has The Right Priorities to Succeed
Have you seen the white paper Generational Views of Entrepreneurship and Small Business from America’s Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and The Center for Generational Kinetics? It is full of interesting findings from the 2017 America’s Voice On Small Business Study, including: of millennials have a dream [...]
Why You Should Never, Ever Pay Early (With 1 Exception)
Much has been written about the struggles business owners face to get paid on time, and how to get clients who are dragging their feet to pay up. Clients stalling on payments, combined with unexpected expenses, can put your business in a cash flow crunch. As the owner [...]
From IBM to Mom and Pop, Cash Flow Matters
I read where Moody’s recently downgraded its rating for IBM based on cash flow and profitability concerns. In other news, Denbury Resources reported a first quarter profit of $21 million, but “cash flow is now well below the amount needed to fund the capital budget of $300 million. [...]