Smooth Financial Sailing Strategies
Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration, Success Strategies for Women Entreprenuers, Small Business Owners, Female Entrepreneurs
As we stood on the pebbly river shore, Stacey Murphy, a woman entrepreneur from Ithaca, and I looked over our right shoulders to see waves crashing forward from the wild, open lake into the mouth of the river. To our left was smooth-as-glass water ready for us to choose it as we began a two hour kayak and paddle board business chat. We hadn’t seen each other in awhile so we decided to travel on the flat water first so we could catch up and hear each other talk.
We launched our boats on the calm river on our early morning trek with mostly blue herons accompanying us. Under bridges, around bends, through some weeds, we paddled and talked about life and business and how successful Stacey has been in her grant consulting business – even recently landing a multi-million dollar grant for a client.
In time, we turned around fully warmed up and ready to tackle the big waves. As the ocean-like waves rolled and rocked us back and forth to a point where we had to “ride” them, the adventure steered our conversation to a discussion on flow – cash flow actually. The topic seemed appropriate since we had experienced both smooth and rough flow on our ride.
In entrepreneurship, cash flow can steadily and gently flowing in when we book enough contracts and payments to carry us through the year just like the calm river’s surface. Business cash flow can also be unpredictable when we don’t pay enough attention to setting payment schedules or have enough business in the pipeline. This type of corporate difficulty sends us into the financial weeds tangled in payments without accessible cash.
Small businesses need access to consistent revenue flow to stay ahead of bills and keep credit strong with business flowing properly. It’s up to entrepreneurs to plan out revenue payments to keep them on smooth financial waters year round.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom should inspire you to look at the upcoming last quarter of the year and evaluate revenue streams, payment schedules, billing deadlines and other financial plans to keep you away from the weeds. If you foresee a need for better cash flow and have a good banking relationship, speak to a female representative about a line of credit or other financial option. If you use an online banking service like Pay Pal, you can look at past years or quarters to evaluate how cash has been flowing and when you might need more. If you keep detailed books, they can also guide you in the right direction if business has been operating similarly the past few years.
Just like Stacey and I had to chart a course for our business chat trip, make sure you are charting your own financial course for the rest of the year so there is smooth sailing going forward.
Women TIES 