| |
| |
|
Coaching Information |
|
|
|
Coaches, Do You Make These 7 Deadly Cash Flow Mistakes in Your Practice?
Managing cash flow is every small business owner's most important function. Avoid these seven deadly mistakes to make sure you aren't creating cash flow problems in your coaching practice. 1. Using the "Fly By The Seat of Your Pants" Accounting Method. When tax time rolls around do you find yourself pawing through piles of paper on your desk looking for credit card receipts from your business trip? Or are you upside down digging under the seat of your car trying to figure out where all your gas receipts are? Are you wondering if that coffee stained piece of paper is an invoice from a supplier? Do you have a vague feeling that someone, somewhere owes you money but, you just can't remember who it is? If so, you're probably guilty of operating with the "Fly By the Seat of Your Pants" accounting method. Using this accounting method has a tremendous impact on your business's cash flow. Unless you have a system to track your business finances, you'll always be operating in the dark and in danger of imitating George of the Jungle as he slams into a tree. 2. Not Knowing What the Numbers Are All About. Once you have a real honest to goodness useful accounting system, that's where the real fun starts. You've got a bunch of numbers but what in the world do you do with them? Understanding what the numbers mean is crucial to your cash flow. Are sales trending up or down? Are expenses rising faster than sales? Is one coaching package more profitable or better selling than another? How many clients do you need to meet expenses each month? Can you take a paycheck this month? The answers all lie in the numbers. 3. Mismanaging Credit: I Owe You, You Owe Me. There are two ways to mismanage credit in small business: 1. Granting credit without wise credit policies 2. Using credit with no plan of how to pay the bill. Both have a huge impact on your cash flow and are often closely related. Here's a scenario to demonstrate that point. You have two opportunities: you can work on a big project for a corporate client or you can take on several small clients. You might think the big client is the way to go but how long will it take you to get paid? Often, large companies take their time paying-sometimes 60 or 90 days, sometimes longer. You may find that you've tied up a tremendous amount of your time with no cash flow to pay your bills. The smaller clients could provide you with more immediate cash flow without tying up all your time. And it's easy when times get tough to pull out your credit card to cover your current expenses. But doing this with no plan of how you'll pay the bill gets many small business owners in hot water fast. 4. Ignoring the relationship between Receivables and Payables. Do your Receivables and Payables "play nice" with each other? In a perfect world your receivables (what customers owe you) would be paid just in time for you to pay your payables (what you owe your vendors). But, if you're a small business owner you know Rule #1 is "Stuff Happens". The customer you thought would pay his bill this week, doesn't. So the bills you thought you could pay this week, don't get paid. Are your Payables in balance with you Receivables? If what you owe to others is far more than what is owed to you, then, Houston, you have a problem. And it's not just the balance that's important, it's the quality as well. If your receivables are as old as your Aunt Tilly, chances are good you'll never see the cash. 5. Focusing on profit instead of cash flow. Ahh, Profit. The ultimate goal of every business. Or is it? Did you know that many businesses that fail are operating at a profit? How can that be? For the small business, cash flow is the ultimate goal. No cash flow. No business. Period. What's the difference? Mostly the difference is in the decision making process. "If I take on this big job, it will earn me a huge profit, but if I take on five smaller jobs, I'll have cash to pay my bills." Yes, you want to be profitable but every decision has to be measured against the effect it will have on cash flow. 6. Forgetting your debt to society. Some bills are easy to forget. Bills like insurance, payroll taxes, estimated taxes. They sort of sit out there, almost off the radar screen. They don't have to be paid right away. It's easy to forget them until BAM! they're due and they're due right now. And you better have the money to pay them or you're in hot water. Then, cash flow problems result as you rob Peter to pay Paul. It can take months or even years to recover. 7. Spending your company's future on a speed boat. Haven't you always wanted a speed boat? Or a fancy car? Or an all expense paid trip to the Bahamas? It might be tempting to try to pass your personal purchases off as tax deductible business expenses. But, it's a bad idea for two reasons. The folks who work at the IRS are over-worked but they're not stupid. The last thing you need is an audit. An audit that could reveal your transgressions and could result in an unexpected tax bill plus penalties and interest. Again, huge cash flow headache! Here's the other reason it's a bad idea. Are you spending your company's future on frivolous or unnecessary expenses? Small businesses operate close to the edge. Unless you have a reserve to see you through the tough times, you're always in danger of being on the wrong side of that edge. You've got to take care of the goose that lays the golden eggs first. Then, you can pay yourself a properly taxed bonus and buy all the toys you want. Caroline Jordan, MBA is a small business consultant and creator of Cash Flow Master , a Fast Track, No Holds Barred, Crash Course in Small Business Cash Flow. For more Cash Flow tips and techniques visit http://www.TheJordanResult.com/mastering.html . To get in touch, call Caroline at (207) 583-2630 or send an email to TheJordanResult@adelphia.net.
MORE RESOURCES:
Coaching - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Words That Inspire - PEACE WORDS THAT INSPIREA monthly quick shot to motivate you, in less than 45 seconds, from Julie Cohen CoachingHow might your PEACE impact the world?Dictionary*says:State of tranquility or quiet, freedom from civil disturbance, a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war.What it REALLY means:The feeling of contentment with your life at present; your state of being when things feel comfortable, at ease, light; time in which you feel centered, calm and well. Encourage Personality Testing I was asked the other day : "Kate, is personality testing novelty, frivolity, or common sense?"The answer is: It depends on whether or not you utilize them properly.I highly recommend them for anyone who is in a relationship of any kind: business, friendships, family, etc. How Coaches Find Clients Online At a recent networking meeting Jana asked for a recommendation for a public speaking coach. She was starting to speak in front of audiences, and wanted to polish her presentation skills a bit. Top Ten Things to Build a Bridge and Get Over God must love Top Ten lists because she made so many of them. They crowd my Inbox daily. Think Twice Before Youre Nice A few months back I had a disturbing dream. In my dream a woman with stringy blonde hair rang my bell. Living On Purpose The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose. Those individuals who live their lives 'on purpose' are not prone to wondering what the meaning and purpose of their life is. Build Your People Skills How would you like to get along even better with others in your personal relationships and in the workplace? Getting along well with people sounds kind of general and is difficult to do much about, so let's break it down into some manageable and specific skills. By building the following skills, you will get along well with others:1. How Stella (Laurie) Got Her Groove Back! Being a Life Strategy Coach doesn't mean I'm always on top of my game, completely balanced and without my own challenges. Building a website, writing an e-book, getting a newsletter off the ground and securing clients required a great deal of work and commitment. Its Not What You Think My work in organizations involves dropping habitual ways of perceiving in order to contact a fresh and subtle perceiving "under the surface" of what is going on. That deeper sense of perceiving allows the emergence of what I call the Engaging Leader, or the genuine expression of myself and the collective. 10 Things I Wish I Would Have Known Before I Went Into the Real World I must confess, I laughed when I saw that Maria Shriver has come out with a book called, "Ten Things I Wish I Had Known Before Going Into The Real World." The real world? Come on, she grew up a Kennedy and married the biggest action movie star of all time! That aside, it got me to thinking: What are ten things I wish I would have known before going out into the real world? So, here they are. Finding Peace: A Taste of Mindfulness When we are ill and don't know it, we are in a state of ignorance or delusion. We don't view ourselves as sick, so we don't believe it's necessary to go to a doctor or take any medication. Do You Need a Performance Coach? In today's fast paced world, we are often confronted with the issue, "I want to get in shape, but I just don't have the time!" We all have faced it at one time or another. So, when we finally decide to get in shape we go to the gym, and then another decision hits us. Solution-Focused Therapy Most types of psychotherapy involve exploring feelings, being validated, finding explanations, exploring wishes and dreams, setting goals, and gaining clarity. Every therapist has unique ways of working with clients, based on his or her personality, training, and views of how people change. Tempering Temper I'm almost always a calm and collected person. Or at least I think I am. What is Coaching? Recently, I have received several emails asking me about coaching and what it is exactly. So, I decided to answer some of those questions in this article. How to Crack a Daunting Task! If you have a daunting task and the mere thought of it overwhelms you, it's probably too big to implement directly and should be broken down into actionable parts. I find this happens to me frequently -- I see the big strategic goal that I want to achieve, but become paralyzed thinking about the size of the project. Let Go of Your Past People have a difficult time letting go of the past because they are held back by unfinished business. They may regret choices they have made or feel guilty about past actions. What To Do? Lifes Big Question We've all experienced the same thing at important crossroads in our life when big changes were underway. Often, we find ourselves feeling panic and frozen in time, possibly with indecision, waiting and wondering: Which way to go?; How will things turn out? Sometimes, you just don't know what to do. The Non-Conscious Mind at Work. Harness it for Your Success Thoughts are real things. As soon as you realize how to control your thoughts you are on your way to making vast changes in your daily success. Listening Skills In Relationships Recently, when out to dinner with another couple, my husband is surprised at what someone says about one of our neighbors. He even comments this to the person about his amazement.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
