Yes, the above is a picture of a cockpit in a plane.
Are you about to fly? If so, bookmark this page and return after you’ve safely landed.
On land now? No more flying? OK, read on.
All posts by Carlos Weil
Are You Sure You Know What You Need to Know About Accounts Receivable?
“Cash is king.” No doubt every small business owner has heard that. That’s because a small business can’t survive without cash flow. All the great talent means zilch if you can’t pay them and your bills.
But what brings in the cash? Your accounts receivable, or A/R. Accounts receivable is an accounting term for what your clients owe you for the products or services you delivered. Your invoices are a generated accounts receivable. Until you submit your invoices to clients, you won’t get paid.
How Do I Get a Client to Pay up?
This is a true story. Names have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.
A prospect contacted me interested in my company’s services. We discussed the project and came to agreement on the scope and price.
How to Build Your B2B Brand with Twitter in 7 Easy Steps
When I first heard about Twitter, I didn’t get its appeal. As I understood it, people could send short messages for others to read. That sounded like a public bulletin board. The Internet is full of special interest topic forums. People can send short messages to each other via emails, text messaging, online chat, and other ways.
So what’s the big deal about Twitter?
How to Cure Your Addiction to Merchant Cash Advance
Have you heard of payday loans? You’d never consider such an option because it’d drain your resources, right? Merchant cash advance and business cash advances are like payday loans except they target businesses.
Thousands and thousands of business owners are stuck with MCA. To attract B2B companies, some MCA providers call it Business Cash Advance. An MCA may sound like a great idea, but it isn’t when you look at the full picture of how it works.
The Sure-Fire Danger of Having a Big Customer
When a colleague first started his little business, he had two clients. One provided steady projects. The set up worked well since he could manage these projects outside of his corporate job. Yes, he worked two full-time jobs between the corporate one and his business. We’ll call him Joe. He wanted to build cash flow before quitting his corporate job.
Then the company — the steady one — went out of business. As for the other client … projects didn’t come in regularly enough to sustain business. Joe had to decide whether to resign to a life-long corporate career and keep the business as grocery money … or find more clients.
5 Ways This Is Better Than a Bank Loan or Line of Credit
Before you consider going to a bank for a small business loan or line of credit, you might want to explore another option. A better one because it’s money that already belongs to you. The money you get from the flexible financing is invoice financing, which gives you the cash flow you need to pay expenses and grow your business. It’s also known as factoring and accounts receivables financing.
Accounts receivables are open invoices that haven’t been paid. It’s money a company is owed after delivering the product or service. Clients may take 30, 60, 90, or more days to pay the invoice. Some companies speed this process with flexible financing from a factor. The factor — a third party company — buys your invoices and gives you cash as soon as you submit them.
14 Ways to Ensure You Always Have Cash Flow
A colleague told me about a long-time client and friend who passed away. The business went with him. It happens. That’s life. While his business made up about a third of hers, she weathered the loss of income because she had enough cash stashed away to cover her while she looked for new clients.
Another colleague texted me to let me know that her computer had died. Fortunately, she was able to buy a new computer the same day and restore her backed up files to the new computer.
How Late Payment of Invoices Are a Danger to Your Small Business
Cash flow makes or breaks a small business. If you don’t have the cash to pay expenses and make payroll, then your business can’t survive. Simply put: no cash, no business. This can and does happen even if you have all the customers you want and talented employees who do their jobs well.
3 Powerful Ways to Generate More Leads and Grow Your Business
Are you missing opportunities with your lead generation efforts? Do you go after prospects? What about your past and current customers? Many companies forget about doing lead generation with their customers. After all, keeping customers happy is the fastest and cheapest way to grow business. Most people know this.
Yet many businesses neglect their clients to spend more time hunting for new customers. Why overlook the clients they already have when the acquisition cost is $0? You may be able to harvest more business from them. Perhaps, you think you can’t upsell or cross-sell them. Regardless, they are your company’s best advertisement for referrals.