Mastering Cash Flow for Your Business

Cash in vs. cash out: the heartbeat of operations

Revenue is not cash; profit is not cash. Cash is timing. A cafe owner once missed payroll despite rising sales because deposits lagged by five days. Track every inflow and outflow weekly, and invite your team to spot timing gaps.

The cash conversion cycle, explained without jargon

Your money takes a journey: pay suppliers, hold inventory, invoice customers, get paid. Shorten any leg to speed returns. Share your current days inventory, receivables, and payables in the comments, and we’ll suggest one realistic improvement.

Three cash flow streams: operating, investing, financing

Operating cash shows day-to-day health, investing cash covers assets and growth bets, financing cash reflects loans and equity. Distinguish them to avoid false comfort. Post a line from your last cash flow statement you found confusing, and we’ll unpack it together.

Forecasting That Actually Works

List opening balance, expected inflows by customer, and outflows by category. Add realistic dates, not hopes. One founder cut stress by half after moving from monthly to 13-week views. Want the template? Drop a ‘13-week’ comment and we’ll send it.

Forecasting That Actually Works

Create three scenarios: optimistic, realistic, conservative. Agree what triggers each plan before emotions surge. That way, you already know which costs pause or which invoice you’ll factor. Share your top risk lever, and we’ll suggest scenario triggers.

Invoices, Terms, and Getting Paid Faster

Consider 50% upfront, milestone billing, or 2/10 net 30 where discounts make sense. A creative agency moved from post-project billing to staged invoices and cut collection time by twenty days. What deposit could you justify with added client value?

Invoices, Terms, and Getting Paid Faster

Gentle reminders outperform stern ones—when they’re timely. Send a pre-due nudge, a due-day reminder, then a polite escalation. Share the email that works best for you, or ask for our three-message template with human tone and clear calls to action.

Spending Smart: Suppliers, Inventory, and Costs

Suppliers value reliability. Offer forecasts, faster approvals, or volume commitments in exchange for net 45 or net 60. A brewer traded monthly production schedules for better terms. Share your supplier relationship context to draft a win-win proposal together.

Spending Smart: Suppliers, Inventory, and Costs

Run ABC analysis, trim slow movers, and tighten reorder points. One e-commerce team cleared dormant SKUs with bundles, unlocking a month of runway. Post your current stockout fear, and we’ll suggest a safer, cash-friendlier reorder rule.

A one-page dashboard your team will actually read

Show opening cash, 13-week runway, receivables by aging bucket, payables due, and forecast variance. Color-code thresholds. A founder printed it weekly and everyone discussed the same facts. What one number would calm your Sunday night worries?

Set up reliable bank feeds and approvals

Connect bank feeds, lock user roles, and require two-step approvals for outgoing payments. A mistaken duplicate wire once cost a startup a painful week. Tell us your current stack, and we’ll recommend a lightweight, secure flow to match.

Funding and Resilience

Aim for three to six months of core operating costs, adjusted for seasonality. One founder slept better with a labeled reserve account. Comment with your monthly burn, and we’ll help you compute a right-sized, attainable cushion goal.

Match tool to need: lines smooth timing, factoring accelerates receivables, revenue-based suits fluctuating sales. Share your margin profile and payment lags, and we’ll discuss pros, cons, and guardrails to avoid long-term dependency traps.

Pre-draft steps: freeze hires, renegotiate terms, tighten credit checks, prioritize essential payables, and protect top customers. A retailer’s written plan cut decision time from days to hours. Want a template? Type ‘playbook’ and we’ll send it quickly.