Do you come up with loads of business ideas but struggle to put these into practice?

Are you always busy progressing initiatives but have difficulty reaching the point where these start to generate revenue?

Are you trying hard, but find yourself in the same place you started several months down the line?

Do you suffer from task paralysis, the point where you have so much to do that it’s a problem getting things done?

If any of the above strike a chord with you, you’re certainly not alone. Many of us are guilty of regularly falling into this trap. But sometimes it’s not easy to see the wood from the trees. You know you’re not where you want to be ….  but you’re not really sure why it’s not happening for you, or indeed what to do about it.

It’s easily done. I’ve been there myself!

Some months back, I came across a great way of understanding this situation, and why it stops you getting on in business. I’d like to share this with you.

First, you need to think of your business development as a journey. The starting point is A, the final destination B. In order to complete your business journey, you need to travel the road from A to B.

Now imagine, as on most roads, particularly after a harsh winter, there are a number of potholes. Some of these potholes are bigger than others. In this case, they make the road impassable to traffic. The starting position looks like this.

In order to reach your destination, you need to fill in each pothole along the way with boulders. You can see that on this journey that there are three potholes. But you can’t get past pothole 2 until pothole 1 is filled in, nor pothole 3 until pothole 2 is full.

In the above example, it takes four boulders or actions to fill in pothole 1 to allow you to advance to pothole 2. The problem lies in the way most people go about this.

If we work on all the potholes at the same time and put two boulders in each hole, the position becomes as follows:

Working on each of the three potholes simultaneously leaves us in a position where we remain stuck at pothole 1. Although pothole 2 is full, it does not matter. We are still basically near where we started. How much better it would have been had we worked on pot hole 1 first, then pothole 2 …..

Another way to think about filling in a pothole, or the actions necessary to complete a task, is this. Until all the actions are completed, and the last boulder is at the surface of the road, there is no visibility to what you’re doing to the outside world. If you’re trying to generate different revenue streams, no income will result until the product or service is ready to promote and buy.

There’s another problem. Do you regularly get distracted by the next new thing which could benefit your business?  Termed “Shiny Object Syndrome”, this is another common factor which often distracts attention away, with the result that you drop the task you’re holding or doing.

Continuing with the pothole analogy, what’s happening here is that you’re creating new potholes for yourself without first filling in the old ones. This is making the journey both longer and more difficult, especially when the natural tendency of many business owners is to try and fill in all the potholes themselves without seeking specialist outside help.

All in all, you’re finding that the list of jobs to be done grows ever longer. You’re spending more and more time (and money) in your business without the rewards, and to the detriment of other areas of your life. And still, from a business perspective, you remain largely in the same place you started.

This is what stops most business owners from being successful. Knowing this means you can change your behaviours.

So begin to move past your personal potholes to reach your chosen destination!

Business Budgeting For Beginners

I was reading a short article in a magazine today focused on a high profile businessman. One point that really caught my eye was when the business owner stated that his company’s turnover would be between £10m and £20m this year.

For a growing company, or in an uncertain economy, some degree of variance is to be expected. But I’d be concerned if the sales performance of my company could vary to that extreme.

Whatever the realities, budgeting is a key tool that every business owner should be using to grow their business. Not bothering to budget is a big mistake that too many make.

The benefits of a trading budget or forecast are twofold.

1. It sets an expectation or target to aim for and actions to focus on. Also what resources – people, premises, customers, supplies, funding – are required to make the forecast a reality.
2. It provides a benchmark against which to monitor progress.

If all is going to plan, then great. If not, benchmarking actual performance against budget lets you quickly identify where the main variances lie, and react accordingly.

A simple budget boils down to only three elements: Sales turnover, Direct costs, Overheads. The budgeting process for each is set out below.

Budgeting Sales Turnover

Many small business owners think working out the top line sales figure is so difficult they don’t even attempt to put together a budget. “Our business is too unpredictable” is something I often hear. But this is not a valid excuse.

Working out a simple sales forecast is about making an informed judgement as to what sales next year will be like compared to sales in prior years. The best approach to this is as follows:

1. Start with considering what has changed compared to last year
2. Ask relevant people, key employees and customers for their input and thoughts
3. At its simplest, take sales for the current financial year and add/subtract a percentage
4. For more detail, budget sales for individual business lines, locations, customers
5. If you’re selling time, take the number of people x % utilisation x days worked
6. If you have several service lines or products with different profit margins, budget each separately. This is essential if the mix of what you sell is changing
7. Factor in seasonality. Look at month by month sales trends for last three years and calculate what % each month’s sales contributed to the annual total. Apply that % to the annual sales figure you want to achieve to get the month by month sales budget for each month.
8. The more detail you have, the better you can assess actual performance, especially if some areas of the business are growing faster than others.

If you have a business with “lumpy sales”, ie relatively few sales of large value, it may be difficult to predict exactly when the sales will fall. The above advice still applies. Although you will smooth out the likely peaks and troughs, the budgeting process will help you manage your business better.

Budgeting Direct Costs

Direct costs are the costs that vary directly with sales volumes. Some general guidelines here:

1. The past is normally the best guide to the future, all other factors being equal
2. Calculate each direct cost as a percentage of the sales revenue total
3. If the gross profit % is different, break direct costs down for individual service lines/products
4. Factor in known or likely changes that might affect the gross profit %

Budgeting overheads

Overheads should be the most accurate figure in any budget as the majority of the next year’s costs will be similar to those in the current year. Factor in any important changes, such as rising headcount or moving premises and work out the financial effect.

You will always be wrong!

The one thing you know about any budget is that it will be wrong ….. but hopefully not too wrong. But that’s not a reason not to put one together. If you know what you’re aiming at, the greater the chance that your plan will succeed. You will have thought about what you need to do to create that success.

Don’t forget the cash

Finally, remember that you cannot put together a profit and loss budget or forecast without giving consideration to the cash implications. Budgeting is not a stand-alone process.

Do you need a capital injection? Is more working capital finance required? Can you manage the business better to generate cash quicker? These are the questions you should be asking and answering to ensure cash is available before you actually need it.

Business is currently a struggle for many business owners. First there was the impact of the economic recession. Now we all face rising costs as energy and commodity prices bite resulting in higher prices from suppliers.

So how should we pass those price rises on to our customers?

If we do nothing, price rises will cut into profit. This is dangerous since falling profit means that a business needs to generate higher sales volumes to cover its fixed costs, and less cash.

This is best shown by an example.

Let’s assume you have a business with sales of £1 million, a gross profit percentage (gross margin) of 40%, and overheads of £400,000. The business is trading at break-even, making neither profit nor loss.

If supplier costs rise by 5%, from £600,000 to £630,000, all else being equal the gross margin will fall from 40% to 37%. The business starts to make a loss of £30,000 per annum.

Assuming you can’t change to a lower cost supplier and you don’t want to absorb the extra cost which (in the example) would result in a net loss, the reaction of many business owners is to merely pass the value of the price rise on to the customer.

With costs increased by £30,000, the simple solution is to increase sales to £1,030,000, putting up prices by 3%. This will restore profitability to what it was at the start.

But this is the margin trap or error!

You see, although profitability has been restored, the original gross profit margin of 40% has not. You are now making gross profit of £400,000 on £1,030,000 of sales, but at a lower margin of 38.8%.

Declining margins are one of the key indicators in failing businesses. It’s therefore  vital that when suppliers increase their prices to you, you try to pass on the same percentage price increase to your customers to retain your starting profit margin.

So in the example given above, if your costs are now £630,000, you should increase your turnover by £50,000, through a 5% price increases to customers, in order to maintain the margin at 40%.

It may seem strange that you’re now making £20,000 extra net profit (£1,050,000 – £630,000 – £400,000). But if you don’t pass on price rises AND keep your up profit margin, it’s likely to be extremely damaging to your business over time.

For more Part Time FD London posts click the link…

Until next time ……

One thing that regularly amazes me is when cash flow problems catch a business owner completely unawares. They don’t see the storms brewing on the horizon.

One day it’s cash sunshine, the next the business is fighting for survival.

The sad thing is that this is normally not a one-off. Often this ‘blip’ happens month after month. Lurching from cash crisis to cash crisis is hugely demanding on a business owner’s time. It distracts focus from those areas of the business where the owner provides most contribution.

So what’s the real issue here?

The answer often is that the business owner’s focus is elsewhere.

Every business has what I call the cash stress points. These happen when large payments need to go out of the bank. The monthly payroll, VAT payments to HMRC, and the quarterly rent due to the landlord are prime examples. A monthly direct debit to a large supplier is another.

But there’s nothing surprising here. All these payments are entirely predictable. Why then, for many businesses do they cause the huge difficulties which can result in our Part Time Fds being called in to help?

What often happens is that business owners look on their cash position as a snapshot. They come up with an instant picture. At its most basic, it’s how much is in the bank that day when they log on.

If all’s well at the bank, then they get on with the “more important” stuff, finding customers, satisfying orders etc. But that’s the problem with cash. If you don’t keep on top of it, it comes back to bite you when you least expect it.

The thing is, cash flow should be managed like you’re shooting a movie, rather than taking a quick holiday snap shot!

The business owner as the film director (or in the alternative a finance director) needs to see ‘The BIG Picture’ and be in full control of the production. There’s a detailed script – dictating your cash position at all times.

What this means is that you can see what’s currently happening in your business cash story. More importantly you know what’s about to happen. You can then spot any future cash problems well in advance and take action early to head these off.

So go on…. Think of yourself as the movie director managing “The Cash Story” rather than a one-off snapshot artist!

Until next time.…

Trevor

Cash flow is a key measure of the value that you and your business deliver to other people’s lives.

If you’re not making enough money, or if your company is not producing enough profit or generating sufficient cash, then it’s possible that you and your company are not delivering sufficient value.

Think about it for a minute. What is it that the most consistently profitable, cash rich and successful companies have in common (other than a competent finance director!)? The answer is they give massive value which means that existing customers come back to buy from them again and again.

New customers are regularly attracted as these companies provide the goods and services that people want. Think Apple and the Apple Mac, the iPod and iTunes, the iPhone and most recently the iPad.

The only way to keep customers long term is to consistently deliver massive value.

But if your company is not generating the cash your efforts deserve, it doesn’t always mean that you, or the product or service you provide is not hugely valuable. It may be you’re not leveraging this value to the widest audience. Perhaps you’re not getting your message out.

If potential customers either don’t know of you, or don’t understand what you do and how you can help them achieve their goals, be these personal satisfaction or financial success, then you will not be making the money or profit that you should be.

Put another way – you will get everything in life and all the cash you want, if you help enough people to get what they want!

So think about what you or your company are doing now. Be honest with yourself. Are you being the best you can be in terms of what you give your customers? If not, what more could you do?

What are the most successful companies doing that you’re not?

If you have a bunch of satisfied customers who love what you do, but you’re still not making money, then the chances are you are not spreading your message widely enough. There are more customers out there who want what you’ve got, but they don’t know you exist.

Alternatively, have you undervalued your product or service and set your prices too low? Are you charging a “me too” price for something that is greatly superior to anything offered by your competitors?

The more you come up with good answers to the above questions, the more cash will flow in the right direction for  you.

Speak soon…

Are you one of the many business owners that support the cash flow of your customers by offering free banking facilities?  For example, you’re great at making the sale, but useless at collecting the cash?!

Well you’re not alone. This is a major problem that affects nearly all the businesses that I and my fellow Part Time FD‘s work with.

Why would you want to leave cash that is rightfully yours in somebody else’s bank account? Obviously you don’t. It doesn’t make sense for 3 main reasons:

1. It reduces the cash sitting in your business
2. It reduces the chances of your bank lending you money when they see you can’t collect the money you’re owed
3. It greatly increases the risk of loss to you were your customer to fail

So here’s how you can get around this problem…

It may seem strange, but the best time to ensure that collection of your debtors is not a problem is before you even make the sale. Let me explain what I mean.

Many business owners have the limiting belief that unless they give a customer a credit facility, normally 30 days, that customer won’t buy from them. Speak with any salesman and he’ll insist that the new customer just about to place a sizeable order won’t go ahead unless you allow him credit.

It’s all too easy to be suckered into thinking that there is only one way of doing business. Everyone who runs a business gives credit to customers, don’t they?

Well the simple answer is no, they don’t.

Think about your own business. I’m sure you have suppliers who insist on payment up front before delivery of their service or product. Yet you still buy from them. Why?

Here’s the reason. They (1) asked for the money up front, (2) they had a good reason, and (3) they were strong enough to maintain that stance and not to back down.

Perhaps they told you at the very start that this was a condition of doing business with them. More than this, the lack of a credit facility was not sufficient cause to stop you placing that order. How so?

Was it because they were the sole supplier of what you wanted? Was demand for their product or service very high? Did they have the lowest price or give a discount?

Was their product/service quality the best? Could they meet a tight deadline? Was there a money back guarantee?

Or were you just so excited you couldn’t stop yourself?

Whatever the circumstances, the giving and receiving of credit were not essential to their sale and your purchase. You were happy to enter the relationship paying cash up front.

So how might you apply this in your business? What’s stopping you asking for payment up front, or at the very least immediately following delivery of your service?

Many accountancy practices now ask for payment by monthly standing order. This helps spread evenly over 12 months the lump sum cost of preparing accounts and tax computation. But it also means that your money is in their bank even before most of the work is started.

Training and seminar companies often take payment at time of booking courses. It’s a precondition of attending the course, and certainly expected when booking online. Sometimes an early bird special price is promoted to stimulate bookings even earlier.

The key thing to remember when asking for payment up front is this. Always have a reason why you’re not giving credit and communicate it. As long as it’s a valid reason, many potential customers will accept this and forgo receiving credit.

And you know the great thing about going down this route with a customer from day 1? You set a precedent. It’s likely that every order that customer places into the future will be paid for on the same upfront basis.

That’s not to say you can’t make exceptions for your best customers and do them a favour from time to time. But what about the prospect who states point blank that they won’t ever do business with you except on credit terms?

Is that really the sort of customer you want? They obviously don’t value your service enough. And if you are successful in business, you’ve got to be adding value.

So stop bank rolling your customers. Get more cash in your business sooner. It will save you more than just the wasted hours chasing the money at later date.

Speak soon

Trevor Wilson

PS Here’s another Part Time FD London post…

Michael Gerber, author of “The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What To Do About It”, says that 40% of businesses fail in their first year. 80% fail within their first five years.

THEY RAN OUT OF CASH.

Don’t let this happen to you.

Here are 10 Rules to help you take control of your cash flow (if you don’t have a Part Time FD) so you can create the business you have always dreamed of.

1. Never Run Out of Cash

Running out of cash is the definition of failure in business. Make the commitment to do what it takes so it does not happen to you.

2. Cash Is King

It’s important to recognize that cash is what keeps your business alive. Manage it with the care and attention it deserves. It’s very unforgiving if you don’t.

Remember, Cash Is King, because No Cash = No Business.

3. Know the Cash Balance Right Now

What is your cash balance right now? It’s absolutely critical that you know exactly what your cash balance is.

Even the most intelligent and experienced person will fail if they are making business decisions using inaccurate or incomplete cash balances. That’s the reason why business failures are not limited to amateurs or people new to the business world.

4. Do Today’s Work Today

The key to keeping an accurate cash balance in your accounting system is to do today’s work today. When you do this, you will have the numbers you need – when you need them.

5. Either You Do the Work or Have Someone Else Do It

Here is a simple rule to follow to make sure you have an accurate cash balance on your books. You do the work or have someone else do it.

Those are the only two choices you have. The work must be done. It’s like mowing the lawn. You can’t just ignore it. Someone has to do it. That means either you do it or you have someone else do it.

6. Don’t Manage From the Bank Balance

The bank balance and the cash balance are two different animals. Rarely will the two ever be the same. Don’t make the mistake of confusing them.

It’s futile (and frustrating) to attempt to manage your cash flow using the bank balance. It’s a prescription for failure. You reconcile your bank balance. You don’t manage from it.

7. Know What You Expect the Cash Balance to be Six Months From Now

What do you expect your cash balance to be six months from now? This one question will transform the way you manage your business.

This question really gets to the heart of whether you are managing your business or whether your business is managing you.

8. Cash Flow Problems Don’t “Just Happen”

You would be shocked and amazed at the number of businesses that fail because the owner did not see a cash flow problem in time to do something about it.

The key is to always be able to answer the question – what do I expect my cash balance to be six months from now?

9. You Absolutely, Positively Must Have Cash Flow Projections

Cash flow projections are the key to making wise and profitable business decisions. They give you the answer to the all-important question from Rule # 7.

It’s impossible to run your business properly without them.

10. Eliminate Your Cash Flow Worries So You Are Free to Do
What You Do Best – Take Care of Customers and Make More Money

Use these 10 Rules to free yourself from cash flow worries. That way you can focus all your time and talents where you can make the most difference in your business.

If you’d like to get more help then download the “Cash blueprint” that experienced Part Time FD’s use to generate cash for service business owners.

If you needed to know what your cash balance was right now, would you look to your accounting system for the answer or would you call (or go online) with your bank?

Your answer to this question reveals a lot about whether you have the cash flow of your business under control or not.

The correct answer is to get your cash balance from your accounting system. Not the bank! But that’s easier said than done if you don’t have the benefit of a Part Time FD working behind the scenes.

You see the bank balance and the cash balance are two different animals. Rarely will the two ever be the same. Don’t make the mistake of confusing them.

It’s a prescription for failure and frustration. You reconcile your bank balance… you don’t manage from it.

A Quick Example

This example will highlight the difference between the two balances.

Let’s say you call the bank or go online to get your bank balance. The bank says you have £10,000 in your account.

What business decisions can you now make about the amount of money you have available to you? How can you use the information you just received from the bank to make important business decisions?

Can you go to the bank and withdraw the £10,000?

Let’s say you just received an invoice today for £9,000. The vendor indicated you could deduct a 2% discount (£180) if you pay within five days. Can you write the cheque today? Should you write the cheque now and save yourself £180?

The problem here is you don’t have enough information to answer these questions. You don’t have your cash balance yet. You only have the bank balance.

So What’s the Problem?

What if you had written a cheque for £8,000 three days ago? Has it cleared yet? Has it been deducted from the £10,000 balance you just got from the bank? If it hasn’t cleared yet, then an £8,000 cheque is on its way to the bank and will be deducted from your bank balance.

When it gets there, your bank balance will go from £10,000 to £2,000.

Look at the impact this has on the questions you just asked yourself.

Knowing there is an £8,000 cheque about to be deducted from your bank balance changes everything. Now you know you cannot withdraw the £10,000 and you can’t write a cheque for £9,000.

You can answer the questions now because you have a more accurate view of your real cash balance. Your accounting system would already have deducted the £8,000 when you wrote the cheque.

Your Accounting System has Your Cash Balance.

Your accounting system records all your cash receipts and all your cash disbursements. The accounting system is where the “books” of your company are maintained.

This is your bible. This is where your cash balance is maintained.

When you print a cheque from your accounting system, it is immediately deducted from your cash balance. Even as the cheque is sitting on the printer, it has been deducted from the cash balance on your books (the same thing applies if you use a manual cheque register).

It has been deducted from the books even before you have put it in an envelope to mail it.

Has it been deducted from your bank balance yet? No.

It will not be deducted from the bank until it is presented to the bank to be paid. You have to mail it to your vendor, they receive it and deposit it in their bank, the banking system routes it to your bank, and it is finally paid by your bank.

Now the cheque is deducted from your bank balance.

Save Yourself Time and Trouble

Don’t try to manage your business from the bank balance. It is an activity that will create mistakes, confusion and frustration.

Use the cash balance on your books to manage the cash flow of your business. Then reconcile that balance to the bank balance each month to make sure both balances are accurate.

This will help you avoid making some very serious and very expensive mistakes.

Another Alternative

Get the “Cash Blueprint” by (clicking the link) which was developed by Part Time FD’s with years of experience in helping service businesses like yours generate cash using a proven formula.

Trying to run a successful business without cash flow projections and without the experience of a Part Time FD, is like driving along on the motorway in a hail storm with no windscreen wipers.

You can’t see a foot in front of  your face and the rear-view mirror is a blur of white. You slow down to a snail’s pace. You’re just living in the hope that the storm subsides so you don’t end up in car wreck.

Not having reliable cash flow projections can give you the same feeling as I’ve just described. The feeling of being out of control and overwhelmed.

But with a cash flow you can trust your back on the road in the fast lane on a clear dry day!

So here is a simple step by step process you can use to create cash flow forecasts you can count on.

1. What’s Round The Corner Nearly Always Looks Like Where You’ve Just Come From…

The starting point for creating accurate cash flow projections is to have the last six months of actual results in front of you. You have a perfect view into what the cash flow is likely to be because you have the last six months of actual cash flow results there to look at.

You will be amazed at how this principle will help you create accurate projections. It also helps make the process so much easier and faster for you.

2. Consider What is Changing.

Is anything in the business changing right now in a significant way?

If you just negotiated a 10% discount in the cost of a product you re-sell to your customers, then you should consider whether it should be reflected in the month you will experience the reduced cost.

The key here is to make sure it is significant enough that you are certain of its impact. Otherwise, it would be better to see the impact in your actual results before including it in your projections.

3. Be Conservative.

One thing about a projection you can be certain of: it will not be perfectly accurate. You can be 100% certain that the actual results will vary somewhat from what you project.

The trick is to get close.

It’s like meeting someone for lunch. You agree to meet a good friend at a restaurant at 12:00. You set 12:00 as the time to meet so you will both be there at about the same time. You set a very specific time so there is no confusion.

Despite the precise time you set, you know that both of you will not show up at exactly 12:00. The only question is whether you will be there a little before 12:00 or a little after 12:00. Will you be early or will you be late?

It’s the same with your cash flow projections.

4. The 90% Test.

Here is a simple test that will work wonders for you.

Are you 90% sure the cash balances will come in at or better than you projected? The key here is the phrase “at or better than you projected”. If you can answer yes to this question with confidence, then your projections are sufficiently conservative.

5. Use the “Smell Test”.

Take a look at the projections again. Look closely at the resulting cash balances. Are they in line with your general expectations? Are they in line with the actual cash balances over the last six months?

Give the projected cash balances the “smell test”. The smell test is a quick way to make sure everything smells right. It’s a way to make sure nothing unusual or unexpected has made its way into your numbers.

It’s like picking up a gallon of milk from the refrigerator. It’s not a bad idea to give it the quick smell test to make sure you are not about to pour yourself a glass of soured milk (better to smell a problem in advance than taste it in the present, right!).

Taking Control of Your Cash

If you want more help on controlling or generating cash now’s the time to get your FREE copy of the “Cash Blueprint“. Just click on the link and we’ll email you the download link.

In my last Part Time FD post I was talking about  how you can’t trust your financial statements as far as you can throw them, when it comes to using them as a way of staying in control of your cash.

You see a profit in your financial statements does not mean you’re generating cash. And in the same breath, if you’re ‘negative’ on the P&L, it doesn’t mean to say you’re not cash positive.

Take Control of Your Most Precious Asset

So what do you need to do if you can’t trust the company’s P&L spread sheet.

Well the answer is to create a new spread sheet but in this one you want to have a monthly (weekly if things are really all over the place)  six month schedule of your actual and projected revenues and expenses in the context of your starting and ending cash balances.

Make sure you lay things out so you can easily see all of the months next to each other with the actuals inputted at the end of each month leaving the old projections there for posterity and to show you how you’re doing in terms of getting your cash flow right or wrong. Obviously you’ll always need to update the sheet so you have your projected cash balances laid out for the next 6 months

This kind of thing makes your cash flow stand off the page and stops it being confused with other financials that you keep i.e. the P&L.

This type of activity is just one of the secrets to getting a real handle on where your business is in terms of the cash it is or isn’t generating.

I have to say this type of exercise is invaluable and is just one of the things you can do to get on top of the cash flow in your business.

If you would like to learn more about taking control of your cash situation as well as how to generate cash for your business, get our FREE “Cash Blueprint” now by clicking on the link.

Speak soon

Trevor