I had been getting anxious emails from one of my clients for a couple of days. Each day the anxiety seemed to be getting higher and higher. She was worried about the future of her business. (Aren’t we all!) It seemed like every night she’d wake up, and her mind imagined another doomsday scenario that…
I got a lot of reaction to my post about sweating out payroll; it seems that a lot of us are anxious about getting our cash in the door. Here are five ways to improve the cash flow of any business! 1. Improve Your Payment Terms Setting favorable payment terms with your clients is the…
When I was in the business of buying entrepreneurial companies, the first thing we’d look at to determine the value is the cash flow. If you want the option to sell your business someday — it might make sense for you to pay attention to your cash flow now! Most businesses are valued based on…
When you first start your business, it’s important to “follow your gut” because you don’t have any track record and your numbers don’t point anywhere. Your “gut” is your true north. In the fog and confusion of a start-up, you need something “steady” to hold onto, and your gut instinct is as close as we…
On Tuesday we talked about my magic spreadsheet that helps answer all kind of questions for my clients. It’s like a crystal ball that reveals the future! But I have trouble getting clients to take it seriously — they frequently avoid engaging in creating one, and once built, it can sit unused. Why? Well, here’s…
What if I told you that I had a magic spreadsheet? What’s magic about it? It is like a crystal ball for your business–you can use it to see the future! My spreadsheet can tell you: All of that from one spreadsheet?!?!? Sounds pretty neat, doesn’t it? It is! It is one of the most…
As a business owner, we all have more than one job (many of us carry 4 or 5); but two of those jobs are the same for every business owner. The first is being a great leader in your business. Whether you are the CEO/President, or a partner who shares the leadership, one of your…
We talk a lot about budgets at Anchor Advisors. In fact, we sell them so much you might think we stand to make a commission on them! “This budget here … it’s the answer to all your financial woes. Look at all the bells and whistles. It can keep your business on track by helping…
When I was a corporate drone, I hated budgeting. It seemed like a charade, a game where we all had to guess what answers the big boss wanted. We inevitably failed, and the big boss would send back a budget that had nothing to do with what we had just spent hours slaving over and,…