Every single month, I sit down with Matt. Most of you don’t know him, but he is a key reason IWBNIN has continued to grow and expand. You see, Matt is our Financial Administrator. He manages all of the finances for our businesses. He and his team manage the regular financial management dealings of a business: payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivables, bank account reconciliation, credit card reconciliation, and governmental filings. However, Matt helps with a monthly task which we’ve found to be vital to our success – monthly cash flow planning.

For our two businesses with employees, we sit down at the beginning of each and every month to plan our financial decisions.

Here is the process we utilize:

1. 12 month rolling plan  We have a rolling 12 month plan. This means at the end of each month, we add a new month at the end of the plan to ensure we are always looking forward for an entire year.
2. Evaluate last month  We review last month’s plan to identify any major deviations – both positive and negative. This intelligence is utilized to continually improve our planning.
3. Plan next month  We make changes to this month based upon known information.
4. Review the next 12 months  We make changes to future months based upon known information.
5. Make business critical decisions  We utilize the cash flow plan to determine when we can spend money for larger initiatives.
6. Live by the plan throughout the month  Once the plan is finalized, the financial team follows it. If an unusual opportunity presents itself or major expense crops up, it generates a conversation amongst company leadership to determine an appropriate course of action.

Here’s how we’ve found the 12 month cash flow planning process to be helpful:

1. Prepare for major financial challenges  As with any business, there are cycles. Some months are higher revenue while other months cause business owners to wonder if their business is going to fail. These cycles can create cash flow crunches if not carefully planned for. Viewing 12 months out allows our leadership to make better decisions.
2. Prepare for known, upcoming non-monthly expenses  This type of planning forces a leader to think longer-term. As a result, known upcoming non-monthly expenses can be accommodated with ease by ensuring appropriate accrual accounts are established. Nothing makes me happier than to know the money is stored up for estimated quarterly tax payments, car repairs & replacement, annual software licenses, etc.
3. Communication  Monthly reviews create a “trip point” that forces communication to happen regarding the financial and general affairs of the organization.

Want to get rid of a bunch of financial headaches? I highly recommending instituting a monthly cash flow planning meeting!

This post is part of a Small Business Series here at the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. Click HERE to read more of the posts in the series.

Having successfully started a few small businesses and acquiring another, I can confidently say that it takes sacrifice to make the dream of a small business come alive.

I worked the equivalent of two full-time jobs for an entire year while I Was Broke. Now I’m Not. launched. I would work all week and then jump into a car and drive to some distant place to speak about personal finances. Usually, I would end up spending more money on gas, hotel, and food than I would receive in income from the event!

As I share in my book, Oxen, you can’t load up a baby ox as soon as it is born, or it will die. Yet, many people do this very thing when birthing their small business. They finance the entire start-up costs and then quit their job as soon as they launch the business – forcing the business to pay them a salary from day one. They “load up the baby ox” with all of the costs of debt, salaries, and rent – causing even great business ideas to collapse before they really had a chance to succeed.

It takes sacrifice. Here are 3 key sacrifices you can expect to make when launching your small business dream.

3 Key Sacrifices Business Owners Make

1. Time With Family  Starting a business is not a 9am to 5pm, 5 day a week job. Curb the impact of this by being very intentional in the time you do have to spend with your family. Another tip is to include them in the work and decisions of the business. For example, I bring my daughter along with me to help with speaking events. She manages the resource table. Better yet, we have the chance to talk during all of the plane and car rides.
2. Money  People who are launching their small business venture will have to invest substantial amounts of money in the hopes of a financial return. There is no guarantee of success. I’ve found that investing my own money into the business helped me be very attentive to business expenses. It seems to be much easier to spend borrowed money.
3. Other Dreams  Because of the enormous consumption of time that a new small business demands, many other hobbies and passions are placed on hold. Saying “yes” to starting a business will mean one must say “no” to other desires.

For those who have successfully started your own small business, what are some other sacrifices you have had to make? Please share in the comments?

This post is part of a Small Business Series here at the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. Click HERE to read more of the posts in the series.

One of the top mistakes small business owners make is to intermingle their business expenses with their personal accounts. This can create many issues including:

• Difficulty in identifying true business profitability. When personal and business expenses are in the same accounts, it becomes very difficult (impossible?) to readily determine the company profits or losses.
• Misuse of company money for personal expenses. Whether intentional or unintentional, this can erode financial margin that is critical for the viability of the business.
• Difficulty in selling the business. Even if the business is profitable, it can cause potential buyers to become wary of the true performance of the company.
• Drive the tax preparer nuts. I’ve had conversations with tax preparers who find it nearly impossible to prepare a clean tax return because of intermingled business and personal income and expenses. This can lead to issues with the IRS later. That is never a good thing!
• Frustrates the family bill payer. When the person in the family who is responsible for paying the bills must balance business bills with personal bills, it can cause them to become very frustrated. So frustrated that smoke may start coming out of their ears!

If you are running your business expenses through your personal accounts, invest a few hours to separate them. The bill payer and tax preparer will thank you, and you will be able to more readily assess the performance of your business!

This post is part of a Small Business Series here at the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. Click HERE to read more of the posts in the series.