Did you know that cash flow management is mostly a mental game?

Yes, you need to do all of the numbers, the pluses and minuses, but that's the easy part of cash flow. The hard part is the management of your cash flow. Here are some cash flow management activities that take emotional intelligence and clear thinking to get right:

1. Confidence in projections
2. Good relationships and open communications with vendors
3. Creative solutions for bringing cash in faster
4. Ideas to pay vendors later
5. Working with all stakeholders (employees, vendors, creditors, etc.)

A key observation about business owners in financial trouble is they can't handle the situation emotionally. They don't prioritize or make decisions well. I help them make decisions.

Do you need help implementing a cash flow management system? Call or message me on WhatsApp (+1.510.3566).

What do you think is the hardest part of implementing a cash management system? Let me know.

E-mail me your comments at...

What's the one thing that business owners never talk about when I ask them to tell me about their business?

Cash management.

I don’t blame them. They didn’t start their business to manage cash. They started their business to do something they really enjoy and get paid for it – like create websites, sell real estate, practice law, do collision repair, or any of a million things that people enjoy doing to make money.

When I start working with a business that has a cash crunch and may not survive, I first work with the business owner’s mindset.

I help them understand that while managing their cash isn’t what they want to do, it will keep their business alive so they can do what they love to do. It allows them to spend more time and energy on what they love, but only after their cash management systems are in place.

Check out my article about 5 Key Mindsets.

Want to talk about managing cash in your business?

Then tell me, what's your biggest cash management...

What's the one thing that business owners never talk about when I ask them to tell me about their business?

Cash management.

I don’t blame them. They didn’t start their business to manage cash. They started their business to do something they really enjoy and get paid for it – like create websites, sell real estate, practice law, do collision repair, or do any of a million things that people enjoy doing to make money.

When I start working with a business that has a cash crunch and may not survive, I first work with the business owner’s mindset.

I help them understand that while managing their cash isn’t what they want to do, it will keep their business alive so they can do what they love to do. It allows them to spend more time and energy on what they love, but only after their cash management systems are in place.

Want to talk about managing cash in your business? Then tell me, what's your biggest cash management challenge?

E-mail me your comments at...

The first time I went skiing as a teenager I watched my classmate beautifully ski down the hill and, in slow motion, turn gently to the left and ski into a barn.

The barn wasn't anywhere near the bottom of the run. It was way far away and posed no danger to anyone. But as the instructor shouted "Stay away from the barn!" her turn became sharper until she was pointed directly at the big, red barn!

I suspect that her problem was that she focused on "not hitting the barn" instead of going straight.

That's a lot like when in business we are focused on preventing a result instead of focusing on the result we do want. We often end up "hitting the barn" instead of getting the result.

When I ski and I'm moving fast, I always need to focus on where I need to go and I consciously block thinking about obstacles that could cause danger. I know the danger is there, but I focus on where I want to go.

The same in business. Focus on where you want to go.

I'd love to hear any comments you've had, or...

When people think of cash management, most don’t think about attitudes or mindset. The business owners that manage their cash recognize that faith, gratitude, and thankfulness area critical for sustaining good cash management during bad times and good.

The inspiration for this blog post came to me during the American holiday of Thanksgiving. It is a day where we focus on what we are grateful for. People who are doing well have a lot to be grateful for. People who have had a difficult year often take a step back and reflect on what went well and small blessings in their lives that make the challenges easier to bear.

So, on Thanksgiving I reflected on what I was grateful for, including my work on The Cash Management Project. I reflected on the companies I have worked with and realized that the business owners in real trouble with their cash had a lot in common. They:

• Loved their businesses
• Had serious problems with accurate bookkeeping
• Used financial reports that didn’t...

A business owner’s mindset about cash management is the difference between having enough cash and struggling to meet expenses every day.

When I meet a business owner who struggles with cash flow, I ask, “Tell me about your business?” They can say whatever first comes to mind, and they usually tell me the good things, starting with whatever their business is known for and what’s going well.

• “Our unique products are awesome! We can’t make enough!”
• “We carry the best selection in the area and have service to back up the sales.”
• “We have a contract with the power company that others would kill for.”
• “Our systems can handle a lot more volume. We’ve figured this out to the last detail.”

People talk forever about the wonderful parts of their businesses. Those areas that the business was built around- marketing, products, software, services… anything that helped them grow sales.

The One Thing that...