When you started your business, you may have thought you were going to help people.  Change the world.  Enjoy working at home.  Make a good income.  Have control over your life as a self-employed entrepreneur. 

But what are you really doing?  Checking the bank account to see if you have enough cash to pay your rent.  Cringing at the pile of receipts to input into QuickBooks.  Waking up the middle of the night, wondering if that big client paid you on time.  Hoping that marketing campaign or coaching program will pay for itself.  Getting out your personal credit card to pay for a business expense, yet again.  Opening up a surprise tax bill from Uncle Sam. 

Is managing the fluctuating income and expenses of your small business an ongoing struggle for you?  It may be because you are falling for one of the classic mistakes small business owners make when dealing with the "numbers" side of their business. 

Cash Flow Mistake #1 - Ignoring the Problem, Wishing It Would Go Away.

If this is your mistake, you know who you are.  The mail is piled up on the corner of your desk, unopened.  You have no idea how much credit card debt you are in — and don't want to know.  You're working hard, busy all the time — but have no idea how much income you made last month. 

You don't know how much a lead, or a client, is worth to you.  Six months of receipts sit in a file folder, waiting to be filed or inputted into a bookkeeping system.  Whether you are going to be able to pay your next quarterly tax deposit, and how much it should be, is a big unknown. 

Here the Truth:  It is not as bad as you think.  Even if you are hemorrhaging money & have credit card debt, it's not as bad as you think — because as soon as you know the truth, you can do something about it.  And if your business is doing pretty good, just a few small but powerful tweaks can take you from "pretty good" to six figures, or even a million-dollars-plus this year.

Afraid you can't do it by yourself?  Hire a bookkeeper or virtual assistant to input all your income & expenses and to create financial reports for you each week and/or month.  Even I don't input my data anymore — you should spend your time analyzing, not typing. 

(part 2 to come next week …)