My husband and I are business partners with my son, Bryan. He purchased a franchise, in October 2007 and started the business from the ground up.
The first couple of years were financially and emotionally tough. This was during the downturn of the economy and my son Ken, (Bryan's brother) passed away.
The business opened in February 2008 with enough cash to operate for the first 8 months, or so we thought with the projections we created. Revenue was not pouring in as we had projected. With revenue not supporting the business expenses, Bryan had to stop taking a pay check in June 2008.
The challenge - growing a business to be cash flow positive. 2009 sales were growing at a snails pace and rent was increasing 3%, beginning March 1st. OUCH!
Bryan trimmed expenses down to the bare minimum. For this franchise business, there were not very many expenses. Yet the rent was running at about 45%. YOWZA!! That was the only expense left to trim down.
In February 2009, we went to our landlord (at the time, that's another story on a different day) and asked for a reduction in rent.
YES, you ask, if you don't ask, you don't get.
He said "No", "however you can pay us half rent, and then pay us back with interest at the second half of the year." We explained that Bryan stopped paying himself in May of 2008 and we needed his help. The landlord explained times were tough for them as well. That was the best they could do at the time. We said, OK, we will make it work, sales needed to grow.
Sales were growing, yet not fast enough to pay the increased rent and salary for the owner.
When July rolled around, the business started paying back the landlord in increments of $1,000 a month, or more when the cash was there. However, when cash was still tight, my business was able to provide a loan when bills needed to be paid. I'm not talking much here. $1,000 here or there.
In November 2009 when the property taxes were due, there was enough left over at the end of the month to pay the taxes. Here comes December 2009 , at the home stretch of paying back the landlord. We were not quite there, so one more time we provided a small loan to pay off the balance to the landlord. I sent him a letter explaining the business was not in a financial position to pay the balance of the interest, yet the principal was paid off. Whewwww. What a relief. It felt good to ahve that behind us.
We went back to the landlord again in January 2010 requesting a reduction of rent, he conceded and lowered the rent to a very reasonable amount. From then on the business has been carrying itself with Bryan receiving a pay check again.
In 2011 the business began paying back the loans my business provided.
So last night, Bryan and I sat down to review January's cash #'s to balance the cash account, compare sales from the previous year and see what was left over to pay down the business credit card. Once we confirmed the cash ending balance, Bryan took a HUGE sigh of relief and said, - let' put $1k in savings, pay down the credit card by $2k and leave the balance in the account for February.
What are the benefits for managing cash daily; peace of mind, the facts jack, (knowledge) the ability to know what is needed to pay down your business credit card or vendors and place money in savings.
Here's how to get started, track cash daily with the 12 month check register tool, and cash management map. Enter in deposits daily, NO slacking, and transactions daily. Once you build rhythm and see common recurring monthly charges, such as rent, utilities, loan payment(s), commisions and payroll, make it easy for yourself and copy over to the next month.
What will you learn about your cash needs for your business?
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Warmly -
Debbie Rosenfelt
Chief Heart Officer
