Any brave souls who have taken the leap to start a business can appreciate that behind the shiny façade it’s actually just a lot of hard work, sweat and tears.

It’s often complex and all-consuming – demanding much more from us than we ever anticipated.

The perplexities are only made worse when you attempt to manoeuvre through the murky waters between money in [revenue] and money out [expenses].

It’s at these moments you’ll find yourself asking a critical question - “how can I take this business from good to great” or in fact “how can I keep this business going at all”?

A 2011 ASIC survey conducted on Australian corporations revealed the shocking plight of a newly launched business.

This glaring survey indicates new business owners have an urgent agenda - to get engage strategy and firmly manage cash flow.

This will hugely impact the likelihood that a business will survive the 3 year mark. You may have heard the phrase ‘cash is king’.

That is true because, in most cases, without cash the best ideas can easily be extinguished and so to manage business ‘between the lines’ is to protect your cash flow.

Once perfected, a delicate balancing act of revenue and expenses will ultimately ensure your expenses don’t eat away at your cash flow.

It requires a confident understanding of what a good business does and what a great business does – a constant seeking to be strategic with cash flow.

An entrepreneur I knew was passionately pursuing his business vision and had a refreshing point of difference from his competitors.

Gradually gaining market share, his business was turning over a comfortable $400,000 annually.

Sounds great right?

Unfortunately, he was accomplishing this at the sake of cash flow.

Collecting a debt of $300,000 in its first 2 years, the business was fast becoming a statistic.

Careful review between the lines revealed the true consequence of over spending, poor communication and insufficient strategy around cash flow.

The owner had created the perfect storm and now had only 2 options: close the door or seek help to create cash flow strategy.

Choosing the latter, Number_2 were approached and were able to put forward an uncompromising solution.

Solid methodology and strategic direction saw continued revenue growth of $1.2 million and cash flow functioning as it should to impact the debt.

In outsourcing the cash flow management, the owner was freed to once again pursue sales and ensure the strategic vision of his business was kept intact.

Game on!

I challenge you take a health check of your business and see if you are strategically managing your cash flow!

(A) (Australian Securities and Investments Commission report on corporate insolvencies for 2011-2012)