As a business owner, you know that having a positive cash flow is essential to the success of your company. A positive cash flow indicates that money is coming into your business faster than it is going out. This gives you the financial stability and flexibility to invest in new projects, hire additional employees, and expand your customer base. But what are the long-term benefits of having a positive cash flow? Let’s take a look.
INCREASED REVENUE
Having a positive cash flow means that more money is coming into your business than going out. When this happens, you can reinvest that money into areas of your business like marketing or growing staff to increase revenue. By investing in areas that will bring more money into your business, you can grow the overall value of your company over time.
IMPROVED CREDIT SCORE
When you have a positive cash flow in your business, it shows lenders that you are responsible with managing expenses and generating enough income to pay them back on time. This can help improve your credit score so if you ever need additional financing for future investments or projects, lenders will be more likely to approve loan applications or give favorable terms and interest rates.
BETTER FINANCIAL PLANNING
Having a consistent positive cash flow also helps make budgeting easier because you have an accurate picture of how much money is coming into and going out of the company each month. This gives you better insight when planning finances for upcoming projects or expenses so you can make informed decisions based on realistic expectations rather than guesswork or estimates.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFITS AND CASH FLOW
When most people think about the health of their business, they think about how much money they are making in profits. While profit is an important metric and indicator of success, it doesn’t always tell the full picture. A company may report high profits but could still be struggling due to a lack of cash flow.
This can happen if there are large accounts receivable balances that haven’t been paid yet or if there are long lead times on customer payments. In these cases, profits may look good on paper but the reality is that there isn’t enough actual cash coming in to cover all of the expenses associated with running the business. This is where having a positive cash flow becomes critical; without it, businesses will struggle to stay afloat.
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CASH FLOW
The best way to improve your cash flow is by reducing how long it takes customers to pay their invoices and increasing how quickly you pay out expenses and bills for goods and services rendered. Of course, this isn’t always easy or straightforward as customers may not be willing or able to pay quicker than 30 days or you may need more time to review bills before paying them out.
However, providing incentives such as discounts for paying earlier can encourage customers to do so while also allowing your company more flexibility when paying out its own bills. Additionally, automating billing processes whenever possible can help streamline the process while improving accuracy and efficiency in collecting payments from customers as well as processing outgoing payments from vendors or contractors.
As business owners, managing our companies’ cash flow should always remain top-of-mind. With proper planning and implementation of strategies such as automation, incentives for early payment, and careful monitoring of accounts receivables and payables, we can ensure that our companies maintain a positive cash flow that will allow us to continue growing our businesses for years to come!
It also has numerous benefits; increased revenue, improved credit scores, and better financial planning are just some of them. It provides an extra cushion for unexpected expenses and lets owners feel confident about their financial future as they plan for growth and expansion opportunities down the line.
If improving your cash flow is one of your goals this year, now is the perfect time to get started! Give our team a call to see how we can help.
Live with purpose,
Kristian Livolsi and the Business Growth Mindset Team
