There is no doubt that we are in a period of unprecedented economic uncertainty. Everyone I speak to is worried, but I am truly seeing the best in people as we all lean on each other for support. Don’t feel like you are on your own – please contact us and we’ll help you with some tactical plans for your business.
We are helping clients work through this each day. Please reach out to me at john@businessaccountantsperth.com.au and tag a business owner that needs to see this.
Sadly, there is no way to sugar coat it. It’s going to be tough for a while. In business, when we do anything meaningful, we will always face adversity and challenges. Many of us have stared down the barrel of an empty bank balance before and no doubt many of us will again. A lot of us are probably kept awake at night wondering how we will make this month’s payroll and thinking about the unknown.
I know this is hard to hear but please stay positive and keep on going. We are stronger than we think. First of all, we need to own the situation we are in and then we need to dig deep for strength and lean on our support network.
The following are some of the discussions I am having with my clients who are fighting back.
My first post in this two part series briefly talks about the need to understand where we are currently, and then look into the future (as much as anyone can right now) to see what could be the worst possible outcome to your business and bank balance if you do nothing.
The good news is – YOU CAN DO SOMETHING.
TAKE BACK CONTROL
In many situations, it’s the unknown and the thinking about something that is worse than the actual outcome. You are better off knowing what is coming (as much as you can). That way, you might be able to do something about it or, at least, mitigate the damage.
So, I would recommend starting with a cash flow forecast (get help with this). Use last year as a starting point.
This will be different for every business and industry but as a VERY SIMPLE example of what you could do:
- Decrease income by 30-40%.
- Increase expenses by maybe 5%.
- Leave monthly loan commitments as they are.
- Increase the time period for you to get paid by your customers.
- Include an amount for bad debts relating to customers who may not pay.
When all the numbers are plugged in, this should give you a very high overview of the following:
- Your future predicted income, expenses, profit and movement in your bank balance over the period we are looking at.
From there you could go further into the weeds to see it at a more granular level.
What does the future look like for your business? If you follow the above guidelines, it will no doubt look bad initially, but at least we now have visibility and can come up with a plan.
FORMULATE A PLAN TOGETHER
There will be many ways to move forward from here and again it will depend on your business size, industry, your cash war chest and, probably most of all, your ability to change your thinking and your actions from last month.
In my next post, I will talk more about this and show you how we change the predicted worst case scenario position above into something that is a lot more palatable. This will give you more confidence that you can absolutely work through and come out the other side, stronger, leaner and set up for massive success as the world rebuilds.
I am here to help. No one expects you to know how to build a cash flow forecast. This should not be your strength or the reason you went into business. Please reach out to me for a highly confidential discussion on +61 449 083 740 or email me at john@businessaccountantsperth.com.au.