photo credit: Aspen/Snowmass
WHAT DOES IT TAKE?
What does it take to get your business stable and reliable? And how long does it take?
WHAT WOULD GET ME THERE?
In large part we measure small business success by the revenue and profit generated. The business is not stable until you can count on the revenue being steady and that the cost to produce the revenue is less than the revenue so that there is a profit.
So we need regular revenue, not a large chunk of revenue twice a year and nother in between. And we need enough gross profit (revenue minus cost) to pay the expenses and also pay ourselves on a monthly basis.
CONSTANT CASH FLOW
Constant cash flow – that is the ticket. And just how do you arrange that? You need to master the process of securing good customers on a continual basis. It is great to stumble on a good client once in a while, but that will not provide the stability needed. Your ability to market to find the best prospects, and then your ability to listen to the prospect to determine if their needs can be satisfied with your solutions, and then your skill in closing the sale, providing the products/services, and collecting the bill. When you master the ability to do these things, you can have a stable and study business. It is not the size or how great each customer turns out to be, it is your ability to keep improving the process until you are very good at it! We will cover more about the parts of this process in the next few blogs.
Pic – creative commons from Flikr – Eadaoin Flynn
