Finance Tips for Business Owners

According to Eric Siu, CEO of Single Grain and Founder, Growth Everywhere, there are 5 major financial tips every business owner should adopt:

1. Don’t’ Procrastinate. Time is money.  Procrastinating on getting your accounting work is bad for your business.  Your bookkeeping needs don’t go away they just increase and before you know it you’ll have a big mess to dig yourself out of. Siu suggests breaking everything down into small categories and tackling them invoice by invoice, category by category. You won’t become overwhelmed and are more likely to keep up with the pace.
2. Know your sales cycles. Do you have a steady stream of sales or are you impacted by seasonal sales spikes and slowing conversions after the season is over.  For instance, a business-to-consumer retailer that sells $20 items, sales cycle is likely fast enough that having a cash buffer on hand is less of a concern. But a business-to-business company whose sales cycles last months, or even years, having a three – to – four month cash cushion can mean the difference between being able to weather the long periods before revenue from past sales arrive and having to fold early because your cash has dried up.
3. Ask for discounts. This one is self-explanatory.  The more you can save on costs the better.