{"id":2639,"date":"2020-03-09T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/?p=2639"},"modified":"2021-11-19T00:37:21","modified_gmt":"2021-11-19T06:37:21","slug":"avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoid These Common Small Business Cash Flow Mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Getting your business off the ground takes time, patience and a lot of capital to get started; finding and maintaining clients is a whole different story. If you\u2019re not a professional accountant, managing your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/bookkeeping-basics-small-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">business\u2019s finances<\/a> can be a new and overwhelming process.<\/p>\n<p>Low cash flow is one of the biggest challenges for many small business owners, and it\u2019s also one of the most common reasons <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfib.com\/content\/resources\/start-a-business\/why-do-small-businesses-fail\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>why a business might fail<\/em><\/a>. That\u2019s why it\u2019s essential to prepare for potential lapses in operating cash, periods of lower sales and unforeseen or unavoidable expenses.<\/p>\n<p>With a little research and a couple options on hand, you\u2019ll be better prepared for the inevitable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessbacker.com\/?post_type=post&amp;p=18412\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ebbs and flows<\/a> of running a small business. Here are five common small business cash flow issues, and tips on how to avoid them.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>1. Overspending on Supplies and Space<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It may be tempting to source trendy artwork, include high-end amenities and even purchase new hardware and workstations. But brand-new supplies and a larger than necessary footprint come with a hefty price tag.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of shelling out for top-of-the-line furniture, supplies and materials, aim for secondhand or gently used commercial equipment. Look for low-cost office d\u00e9cor, or hold off on perfecting the space if clients don\u2019t visit your location until you have a bit more room in your budget.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>2. Carrying Excessive Inventory<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Old or excessive goods can be a liability for your business. Inventory that\u2019s not liquid, or easily sold, can create a cash flow issue when you have too much on your shelves. Finding the right balance of inventory that you can actually sell without running out of stock is key.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tips to Manage Your Inventory:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Institute a First In, First Out system, using the oldest products first.<\/li>\n<li>Create a recurring inventory audit schedule. Weekly or daily inventory counts may be necessary depending on your enterprise.<\/li>\n<li>Frequently review your sales reports and forecasts to determine any possible upcoming jumps or lulls; adjust your order or production accordingly.<\/li>\n<li>Clearance sales can help you quickly move stock in case you accumulate too much.<\/li>\n<li>Consider eliminating poorly selling products.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>3. Letting Invoices Go Unpaid<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>If you operate on an invoice-based payment system, late or unpaid bills can seriously stall your operating cash. Switch to upfront payments or request a down payment wherever possible. You can also offer early-pay discounts and incentives if an invoice system is integral to your business model.<\/p>\n<p>Another way to safeguard your finances and cash flow would be to perform business credit checks before working with a potential client or partner; it can show you whether or not a certain establishment has a good payment history.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>4. Operating Without Access to Business Credit<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Since you\u2019ll likely have a period of time in which your operating expenses exceed your available cash, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/line-of-credit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">business line of credit<\/a> is an option to help you in times of low cash flow. With quick access to funds and the ability to draw just the amount you need, revolving credit is a solid solution for low cash flow.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>5. Extra-Budgetary Spending <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Spending beyond <a href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/business-budget-calculator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">your budget<\/a>, or not following a budget at all, is a fast way to wind up with a low cash flow. While you can\u2019t always plan for unforeseen expenditures, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/equipment-loans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">vital new equipment<\/a> or training a new employee, it\u2019s a good idea to create annual projected budgets that incorporate different sales volumes and operating expenses.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s good practice to periodically <a href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/check-your-business-budget\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">review your operating budget<\/a> and adjust, if necessary, to stay on target. Beyond your main fiscal plan, projected budgets are intended to help prepare your business finances for the unexpected; knowing where you can reduce spending can prepare you to make quick moves in times of low cash flow, lagging sales or an economic shift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting your business off the ground takes time, patience and a lot of capital to get started; finding and maintaining &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":2640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[609,612],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-small-business-finance","category-small-business-trends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Avoid These Common Small Business Cash Flow Mistakes - Headway Capital Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Managing your business\u2019s finances can be a new and overwhelming process. Here are five common small business cash flow issues and tips on how to avoid them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Avoid These Common Small Business Cash Flow Mistakes - Headway Capital Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Managing your business\u2019s finances can be a new and overwhelming process. Here are five common small business cash flow issues and tips on how to avoid them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Headway Capital Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-09T13:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-19T06:37:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/20-00129_05_SMB_HC-Top-X-Cash-Flow-Mistakes-Entrepreneurs-Make-and-how-to-avoid-them-1a01.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bonnie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bonnie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Avoid These Common Small Business Cash Flow Mistakes - Headway Capital Blog","description":"Managing your business\u2019s finances can be a new and overwhelming process. Here are five common small business cash flow issues and tips on how to avoid them.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Avoid These Common Small Business Cash Flow Mistakes - Headway Capital Blog","og_description":"Managing your business\u2019s finances can be a new and overwhelming process. Here are five common small business cash flow issues and tips on how to avoid them.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/","og_site_name":"Headway Capital Blog","article_published_time":"2020-03-09T13:00:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-19T06:37:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/20-00129_05_SMB_HC-Top-X-Cash-Flow-Mistakes-Entrepreneurs-Make-and-how-to-avoid-them-1a01.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bonnie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bonnie","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/"},"author":{"name":"Bonnie","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5793b414c3261c1d488c20d223b88405"},"headline":"Avoid These Common Small Business Cash Flow Mistakes","datePublished":"2020-03-09T13:00:35+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-19T06:37:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/"},"wordCount":645,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/20-00129_05_SMB_HC-Top-X-Cash-Flow-Mistakes-Entrepreneurs-Make-and-how-to-avoid-them-1a01.jpg","articleSection":["Small Business Finance","Small Business Trends"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/","name":"Avoid These Common Small Business Cash Flow Mistakes - Headway Capital Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/avoid-common-small-business-cash-flow-mistakes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/20-00129_05_SMB_HC-Top-X-Cash-Flow-Mistakes-Entrepreneurs-Make-and-how-to-avoid-them-1a01.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-09T13:00:35+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-19T06:37:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5793b414c3261c1d488c20d223b88405"},"description":"Managing your business\u2019s finances can be a new and overwhelming process. 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