Leaving your job to start your own business can be scary when you no longer have the security of a regular income to support household expenses. Making sales, turning a profit and getting cash in the door fast are now your top priorities. It may come as a shock to those just starting out in business that you don’t start earning the same income from day one that you did when employed. It does take time to build a business. There’s a reason only 20% of businesses make it to 5 years – the owner doesn’t have enough cash left over for them to live off! You need to go from start-up to revved up fast, if being in business long term is your goal. I started my own business a few years ago and have learnt a few things along the way.

Our case study about how Adrienne used the principles of Mike Michalowicz’s book, Profit First, really showed how cashflow is king. By following the recommendations of the book, Adrienne transformed her cashflow and made it through COVID. If you are wondering how to improve yours and not quite sure you have the time to read the book, here is my review of Profit First. The essence of the book comes down to 4 profit-management principles…

Inspired by tidying queen, Marie Kondo, in our last blog post, we looked at the basic benefits of spring cleaning your business . Now you’ve let go of what you don’t need, and created some order around what you’re keeping, let’s go deeper into organising the business-specific categories. To recap, in her book, Kondo suggests a specific order to sorting your categories, from easy, low value items, through to rare or high value items that evoke an emotional response. Sorting your items this way makes it easier and less painful, so you’re more likely to commit to completing the task. With that in mind, I’ve devised the following order to help simplify sorting your business categories…