ArtShine: Cash Flow is King in your Business

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Cash Flow is King in your Business

“Cash is King” is a phrase we've all heard before and sometimes over a conversation. However, to a creative business owner, this phrase should change to “Cash Flow is King”.

In the Art & Design business, it is more critical than ever for an artist or a designer to monitor his or her cash flow. It's doesn't matter whether you have an existing business, or a new start-up, it's vital to understand the financials yourself and not "pass the buck" either such as leaving it to the book keeper or an accountant. You ARE your business and wouldn't you want to learn and monitor the cash flow yourself firstly before you delegate to others?

Here is what you need to do...

New Starter:

· Learn the cash flow concept

· Create a system that works for your creative business.

· Create a cash flow projection for the next twelve months.

· Define your Break Even point

Existing business:

Ask yourself these questions:

When was the last time you ran a cash flow projection for your business?

If you overlooked your cash flow may I encourage you to do it as soon as you can! It's critical for you to do a cash flow health check.

Here are the areas you should pay attention to when you run a cash flow health check:

Income- Where are you now and where would you like to be in the next 12 months. Look at different opportunities to increase your income. Create different income streams into your business.

Cost of Goods- review your costings and look st ways to reduce cost.

Margins- review your product prices. When was the last time you had a price increase in your product range.

Fixed & Variable Expenses- review and update your expenses and look at ways to reduce your expenses.

Break Even Point:- revisit your break even point in your business. So you know at what point your are breaking even and after that point and beyond your are now making profits