Over the weekend, I went to a trade show and met a number of very interesting people working on very interesting projects. One conversation went down the rabbit hole of the benefits (tangible and intangible) of networking. We agreed it best to approach networking from the standpoint of curiosity and learning (what’s your story? what…
What’s your margin? Does anyone ask what your margins are or tell you to watch your margins? What does that actually mean? Understanding margin(s) starts with which one you’re looking at. Here are the “big 4” that are worth your time: A “margin” is simply the difference between the price and cost of something. It…
What’s your financial cadence? Business owners have a typical financial review process that goes something like this: Financial statement analysis is the primary tool when it comes to evaluating business performance (I’ve said this before). There’s a “what” component and a “when” component to that analysis; here’s a simple routine that should work for most…
How well do you understand the concept of depreciation and capital expenditures (capex)? Can you relate it to your own business or another business owner? It’s a tough one even for seasoned finance pros. This is the best explanation of capex I’ve ever come across (book revealed later): What is capex? Capex is money you…
Let’s take a look at one of the most useful tools in all of small business (actually, businesses of any size should be using this). Imagine a financial roadmap for the next three months. That’s what a 13-week cash flow forecast is. It’s a simple tool to predict your business’s incoming and outgoing cash over…