In small business, happiness is positive cash flow.

Meet Owen. He doesn’t have that. One indicator that his cash situation was getting dire was when he was tempted to rob the first dollar he had ever made out of the frame on the wall.

Owen plainly admits he has never liked numbers or paperwork. Now that he is knee deep into business, he is afraid to admit to anyone that he has never understood his monthly financial statements. He knows he is supposed to be watching key business numbers. But Owen is not sure which numbers they are. Therefore, he does not know what he needs to know, nor when he needs to know it. He spends a great deal of time staring at numbers that he cannot effect, and misses the numbers that are making all the difference. And so he is always chasing his tail. (The only numbers you need to watch are the ones you can effect.) Since Owen is committed to making his business work, he concludes the solution to his cash flow problems is simply to work harder. He is working very hard and getting very tired.

Owen is under duress of the #1 small business killer: poor cash flow. He does not know how to fix it.

Owen believes he can wear all the hats and still keep all the balls in the air. But the faster you can admit that you are not good at something, the sooner you will find help and the faster your situation will improve. Even the best entrepreneur will experience cash flow problems at some point. It takes time to learn how cash flow works in your particular industry. Find a mentor or an accountant that is willing to sit down with you and listen to the particulars about your business. They can help you to figure out your magic metrics, and help you simplify the reporting.

Why would we, a marketing and advertising company, spend time talking about cash flow? When a guy looks as stressed as Owen, you can guarantee his face is not doing a thing for his sales figures. Improving your cash flow improves your smile. Genuine smiles improve your sales. Conclusion? Smiles are the easiest marketing tactic ever.

We want to put the smile in your business. Not only will it help your sales, but creativity and innovation wither without the sunshine of fun.

So, are you having fun yet?

Winning is only half of it. Having fun is the other half.– Bum Phillips

Meet Owen’s Cousin: Dwayne Pipes

Did you know you can have decent cash flow, but not be making any money? You can. Meet Dwayne Pipes. He is Owen Cash’s cousin. Dwayne has positive cash flow, and it makes him very happy indeed. Unfortunately, like Owen, Dwayne does not know how to read an income statement or balance sheet, nor does he have a strategy for managing cash. All he knows is, right now? He has an ear worm. It is “We’re In The Money”. It feels good to whistle that song.

If you asked Dwayne why he started his business, he would give you a hundred socially acceptable reasons. But in a private conversations, it is evident he is driven for different reasons. Dwayne’s main motivation to be an entrepreneur was to compete with his older brother. Dwayne was able to disappoint his Dad just by being himself. His older brother got all the strokes. “If you had just gone into computers like your brother! Just look at the car he drives!” Admittedly, his brother’s hard work was paying off. Dwayne knew the only way he would ever measure up in his Dad’s eyes was to make more money than his brother. Now with cash in hand, he has a chance to prove his mettle. By buying some metal. A beautiful, brand new, cherry red truck. At least he will look successful.

Cash flow is all about timing. Every business has their own private moon. Just like the moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth’s tides, your unique sales cycles creates an ebb and flow on your holding tank of cash. These transactions raise and lower your cash levels, sometimes with rhythmic predictability. Sometimes, it is not predictable, and a business owner must search out the key numbers to find out. Either way, predictable or not, new entrepreneurs need to learn how to read their own cash statements. If Dwayne were watching his numbers, he would know that the tide was soon to recede, and in a big way. He does not know he is about to be carried out to sea.

Because of hidden costs of doing business and varied sales cycles, it can be difficult for any new entrepreneur to know for sure just how much profit he or she is making. Dwayne is draining the business of critical operating cash. Even if he were sure he was making a profit, it does not mean he should spend the cash. Operating a business and sustaining a business are two very different things. If there is anything you can expect in small business, it is the unexpected.

Cash flow and profit are also two very different things. It may seem quite strange that we, a company devoted to helping entrepreneurs think like marketers, would spend so much time talking about cash flow. Let’s just say we know how important color is to business. If we could pick any color for you, we would keep you in the black, because we profit when you do.

Cash flow. Its the new black.

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In the 26 years that we have been helping small companies with their marketing and advertising, we have seen almost every kind of difficulty one can imagine. Throughout this month, we are sharing some of the most common problems using fictitious characters in a humorous way. While all of the details in these stories are true, the names have been changed, to protect the guilty. Should any of the stories sound familiar, it is our desire that they would help steer you around some pitfalls. Stay tuned for more Complex Characters of Capitalism.