Nikki’s Tip of the Week – week-ending 29th July 2017
I am embarking on a series again. This one is entitled Managing Your Business and is a 5 week series. Although much of the knowledge and experience was taken from what occurred in the 2008 collapse, most of it will resonate with what is currently taking place and as such will perhaps give you some foresight on ‘how to’ deal with situations that you may currently find yourself in.
That said, many of the ‘tips’ contained in these articles will help you to be proactive and protect yourself before you find yourself in the dwang.
Before we continue, I would like to make my first public appeal here. It’s not for me, but for the poor animals that are still suffering and in some cases losing their lives due to starvation, after the devastation of the Knysna fires. My heart broke when I watched this clip (and really it will pull on your heartstrings, so have your tissues ready). https://www.facebook.com/edenbeneedin/videos/284765015331979/
The harsh reality of course is the loss of lives of the birds and the bees will greatly affect the ecosystem there and this then has a domino effect on the animals. Many of the residents there, despite their own devastating losses, have banded together to source and pay for food for these animals, but they cannot do it all themselves.
If you can help in any way, please contact Rozanne Fleet on her email address being rozanne@tcsplett.co.za. I know she will be most grateful as will the animals in question.
I too, thank you with all of my heart. These animals are not responsible for what happened there and are as much victims as their human counterparts. Please, Please, Please help if you can.
Here’s the deal . . .
Please feel free to engage with me, or not. Please feel free to send me your own snippets of information, early warnings, appropriate funnies and what have you, to share with other like-minded individuals, entrepreneurs and start-ups.
I hope and trust that you will enjoy the journey with me.
This weeks’ Blog:
BUSINESS TIPS – Managing Your Business – Part 1
By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC
Most will agree that the light at the end of the tunnel is no longer an oncoming train and whilst the 2008 recession (such as it was) is now officially over, it will take the economy (read SMME’s) some time to rally, make a come-back and hopefully deposit us right back to where we were – obviously not in terms of what caused the melt down in the first place, but certainly in terms of running productive, successful businesses.
I know that I really had to ‘grit’ my teeth and bear it for a few months – you know what I mean – the uncertainty of money coming in or getting work in or making the sale and so on.
Fact of the matter is , that when you are in the dwang – that’s exactly where you are and sometimes it is just a matter of waiting it out. There are a number of tips though, that will help and guide you through, should you find yourself in difficult and/or trying times. Actually it is not a bad thing to get yourself in the habit of doing these all the time – bad or good times.
Finance
For me, if you have lost control of your finances, then you have lost control of your business. I think that most people, when they think of business finances, what they think about are the books and whilst I agree with that on some level, I also want to make it very clear that the books are ‘reactive’. By that I mean that they are ‘in the past’ – what is contained in your books has already happened. Cash flow, on the other hand, governs what is happening right now.
Think about it for a moment – it doesn’t matter how many people owe you money, or who have promised to pay you – the bottom line is that when you look at your bank account, it is about what is actually there (less what needs to be paid out) that actually counts. So it stands to reason that the cash flow needs to be properly managed and should be discussed at every management meeting. If, like me, you are on your own, it is a good idea to make time (at least weekly) to check up and see what is going on.
Make sure that the Management Accounts are monitored on a regular basis and that they are consistently checked for issues such as the key ratios, this will assist in enabling you to identify trends earlier, when you can still do something about them, rather than later, when you are already in the smelly brown stuff. Updating your cash flow forecasts on a regular basis will also assist in ensuring that you are ahead of the game – remember to watch the sensitive bits – issues like a change in the exchange rate or a price hike in fuel could have a huge effect on your margins.
Next time we will have a closer look at margins.
Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za