{"id":20305,"date":"2019-11-04T23:57:11","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T04:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nevharris.com\/?p=20305"},"modified":"2020-02-12T02:54:08","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T07:54:08","slug":"how-to-strengthen-financial-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nevharris.com\/how-to-strengthen-financial-foundation\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Strengthen the Financial Foundation of Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Picture the journey you’re on with your business as a race. Which one would you rather compete in?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shorter trek that takes you up steep inclines, down paths littered with rocks and brambles, and along the generally unsteady ground?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A longer trek along a well-lit and well-paved path that steadily rises in elevation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if your adventurous spirit is telling you to go for the seemingly more exciting of the two journeys, the side of you that decided to start a business is going to advise caution. That’s because deep down inside you know you can only take so many risks and hop over so many stumbling blocks before one of them takes you down for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your business’s financial foundation needs to be like the latter of those two races: steady, predictable, and manageable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Strengthen the Financial Foundation of Your Business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The key to creating and strengthening the financial foundation of your business is to stabilize your cash flow. If you can predict the amount of money leaving your business and the money coming in, you can tum your focus towards making more of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the three things you need to do to lay down a solid foundation for your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1. Set a Budget<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Look, you’re going to have to spend money on your business if you intend to make money with it. However, that doesn’t mean that the more money you spend on it, the more money you make. It doesn’t work that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, you want to set a budget that keeps costs even and predictable. That way, when you grow your revenue, costs stay put so you can increase your profit margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, ask yourself: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Are all these necessary?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Anything that’s not should be canceled immediately. Anything that’s necessary, but has a cheaper alternative, should be downgraded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download our Monthly Money Finder<\/a><\/strong> to help you make decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\"\"<\/a>\n\n\n\n

Pay only for what you need so you can keep costs reasonable and manageable as you grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add up the monthly costs. This will be your guide for your expenses going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro Tip: Sign up for Mint. This is Intuit’s manager tool that pulls in data from QuickBooks (another software we’ll talk about soon) to help you more easily track and manage your monthly budget.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2. Make Money<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now that you know how much money you have to spend to keep your business running, you can easily figure out how much money you need to earn to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n