Episode 198 – No Cash, No Customers, No Hope

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Cash flow kills, sometimes slowly

You hear it pretty regularly. An entrepreneur tells the horror story of their humble beginnings. They had no money and no investors. So they apply for as many credit cards as they can and max them all out. Whether it’s hundreds or thousands, it’s runway they need to get up to speed so they can get liftoff and gain some altitude.

The success stories are thrilling. We listen with anticipation, thinking to ourselves, “How scary! I can’t imagine living like that.”

But when we hear how they came through it, paid off all the cards and gained traction to be wildly successful — well, maybe that’s not a bad strategy after all. (Yes, it is.)

Cash flow – or more appropriately, a lack of cash flow – kills as many businesses as anything else.

It’s a systemic problem, but it can be so powerfully worrisome that we forget the reasons why we’re out of cash. Sometimes it makes a fella do something unethical, or even illegal. Sometimes, it drives a gal to drink. I’ve seen some pretty crazy behavior tied to a lack of cash flow. It can bring out the worst in people.

Desperation. Panic. Those are sure to distract the most disciplined business person.

Talk with any cancer patient and they’ll confess that one of the things they hate most is how all consuming it is. It takes over their life. It dominates all conversations. It’s the elephant in the room that you just can’t kill. Cash flow problems are the cancer of business building.

Today’s show is an answer to a recent question – an all too common question:

My company is experiencing a severe cash crunch. We need to take fast action. What should we do?”

Randy

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