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From what we are hearing from NASE members across the country 2011 appears to be shaping up to be a better year than 2010 ... but our advice is not to let your guard down. Take it from lessons learned and prepare for the lean times and if they don’t come, you’ll just be that much better off. Other words, “Plan for the worst and hope for the best”.
It’s easy for a business to succeed when customers are knocking down your doors. The real challenge that separates entrepreneurs from those who do well in spite of themselves is when there are more people wanting to be paid than there are customers’ dollars coming in the door!
For the majority of small and micro businesses across the country we have felt the effect of the economy in no uncertain terms. And for those of us who are still around, we have learned some valuable lessons on how to survive. While it isn’t pleasant to think about falling on hard times, every business will experience some degree of cash-flow crunch from time-to-time.
Regardless of whether the crunch is a few days sweating out “the check is in the mail” or months of sleepless nights. If you’re not prepared, even a minor cash flow hiccup could result in a terminal problem. Sadly, many business owners don’t see the signs until it’s too late and then don’t have a plan to recover ... and a lot of them didn’t make...