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Let me ask you a question…

When was the last time you actually took a profit out of the company? How about pay your taxes onetime?

Or - are you “reinvesting” your profits back into the business?

No matter how many years you’ve been at it, you most likely have heard that over 50% of businesses fail within the first five years. What’s not mentioned is that they are the lucky ones. Most of the businesses are racking up debt and the owners and managers are stressing constantly.

Unfortunately when I think of most entrepreneurs, I think of the old high wire or tightrope act. Mostly men, would stretch a wire across a couple of buildings in New York, or across the Niagara Falls and walk across with no safety net below. It was a dangerous balancing act that many people died from.

That’s what I did with my HVAC business and most likely what you’re doing. You see I had a vision of starting my business So I created it and started working in it. I don’t know about you but I was excited at giving life and creating something from nothing.

You’re story is most likely similar to mine. You’ve stitched together a business out of your raw talent, what ever resources you had at the time until it became bigger than you expected. Someone I heard once described business as the “side-chick or mistress” It becomes the thing we spend a ton of time on it and wake up one morning realizing it is a cash-eating monster. You try to tame or control the monster but looking at your empty bank accounts you realize it will take more than what you currently have.

You just keep plowing away hoping… praying that things will turn around soon. Then the other shoe drops.

Tax Time! - Your accountant says, Wow, what a great year you had. You only owe $23,890. You gasp, for the first time since you start this business, you have a minor panic attack. Breathing becomes a little difficult, your chest feels funny and your mind goes racing. You’ve got $5000 in all your accounts but you owe the IRS almost 5x’s that. You start thinking, I need to sell these three jobs just to pay the taxes. And then you have to sell jobs that becomes a tough spot to be in because customers can sense the need in your presentation.

You put a ton of work into building your business. And that’s Awesome! Congratulations!! BUT without your financial health, your business will struggle to succeed, you’ll be borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.

If you've ever had to sell the next job to help finish paying for materials or labor on the current job how did it go? When we first start our businesses, you may have had to do that. Maybe you didn’t know how to price right. Maybe you miscalculated the hours, or material costs. But the longer you’re in business the less you should need to borrow from the next job. If we don’t have enough money we can’t take our products and services to the marketplace.

I found myself using the “Checkbook Accounting Method” (or now the “App Accounting Method” You know, where you go to the bank app or the checkbook, look at the balance to see if you can afford to buy that thing that’s on sale? Not thinking about the profit, taxes or paying the supply house?

What I found to work for me, and I think you’ll agree is that you need is a solid cash management system.

About 8-10 years ago, I found a cash management system that works the way I think. As someone who struggles with ADHD I needed something simple. Here’s what I looked to get:

It had to be simple, easy to do, but had to have barriers that would keep me from crossing easily.

I found Profit First designed by Mike Michalowicz in his book of the same name. Profit first works very simply yet is ver

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