am not a lawyer or financial advisor by any means, but sometimes we need some help in business. From what I’ve heard statistics show that 85% of all small businesses that start up fail in the first 5 years.

So, there’s a good chance that there will come a time when you look at your bank account and say to yourself, “I don’t have enough money to pay my bills”, or at the very least say, “I can’t go on holidays because there’s not enough money to pay for it”.

You have recognised the red flags that warn you in business that something is wrong. People with money didn’t come about it by luck. Many times they have had their business go broke and have had to start again.

They may have gone broke in the first place because they hadn’t learned their lessons well when it came to managing money rather than just make it. If you’re in or starting a small business you must be aware of or have access to information on how to handle a cash crisis should it come up in your business.

The hard part is recognising the crisis in the first place so that you can do something to fix it before it is too late. There are 7 steps that may enable you to handle a crisis in your business successfully. Complete the checklists below to assess your situation. Here are the steps:

Step 1. Check If Your Business Is In Crisis

Is your business generating enough income to cover your expenses without having to touch your savings? If it is not there are many reasons why this may be the case. This analysis of your situation is not comprehensive enough to cover all situations but should give you a broad picture of your situation.

We have to start from some point in your business to move forward in assessing crisis. I assume that you have sales coming in, you have a marketing program and you are physically able to work.

If any of these things are apparent in your business, for example, no sales coming in the door, you are probably too far-gone to bother assessing your situation. However if not, some of this information may be relevant to a certain degree.

Evaluate the information if it suits, that’s great. If it doesn’t, discard it. Basically you should proceed if the money side of your business needs attention. Go ahead and complete (“Doc 1”) because we need this information to go to the next step, Part 2 (see below)of the article. Add up the monthly expenses then annualise them to find out how much you must earn Per Annum to pay all your expenses. Once that is completed you will have two important pieces of information.

1. How much you spend in your personal life
2. How much you need to earn to support that amount (plus or minus from your present situation).

FIXED DOMESTIC EXPENSES
Mortgage Payments or Rent
Electricity
Rates
Fire and General Insurance
Personal Accident or Disability Insurance
Health Insurance
Car Hire Purchase/loan
Other Hire Purchase/credit cards
Debt Reduction – Personal Loans Overdraft Ect
Other
Club Dues
School fees
Food and Living expenses
Telephone
Other
TOTAL MONTHLY

VARIABLE DOMESTIC EXPENSES
Medical, Dental, Chemist etc (net After Refunds)
Clothing and Footwear
School Requisites – Fees, books and sports
Dry Cleaning and Laundry
Entertainment, Theatre, Amusements
Tobacco, Liquor other Personal Items
Home Maintenance
Running Cost – Second Car and Fares
Church, Charities Etc
Sports and hobbies
Vacations
Motor Vehicle (1) Hire Purchase /Lease
Other Travelling – Parking tolls Fares Etc
Telephone
Other –
TOTAL MONTHLY

OTHER EXPENSES
Memberships
Fees and other Self-Education
Printing, Stationery, Postage Etc
Telephone
Newspapers and Periodicals
Entertainment and Gifts
Centre of Influence & Sub Agency Cost
Other overheads – Rent Secretarial Etc
TOTAL MONTHLY

SAVING AND ACCUMULATION
Life Insurance and Superannuation
Investments
Saving – Bank, building society etc
Other
TOTAL MONTHLY

NET ANNUAL INCOME REQUIRED

Dan Cavalli makes it easy for business and people to be the best they can be! For details and to claim your free subscription for Business and the part 2 article visit his site at: Small Business Success

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