Every good small business owner is looking for ways to move their business forward.  There are some concrete things that you can do now that will improve your situation and position your company to thrive as the economy turns around.

1. Improve your cash flow situation. The main things that drive cash flow are Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and Inventory.  Make sure your Accounts Receivable terms match your Accounts Payable payment timetable.  Be sure send your invoices out on time and stay on top of collecting your Accounts Receivable.  Review your inventory to insure that you are restocking with the items that are moving well.  Clear out the slow moving items with a good sale.

2.  Analyze your operations for efficiency. Review job descriptions (or write them if you do not currently have any). Make a flow chart of your process to see what tasks are being done by whom. Follow a process from beginning to end to verify that it is being completed in the simplest way by the fewest people while still having enough separation of duties to protect your business from theft or embezzlement. Streamline. Cross-train your employees so that you can move personnel around, reduce overtime, and protect your business from employee absences.

3. Revisit your business plan. Make sure that you understand your market in today’s economic environment. What are people buying right now? How are people spending now? Is your market growing or shrinking? Where do you fit in to your total market? What is your niche or competitive edge? Is it still a competitive edge? Who is your competition? How are they doing in today’s environment? Who are your target customers? With cash at a premium, it is vitally important that your marketing efforts reach your target customers.

4. Start using your financial information to manage your business instead of just saving the data for your tax preparer’s use at the end of the year. Keep up with your bookkeeping daily. Understand what concrete data you need to help you make your business decisions. Get help now to set up your system to be able to pull out that information quickly and efficiently. Have solid numbers at your fingertips. If you do not know how to read and use your financial reports, hire someone to teach you.

5. Look to the future.  What are the trends in your industry?  Read, read, read!  Don’t keep the same thing hoping for a different result.  Plan for the future.  Be a trendsetter, keep evolving.  Life is constant motion and those who go with the flow not only survive, they thrive.