Hello Reader,
Most cash flow problems don't arrive without warning.
They build slowly, quietly, in the gap between what the business is owed and what's actually sitting in the bank. By the time it feels like a crisis, the warning signs have usually been there for weeks. They just weren't being looked at regularly enough to act on.
That's why the timing of when you check your cash position matters more than most owners realise.
A monthly report tells you what happened. It's useful, but it's history. By the time your bookkeeper or accountant has prepared it, you've already missed three to four weeks of opportunity to do something about it. The decisions that could have changed the outcome are no longer available.
Monday morning is different.
Monday morning, you still have the whole week in front of you. If someone hasn't paid you, you can ring them before you do anything else. If more is going out than coming in this week, you can make a decision about what to defer. If the cash position is tighter than it should be, you can act — not react.
The habit is simple. What's in the bank right now? What's going out this week? Who hasn't paid me that should have? Make those calls before the week fills up and the urgency fades.
One client I worked with had payment terms of 14 days but was waiting an average of 68 days to get paid. One change (putting a specific due date on every invoice instead of "payment due in 14 days") brought that average down to 23 days within a month. No new software. No extra cost. Just clarity and consistency.
That kind of result starts with a Monday morning habit.
If you want to build that habit properly (and understand the other cash flow levers that make the biggest difference) I'm putting together something specifically for this.
It's called 5 Days to Cash Flow Control. A free five-day email course that walks you through the practical side of cash flow in plain English. No jargon. No theory for its own sake. Just the things that actually move the needle.
Join 5 Days to Cleaner Cash Flow Control
Talk soon,
Paul Sweeney
Chartered Accountant & Business Advisor
