Welcome to another article in the Guest Writer Wednesday series. If you would like to contribute, here is how you do it. Today’s post is from Prlinkbiz, a writer for No Limits Ladies. You can subscribe to their feed here.
Cash flow is lifeblood: Can’t do much without either.
Our boy Lazy Man (and his money) commented on Jeffrey Strain’s 10 Reasons You Aren’t Rich earlier last week. He also added a few of his own reasons. I had to say a hearty “Amen” to this last one:
“You Need to Have Income – Many people will say this is not true, that’s it’s always possible to spend less than you earn. Back in the Dot Com bust, I had lost all my income except for the occasional contracting gig. I became a frugal maven out of necessity. I would not have become rich with that life style though.”
Cash flow, or income is one of those things we tend to take for granted, until one day – we don’t have it. Then we realize how important it is.
I realized the importance of money coming in when starting my first business. We were advised to keep our day jobs and build the business part time. We were also advised to work on the business full time, if we really wanted to make the business succeed. We would have to make time for it, if we wanted to have any money coming in.
We opted to “burn the ships” as it were. We had no income, but the funny thing was, we still had the same amount of bills to pay – or rather more bills to pay because we were starting a business! It was lean times for sure. Ever try living off $200 with a family of four, with two in diapers? Yeah, I don’t recommend it –
I learned some valuable lessons during that time though.
- Save.
- Don’t quit your day job unless you have another way of bringing in money each month.
- If you want to start a business, do it in your spare time, and leave your “day job” when your business can support you. (This might take a while, because all the money you bring in should ideally go back into growing the business – but that’s a whole other rant – )
Cash flow is lifeblood. You really can’t do much without it. However, what you decide to do with it can make you rich. What you doing with your cash flow (and do you have cash flow each month)?
This is exactly why I’m keeping monthly track of my Alternative Income Streams. If I can grow that bottom line, it means that I’ll be free to spend my time on other business pursuits… but I’d rather just sip martinis and be lazy.
Cash flow really is the most important. It’s the inflows and outflows that we live by day to day. I focus mostly on investing in things that provide a cash flow. Great post.
I hear you about martinis and doin’ nothin! Thats why I invest, well that and a few other reasons! And thank you Limeade, just added you to the NLL blogroll! Happy to write for our boy LM&M! Link love from the ladies!
I actually wrote something of a similar nature not too long ago, regarding profits vs cash flow – many people starting a business confuse the two, or even ignore cash flow. Always remember to keep track of both and make sure you are in the black in both areas.