Guides

Getting paid correctly and on time by customers can be a constant frustration for business owners. Communicating your terms is the best way to ensure you aren't out of pocket – or are left chasing debtors.

For many small businesses, the best way to improve profitability is to increase turnover, as there's no limit to sales, but there is a limit to how much you can reduce your costs.
Let's look at how you can focus on each of the five ways in our profit increase calculator to achieve your goal of improving profits.

Once your business is up and running, it's essential not to rest on your laurels. Successful business owners are always looking at ways to grow their business and maximize their profits. We've put together a guide and checklist to help you identify ways to get the most out of your business.

Many people underestimate start-up costs and start their business on the back foot financially. This can mean a long crawl up to your breakeven point and into profitability. It can often result in the business never making a profit at all.

Start-ups are at a disadvantage when it comes to their first sales forecast because they don't have any historical data to base it on. But there are still ways to create an accurate sales forecast, and it's essential to do so because it'll help you work out if your business idea is financially viable.

So you have a great business idea and are convinced you can make it work, but you don't have much capital to get your business off the ground. Juggling existing financial commitments such as a mortgage or bank loans could squeeze your business plans. Many entrepreneurs are using creative thinking and shrewd planning to get businesses off the ground with the smallest budgets.

Every small business suffers from cash flow problems at some point in its lifetime. The trick is to think ahead and figure out when these problems will arise, so you don’t have to unexpectedly postpone a purchase or hurriedly seek out additional finance. This is where cash flow forecasts come in.