ASHI and MEDIC First Aid Blog

Most small businesses don’t have access to the big budgets that major corporations enjoy. However much you have in your training business coffers, success means effectively managing that cash flow.

On the American Express Open Forum, they offer five ideas to try when it’s time to do the hard work of figuring out all the budget stuff at your business:

Create a Realistic Cash Flow Projection
It’s better to underestimate your potential business income than to overestimate when you come to budgeting.

List Your Essential Expenses
Essential expenses incurred in running a business include wages, taxes, rent or mortgage payments on the business property, and operating expenses such as power, water, Internet and telephone bills.

List Discretionary Business Expenses
Decide which items you want, but could live without until your business can afford to purchase the items without going into debt. (The Open Forum article reminds us that marketing does not have to be a major expense for a small business, or any expense at all, when you take advantage of some no-cost marketing options. For more info on marketing your training business on the cheap, see our blogs “Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, and You” and “Small Business Tips”.)

Reduce Debt Quickly
Debt costs the business more in interest repayments, so having a budget that has the business operating in the black sooner is always a good idea.

Never Spend All of Your Profits
Even if you are operating a small business from home, do not pay yourself all of the business profits each month. Instead, work out a reasonable wage for yourself and pay it regularly, as part of the budgeted expenses of the business.

To read the whole Open Forum article, click here.

ASHI and MEDIC First Aid Training Centers: Be sure to use the reporting and order history tools in Otis to help you track your training business budget. If you need help with those resources or any of the tools available to you in Otis, get in touch with our tech support team! Just click the button below.