Comments on: How to face cash-flow issues in a start-up

By: The Queen of Resiliency « Connected Parenting

The Queen of Resiliency « Connected Parenting — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:01:30 +0000

[...] One of my favorite posts on Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist is A case study in staying resilient: My divorce. Resilience is a big theme around here at Connected Parenting and Penelope Trunk, the self-styled "Queen of Resiliency," is quite the role model. Psychology Today seems to think so too. [...]

By: Sami

Sami — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:56:49 +0000

I wouldn't do you the disservice of assuming you are not a perfectionist:

"Because entrepreneurs knows that having a successful startup is really about not quitting."

This one, I'm not sure if it's intentional, if you meant "own" instead of "do," or what:

"You need to decide for yourself how much you want to do your company."

Your blog is the most useful thing aol news has ever indirectly introduced me to!

By: Closer To The Ideal » Blog Archive » Real entrepreneurs understand that start-ups are insane

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 04:57:07 +0000

[...] Penelope Trunk, on the folks who do not understand her, and the entrepreneurs who do: I’m going to answer the question people ask me most often: "What do I do when my company is out of money?" [...]

By: Grant Crow

Grant Crow — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:13:33 +0000

Penelope
As I'm on my 5th start up, I totally related to this post. My most recent, http:www.mytalentplace.co.uk is all about onine career advice for students. The US companies I've worked with in the past have generally taken an approach of spending big as start up (mainly on marketing) to stop competitors from gaining a foothold, but its been rare that profitability has beenr reached. I'm trying the approach of starting really small (me, myself and I) and outsourcing everything else until I really need to take staff on. So while cashflow is an issue, it's not as painful an issue as it could be.

By: watch movie

watch movie — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:13:11 +0000

Unemployment departments create programs like these because they know it's cheaper in the long run to keep people employed through a downturn than let them be laid off and risk having to pay them full unemployment for months and possibly not get more income from them for a long time.

By: Zeljko

Zeljko — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:50:14 +0000

Maintaining a healthy cashflow is a struggle for many businesses, big or small. In fact, quite often the bigger you are the bigger you problem can be. I quite envy the 'cash' type of business ( coffee shop, takeaway etc ) as they don't have to chase customer accounts. We have a Sydney printing business that struggles with late payers quite often and as a result leaves us dangerously low on funds. The main focus is of course to have sales, but to also chase your account customers and perhaps limit their account trading terms to only 7 or 14 days. When that time is up call them immediately and ask them politely for your money. Remember, the squeaky wheel will get the grease. So don't be afraid to ask for your money. You've earned it.

By: Marsha

Marsha — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:41:00 +0000

Just what I needed to read today!!

By: Yu-kai Chou

Yu-kai Chou — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:42:44 +0000

Taking a midnight break from work, and saw your blogpost. I think it's awesome that you went through another financial hurdle. We all know there will be lots more, but every jug of water is helpful for entrepreneurs to cross the desert.

At FD, we've been through a lot of financial troubles and stress too, and boy is it not fun. Eventually I adjusted to the mindset that if all else fails, at worse everyone will just leave the company, and I'm by my own running the startup without salary, which is similar to the state that I started with. When I started the company, I was excited and life was extraordinary. I would be back to that state again, except that now I have a product, some users, some brand, and lots more.

Once I think of it in those terms, I feel a bit better. However, I imagine it's a bit tougher when you are venture backed. Being bootstrapped does have some advantages in that aspect.

I wish Brazen Careerist the best of luck, and let me know if you ever need help with anything. Take care!

Back to work….hope to finish today's task by 4AM :D

By: Lance Stratton

Lance Stratton — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:32:45 +0000

FOR SOME REASON I POSTED THIS COMMENT YESTERDAY AND IT WAS DELETED. DONT KNOW WHY THIS WOULD BE DELETED – ANYWAY, LET ME TRY IT AGAIN:

If you are an entrepreneur and looking at starting a company, its VERY easy to put off the hard part. Which is generating sales for your company and making a profit. Believe it or not, its far easier to go out and raise enough money so you are “in the game”. You can raise the money, start the company and take your chances. If you run out of money, you can raise more. Until you can’t. At which point you enter the world of consulting, having learned from your experience.

On the flip side, if you want to start and grow a business that you retain control of, put money in the bank from and can make a long term commitment to, then always remember that sales should be the first thing you focus on when you wake up in the morning. Profitable Sales to happy customers is the best path to making money. If you go to bed at night thinking about how to sell more and how to make your customers happy. You probably are in a good place. If you go to bed and wake up thinking about how to raise money to stay in business, you might as well get the new business cards and think about what your new consulting blog is going to look like

By: Mark W.

Mark W. — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:08:55 +0000

I just ran across this quote on the subject of quitting from Lance Armstrong which I thought was pretty good -

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."