If you’re not sleeping at night, or your health is affected because you have little spare cash in your business, we really care about this. From Xero’s research, we know that 49.5% of small businesses had negative cashflow in December 2019, so we decided to put on an event aimed at small businesses, to help teach them a little bit more about what they can do to improve their cashflow. And so SuperCharge Your Cashflow was born.
“The fact is that the earliest lessons I learned in business was that balance sheets and income statements are fiction. Cash is reality”
Chris Chocola
So let’s have a look at what we covered on the day:
We invited all of our favourite apps and lots of local businesses to come and learn more about how they could boost their cashflow, using Xero-friendly apps. We based the format on Xerocon – the huge conference run annually by Xero that all of Team KP attended last year.
Whilst we can’t profess to having a tattoo parlour at our event (yes, Xerocon actually had one) or a coffee machine that produced a picture of your face in your cappucino (yes, Xerocon had one of these too), we did have the most amazing day, and we did have baristas!
The main aim of the day was to get local businesses thinking about their cash flow and how they could improve it. Why? Because worrying about your cashflow stops you sleeping at night and affects your whole being. In fact 60% of attendees said it kept them awake at night.
Cashflow and Mental Health
Because we understand that there is a real link between a business’s cash flow and your mental wellbeing, we invited David from Herefordshire Mind to come and give an opening talk.
David stressed the importance of listening to yourself and managing your own self care, and talking about it – something he has had first hand experience of and has come out the other side of thankfully.
We were also delighted to donate 10% of our ticket sales to Herefordshire Mind.
Marketing to gain more customers
One key area of cash flow is actually getting more money into the business – so attracting clients (the right ones, preferably) is crucial.
Chris from The DM Lab gave a fascinating insight into how digital marketing works only if you put the customer at the heart of everything you do. If you want more marketing advice please look them up.
Also keep an eye on our events page, as we will be running more digital business events with The DM Lab.
Boost your Cash In
There are so many ways you can increase your sales, and speed up the cash coming into your business. Chaser and iZettle joined us at #SYC2020 to share their top tips. Just the smallest tweaks can make a big difference.
If you hate having to chase people to pay your invoices, there are solutions out there to help! We heard from various apps that help with this: iZettle (making card payments simple); Chaser (an app that helps you chase invoices and get paid quicker).
The easier you make it for your clients to pay you, the quicker you will see the money in the bank and crucially, the more they will buy from you! Check out our blog get cash in the bank quicker for more suggestions.
Fact: people spend more money at vending machines that take cards, than those that take cash only.
SuperCharge your Reporting and Monitoring
How do you know if you have taken too much money out of your business? Probably when you get a tax bill that you can’t afford, or you have bills that you can’t pay with cash.
To help forecast and look at various scenarios, we looked at apps that help with reporting – namely Xero and Spotlight. We use Spotlight at Kinder Pocock to provide you with all the information you need during the year to make the best business decisions.
Working with you monthly or quarterly we create visual dashboards so that you always know what to expect in terms of tax to set aside, and how much cash you can take from your business.
We also love working with you on your cashflow forecasts, so you have a heads-up on gaps in your cash before they happen, and we can also look at ways to increase your cash in, and reduce your cash out. Our strategy sessions provide you with our full support to help you grow your business and achieve your personal goals!
So, if you only ever hear from your accountant when your accounts are due, maybe have a think about how much better you would feel if you had had the whole picture throughout the year? Probably less stressed right?
Power Down Your Spending
In this session we invited Soldo and Xero Pay to to share the best ways to reduce your spending, and keep more cash in your business.
If you still have a petty cash box/jar and keep paper receipts, then think again! There is an easier way! Soldo is a pre-paid card with direct bank feeds into Xero, that you can use to manage your own and your employee expenses. You can also have multiple cards for employees that you can put restrictions on if required.
You then take a photo of your receipt and upload it to Receipt Bank and voila! Your bookkeeping is virtually done and you can throw the receipt away. Honestly, it really is that simple.
Xero Pay is launching very soon, and we were lucky enough to see a demo of how easy it will be to pay your bills from within Xero. We’re currently beta-testing this feature, so we’ll let you know how we get on!
Power Up your Finances and Funding
Capitalise and Starling Bank joined us to talk about how and when to apply for funding, who to go to, and how to manage your banking online.
Whilst we don’t always recommend you take on debt, if you are looking at borrowing for a piece of equipment or something, or funding that horrible tax bill, then you don’t have to go to your bank manager anymore.
There is another way – ask us! We use Capitalise which has access to over 100 different funding providers, and can find you market leading deals on the right borrowing for your needs.
Maybe the traditional business bank is slowly dying…. Which brings me on to:
Business Banking can be free!
Arguably the star of the show was Starling Bank who must have a fan club judging by the gushing that was going on at our event! If you are paying £100s on your bank fees, then look again at Starling Bank. It’s an app only bank that doesn’t charge you a penny. And it has a Euro account.
Definitely worth a look – for business and your personal banking. Its real time notifications, easy-to-use app and excellent customer service set this bank apart. Have a look at our Starling Bank vs Tide review.
Have confidence in yourself and your business
We were also super thrilled that our clients: James from The Shack Revolution, Laura from Signs & Labels Hereford and Conor from CNSport joined us to share their experiences managing their cashflow, and how we’ve helped them grow their businesses, and by introducing them to the right Apps.
Now you have the tools to improve your cash flow, the next step will be to grow the business and this is where Colita Dainton of Litabix came in to close our event on a positive high!
Colita was able to instil confidence and positivity in us all, we’ve got this!!
“If you believe you can, or you believe you can’t, you’re right.”
Looking ahead
Because of the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received on the day and since, we are looking at repeating the event a few more times this year.
We also have a whole host of 30 minute webinars with our featured Apps, and check out our App of the Quarter, which starts with Chaser on 3 April 2020.
Use this form to let us know more about what problems you are having with cashflow right now.
Thanks for reading!
Ros Kearney
