Comments on: Why Cash (Flow) Is King

By: Suzanne Meehle

Suzanne Meehle — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:57:20 +0000

Agreed, but marketing still gets factored into cash flow. You just have to plan for it. Also, there are some great free ways to advertise: If you own your website, keep an up-to-date blog and keep the content fresh so that it helps you appear in the top of search engine results. There are lots of free ways to advertise online: Google Maps, Merchant Circle, Yelp, Facebook, Twitter Foursquare, and LinkedIn all figure prominently in my marketing strategy. And it is free to post a weekly ad on Craig’s List (which nets me about a client a week). And while I’m not a big fan of lawyer rating sites like Avvo, it too provides free lawyer advertising. Of course, I also subscribe to a couple of services (Nolo and Martindale/Lexis/Lawyers.com, specifically), but my experience with them so far is that they help my search engine optimization more than they generate actual client leads. YMMV. Not to mention the opportunities for free networking via local bar associations, chambers of commerce, etc.

By: Jim Grandone

Jim Grandone — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:32:27 +0000

Great post but don’t forget to “invest” in marketing/PR to gain future business. It may be a cost on the books but its return is usually much more than the investment. Even business cards cost and who among you would do without them?

By: Suzanne Meehle

Suzanne Meehle — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:45:37 +0000

Look into Corona, Rachel. I believe that you can download it to try for 15 days, and if you don’t like it, you can ditch it. http://download.cnet.com/Corona/3000-2066_4-8225.html

The developer’s website is here: http://www.designersdomain.com/corona/index.html

By: Rachel Rodgers

Rachel Rodgers — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:08:50 +0000

Some great points! I am vigilant about checking the status of cash flow on a daily basis as well. Its particularly a must when you are in startup phase because income can be so unpredictable and there is a great deal of outflow as you invest in the business.

I’ve been thinking about what type of accounting software to use as well. Doing it manually is way too time consuming! I use a Mac but have a PC as well. Do you think Corona is better than Quickbooks for PC? I am concerned about the learning curve. I would prefer something I don’t need a class to operate.

By: lavocate

lavocate — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:03:52 +0000

Thanks, I’ll be sure to do that. I’ll keep you posted.

By: Suzanne Meehle

Suzanne Meehle — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 20:11:40 +0000

That’s quite a compliment coming from you, Judy! Let me know if you need any help with setting up Corona.

By: lavocate

lavocate — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:00:53 +0000

This is a great post Suzanne. I’m going to check out Corona for sure. I own Quickbooks for Mac for a couple of years now but haven’t used it because it wasn’t very user friendly, so I’m glad you spoke on an alternative. I’m duly inspired now by this post!