In mid-2020, a US Bank study found 82% of the time that businesses failed had to do with the fact that they didn’t understand their cash flow. The lockdown only made things more unpredictable for small businesses and created an 'all bets are off' situation for those who did manage their cash flow properly.

Here’s how you can manage this unpredictability and stay open for business.

1. Carry Out an Audit

To survive negative cash flow, you should first understand your incoming and outgoing finances from the inside out. Carry out an audit covering:

• The primary sources of your incoming cash such as sales, outside funding, and investment revenue.
• The expenses, in order of priority.

No business is a stranger to unpredictable cash flow in the age of COVID-19. Discover ways to survive this unpredictability now and forever.

When you understand where your money is coming from, you can identify cash flow opportunities in calamities. When you understand where your money is going, you can redirect your expenses during the same.

2. Watch Your Inventory Like a Hawk

If the audit doesn’t help, you can always cut expenses on your inventory. Instead of purchasing in subscriptions, start micromanaging your existing stock. If it needs topping up, don’t in bulk.

To ride out this difficult time, you’ll have to buy smaller stock. Although this means you’ll be buying more often, the costs of increased purchases far outweigh the money spent on storage.

Buying in increments would also reduce the number of expired goods, thereby saving you quite a bit in the long run.

3. Switch to Mobile Invoicing

An invoice is a physical or virtual document for the buyer produced by you, the seller, containing the products and services purchased and the amount payable. Unless you generate these receipts, you may have slow payers, making your cash flow problems even worse.

No business is a stranger to unpredictable cash flow in the age of COVID-19. Discover ways to survive this unpredictability now and forever.

Tackle unpredictable cash flow by tackling slow invoicing. Mobile invoicing apps can help you create and send invoices to the customer’s email and notify you about late payers. They may also save your client’s card details to facilitate auto-billing the next time they buy from you.

4. Shake Things Up, Payment-Wise

Your unpredictable cash flow problems may have something to do with your payment methods. If you’re accepting card and cash payments, you’ll come across quite a few people who’d like to make mobile payments due to the superior level of security they offer.

Even if you don’t encounter such customers, you’re more likely to get paid faster with a mobile payment solution. Since faster payments are a need of the hour, you might want to consider downloading a mobile payment app after all.

Download Only the Best Mobile POS System on the Planet

Mobile payments come with their own risks, so you’ll want to sign up with a company that prioritizes data security. In other words, you’ll want to sign up with ScanPay: a secure mobile payment solution for small businesses, handymen, and professional trainers.

Download it now and enjoy. If you see what you like, stick around and only pay a 2.79% + 20 cents transaction fee with every sale.