cash flow

[murdock]

today i realised again that there is nothing more important in a bussiness than cash flow...no money moving thru your account will shut you down....you can have 50 million rand projects on the go...100s of customers all over the world...if the money stops moving in your account you might as well roll onto your back and play dead.

i have heard it all when it comes to bussiness...i still get advice from people who dont even own a bussiness or have only been operating for a year or two yet everyone knows exactly how to run my bussiness...with a fail rate of 70% now maybe even more i am inclined to rather stick to doing what i have been for 20 years.

so my advice to anyone starting out...CASH FLOW is the number one important criteria about running a bussiness...or make sure you have a trust fund to create cash flow when things get tight...without cash flow in a bussiness no matter how good your bussiness plan is the bank with shut you down in 6 months if the money doesnt start flowing...fact...if the money stops flowing after 20 years they will shut you down...the only mistake i have made in all this time of bussiness...i havent invested wisely...not that i havent invested just didnt do it wisely so i dont have a nice float to lean on when i need it.

get otu of your overdraft as soon as possilbe...otherwise it will eventually consume your your bussiness in interest and fees...all i can say is thank goodness my is so long at the moment otherwise i would be closing shop after all these years.

[murdock]

and yes i have had one of those really challenging morning dealing with standard bank again...my rating is up from 1 (shocking i know bad cash flow)to almost 10...which is the only reason i am not punching holes thru my office door...so at least they contact me before they p*ss me off by just returning everything...but it doesnt help that their call centre doesnt work...man i thought mtn call centre suck try standard bank...and try get hold of management...they dont deal with us plebs who run companies...

try this for a challenge tell the ceo of standard bank that his call centre doesnt work...i would be prepared to offer a reward to anyone who could get me the ceo of standard banks contact number...so i can tell him personally what i thing of his bad management skills...because the manner in which which you staff behave is a direct reflection of your management skills...or i suppose he has more important issues to deal with.

[Pap_sak]

Having a tough day Murdock?

I agree with you that cash flow is very important, but for me it is part of the whole financial side. Good margins, low expenses and good cash flow. At the moment I am in a slightly sticky situation, where I have had probably R150K worth of stock arrive, but incoming (after expenses) this month will probably be about half that. I find though, that a) communicate early on with credit controllers and b) at least give them something, then they are quite happy to wait a couple of months. eish, roll on December!!

[murdock]

and it was announced yesterday that standard bank will start cutting back...what i would have thought would have been spending...but unfortunetly not just staff...so more umemployed people.

i am starting to think maybe it is time that people start bringing the wages to a more equal level...you look at the banks for example...top brass earn over R100 000 a month plus perks...company cars not just car...house etc etc etc...yet a person lower down earns less than R10 000 with no perks...no car...no house nothing...if the top brass took a cut in their perks only not their way over the top salaries....golden hand shakes...etc etc etc...they wouldnt need to charge us to deposit money into the bank...or pay R25 to draw manoy at the till...i know the reason behind this is because if they can automate the entire bank it means less people to employ and more profits...\

what happened to the old days

when you went to the bank sat an had tea with the manager took your book to the counter and draw your money....and you were treated like you were somebody the bank manager would come out an greet you and THANK YOU for your support...etc etc...nodays you just a number in a machine in a building somewhere...some people never even get to see the real manager...and the ones they have at the branches no longer have any powers to make decisions...you will notice they never give you a straight answer...it always has to be approved by higher management or the machine.

maybe that is one of the other secrects to my bussiness lasting so long...i the company owner is personally involved in every single job that is done by my company be it replacing a plug or installing a R10 000 000.00 electrical installation not all the work is done by me but on big projects i stay on site and manage my staff and the subbys...and ever single call to my bussiness comes thru me...every singe complaint is sorted out by me personally...thank goodness i dont have many of these maybe because i personally check and inspect every single job done by my company....

people want the personal touch...i think people are getting tired of these call centres with push this number to do this then wait...then press that number to do this and wait and then if you wan to speak to the operator press this then once you get the operator after 10 minutes...heard all the instructions in 9 different languages...

maybe its time to start something like the passport people do...instead of dealing with the goverment departments...have an office and numbe ryou can contact where any company which has a call centre instead of calling them directly you call us and we will handle your query...drop off forms...follow up things...collect and deliver documents.

the fella who does the cor for my vehicles is like this i just call hin personally tell him i have a vehicle which needs cor or engine numbers changed and re registered what ever...he comes to my house picks up my vehicle takes it away drops it off 2 hours later with all the documentation in order...it costs me a small fee but i am not the patient type who likes to sit in ques and wait...i dont have HHDDDD i have ANFP...same with the passports etc i call the lady she collects all the documents gets everything sortedand hand delivers everything in order...for a small fee...what a pleasure....no need to spell you name out 15 times becaus ethe person behind the counter cant speak or understand english...then find one document required is missing so you have to return and join the que again...

[murdock]

Having a tough day Murdock?

I agree with you that cash flow is very important, but for me it is part of the whole financial side. Good margins, low expenses and good cash flow. At the moment I am in a slightly sticky situation, where I have had probably R150K worth of stock arrive, but incoming (after expenses) this month will probably be about half that. I find though, that a) communicate early on with credit controllers and b) at least give them something, then they are quite happy to wait a couple of months. eish, roll on December!!

and yes i did have a really bad day yesterday...frustrating..

[wynn]

I don't have a cash flow problem simply because I don't have a flow, the faucet is blocked by a gaggle of tenderpreneurs and nothing gets through.

[murdock]

by the way ANFP stand for "absolutley no f&^*^ patients"...for incompetant people.

dont get me wrong i have all the time in the world for a person who doesnt know something and asked me to help...i would spend days helping this person....but when you go to a company and the person behind the counter or the sales rep etc selling the product doesnt have a clue what they are doing then tries to bullsh*t you into thinking they do...thats a whole different ball game...this is very common here.

[Pap_sak]

Well, the big 4 banks are all as bad as each other. One of my gripes is the cost of a debt order, average at R13 (and all banks are the same), for an AUTOMATED task. Now most people will have about 4, and say there are 4 million guys with bank accounts, thats R208million per month on DEBT orders alone, yet capitec can do a a debt order for something like R3,50.

Pity Capitec cannot do business accounts yet, but hopefully will in the future. have moved both my visa machines to them already as well as a personal account (around 7%) interest on savings. Have just bought some shares as well...but probably not the best time to by TBO, but it'll be part of the retirement fund.

http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page296058?oid=1985&sn=2009+Detail&pid=296058

[murdock]

my wife just moved from standard to FNB today...had enough of standard bank.

i am still deciding where to move to...i hear every complaining about all the banks.

anyone got some ideas on where to move to?

good service and resonable rates and be treated like a human and not a number...i think this could be a challenge.

[adrianh]

We have accounts with FNB, ABSA and Nedbank. Nedbank has been the most understanding and considerate of the lot. ABSA, does nothing for you unless you lick their butts, they will not go out of their way or offer you anything. We only use FNB to move money in and out of Paypal.

[murdock]

funny you should say that...when i started my bussiness 20 years ago they politely told me to go shove my bussiness where it fits best...maybe they are just trying to be nice to keep you as a customer.

[adrianh]

Hmmm...Could be that our view of each bank is determined by the attitude of the ahole sitting on the other side of the desk at the time. I think that ABSA draws them like a magnet.

[garthu]

Eish...eish..eish.. been with FNB, moved to standard, had to use Absa (contractual)...

Thought about your mattress cause i really couldn't recommend one of these. Of the 3, i would select Standard... but still, the word "recommend" somewhat escapes me....

Looked at Capitec.. but still a little sore from 2020.. which was my first account in SA

[murdock]

its a pity there arent little banks to deal with us little bussiness...

the personal touch....even cellphone contracts...etc...etc once you start having to use big companies you just become like a stone in a cement mixer...nobody really cares what happens to you or your money while in there so long as the money just keeps pouring out...so long as they have you tired to bonds...hps...overdrafts etc...you are stuck...its only when you get into the position that i am finally in where i can pay up now and move to where ever i wan to go...the problem is where do i go now?