Hirsch’s Executive Director, Margaret Hirsch and Business Coach, Marlene Powell from Action Coach have been helping entrepreneurs to keep on track with their finances over the challenging times of Covid-19.
At the end of June, speakers such as Finfind’s founder and CEO, Darlene Menzies and Marlene, who worked in finance before buying her ActionCOACH franchise 12 years ago, started the ball rolling on the ‘cash flow is king’ topic.
The Friday, 3 July speakers were Paul Brown, who was a lecturer in Economics before joining Hirsch’s 15 years ago, and today is their Managing Director and Chief Buyer; and Nicole Capper who has a solid business background, was the runner-up in Survivor SA, and holder of the Mrs South Africa 2018 title.
Addressing the almost 100 entrepreneurs on the Zoom platform, Darlene explained that how money is flowing in the business is extremely important.
“Where are you sitting on the financial front right now? The only way to keep on top of your cash flow is to do the numbers. It’s all about having those numbers at your fingertips and finding an accountant that speaks your language. Make sure that you understand the system they are using; if you’re not on top of your numbers you can be peddling along happily and you won’t see the cliff coming. That could be the end of your business,” said Darlene.
Marlene pointed out that if you simplify stick to business and what you know then we should be able to manage our money correctly.” Get a reality check; you need to make sure you have monthly management accounts in place and if you steer away from finance, you won?t know what is happening in your business. You need to know how much is coming in and how much is going out, and also find out how profitable are your clients. Are they helping you grow your business? If you get the basics right everything comes right. To be on top of your business you need to know your numbers and stay on top of your numbers,” said the business-minded Marlene.
Margaret rounded off the talks with an inspirational piece of advice,” Think positively and draw on that courage that’s inside you. Make a point of helping someone in need and see what a difference it makes in their lives and in your own.”
