The steps you need to take to transform your revenue management so you’re not leaving any money on the table.
You’re still sending out PDF invoices created in Word or Google Docs to your customers expecting payment, but how do you make sure they pay you on time? It’s not like you have a tracking system to know how many days your customers have left before payment is due. What about a collection policy for when customers are 30/60/90+ days past due? Who’s responsible for reaching out to your customers for payment? Have you ever done work and forgotten to send your invoice for payment after 1 month of service? Determining how often you receive payment is imperative to managing your cash flow and not feeling like you’re living paycheck to paycheck.
So, what can you do to transform your revenue management? Some of what I talk about today will seem like the same process as last week’s post on spend management. You’re correct; it is. Every process starts with documenting your current process, looking for where software can help automate some of the mundane tasks, and training relevant staff members on the new process and software. The one thing different this week is the monthly review of your Accounts Receivable (AR) Aging Report because you need to reduce how many days it takes for your company to receive its revenue.
Current Process
Update Process with Automation
Embed the new process into the company culture
Current Process
The first process of taking control of your revenue management is to document what you’re currently doing. Are you sporadically sending out invoices via email? Who’s keeping track of your customers, and who owes you? List everything you’re currently doing, and make sure to tag the employee responsible for each task. This lets you see where the company is falling short and how to improve your current process. Doing this before introducing any software will ensure the team knows exactly what the process is before adding software to an abysmal process. The software will amplify the problems you had before or add more stress to the team if the problems aren’t addressed.
Update Process with Automation
You can use software to send out your invoices, send payment reminders, receive payments online via ACH and credit cards, track who owes you on your AR Aging Report, and keep track of your customers. There’s no need to spend minutes or hours creating PDF invoices manually. That time could be spent on solving a more pertinent issue in your business. Business owners inevitably talk about the processing fees when I talk about using software to help collect customer payments. Your total processing fees will be less than the total you’ll spend trying to do everything manually. If processing fees are that big of an issue to you, then build it into your pricing.
Payment reminders can be automatically sent to each customer so they can be aware when they’re past due, and you, as the business owner, can see when a customer has viewed, opened, or paid the invoice immediately. Your accounting system, such as Quickbooks Online or dedicated revenue management software, can be used in conjunction with your current systems to provide an overall view of your revenue.
Embed the New Process into Company Culture
After implementing the new software, make sure the primary teams are experts on the new software. As a business, you must ensure that a dedicated person/team keeps track of your invoices and that all invoices are sent out promptly. The faster you send the invoices, the faster you get paid — hopefully. By embedding the new process into the company culture, you create one source of truth for all things revenue.
Revenue management is one of the most important things you can do for your business. If you can reduce the days sales are outstanding, you can replenish your cash just as fast. Managing your spend is one of the ways you can extend your cash runway, but if your revenue management is in chaos, you won’t have any cash to have a functioning business.
About the author:
Anwuli Chukwurah is a versatile finance professional with a track record of starting new finance organizations and scaling them for growth in fast-paced entrepreneurial environments. She has over 6+ years of experience working with small business owners, startups, and nonprofit organizations to help connect finance with their business goals. She aims to ensure her clients become comfortable and adept at navigating their numbers. She works with clients at Woolichooks and writes a newsletter for non-finance folks.
Photography credit: Robert Silver https://silverimages4u.weebly.com/
On Saturday, June 8th, the Economic Growth Business Incubator (EGBI) launched the Childcare Biz Bootcamp, an innovative program designed to revolutionize the childcare sector. As someone involved in supporting small businesses and a mom of two, witnessing the profound impact of accessible childcare firsthand in Austin, I’m excited to share how this program aims to transform the lives of both families and entrepreneurs.
Addressing the Childcare Crisis
The cost of childcare is soaring. According to a recent Care.com survey, enrolling a child in licensed daycare now costs an average of $16,692 annually. That’s about 25% of the average U.S. income, putting quality childcare out of reach for many families. This high cost has significant economic implications, as parents, particularly mothers, are often forced to reduce their work hours or leave the workforce entirely due to the lack of affordable childcare options. In fact, Motherly’s 2024 State of Motherhood Survey reported that two-thirds of moms considered leaving the workforce last year due to the stress and cost of childcare, highest among Gen Z at 82%.
EGBI stepped up to address this issue by launching the Childcare Biz Bootcamp, a comprehensive program tailored to the unique needs of childcare businesses in Austin.
What is the Childcare Biz Bootcamp?
Drawing on two decades of experience assisting thousands of entrepreneurs, EGBI’s Childcare Biz Bootcamp offered training in business management, financial planning, and marketing strategies. The program was structured to help childcare providers optimize their operations, manage their finances effectively, and attract and retain clients through marketing strategies.
EGBI plans to have another Bootcamp later this year. Beyond a full day of learning for childcare providers, the program also includes continuing business coaching to ensure long-term success.
A Community Event to Remember
The launch event, held at Austin PBS (KLRU-TV), 6101 Highland Campus Dr, Building 3000 Austin, TX 78752, was more than just a ribbon-cutting ceremony. It was a celebration of community resilience and a commitment to supporting the workforce behind the workforce, childcare providers. EGBI already has wonderful stories of daycare facilities that are now opening their second and third locations, and this new, improved program will focus on helping more childcare providers increase their profitability and sustainability, ensuring they can continue to offer essential services to families in the community. The program directly addresses the biggest challenges of the current childcare crisis by equipping providers with the tools and resources they need to thrive in today’s challenging environment.
Why This Matters
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role of childcare providers, who faced widespread closures and reduced capacities. The Childcare Biz Bootcamp aimed to equip providers with the tools they need to navigate these challenges and continue offering essential services to families.
Economic Impact
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, 58% of working parents reported that a lack of childcare has impacted their job performance during the pandemic. By empowering childcare providers, EGBI is not only supporting these essential businesses but also enabling parents to remain in or re-enter the workforce, thus contributing to economic stability and growth.
Provider Voices
“The training and skills EGBI provide to business owners is a game-changer,” said Maria E. Dominguez, M.Ed., from Cielito Lindo Spanish Immersion Preschool in Austin. “While I’ve been attending EGBI workshops for many years, its comprehensive English and Spanish trainings and strategic emphasis on operational efficiency tools has undoubtedly elevated our capacity to deliver exemplary service to the families and children in our care at Cielito Lindo SIP.”
EGBI’s Commitment
“We recognize the vital role that childcare providers play in our community, especially during these challenging times,” said Larissa Davila, Executive Director of EGBI. “Our goal with Childcare Biz Bootcamp is to empower these essential businesses to not only survive but thrive, ensuring they can continue to support families and contribute to the local economy.”
EGBI has always been dedicated to supporting the “real” entrepreneurs—those who aren’t receiving multimillion-dollar venture funds but are crucial to our community’s fabric. By providing sustainable and profitable business practices, EGBI has helped numerous ventures achieve significant milestones.
Austin Childcare Center Statistics
According to Texas Health and Human Services, there are 624 registered childcare centers in Travis County, with a total capacity across all age groups just over 55,000. However, the number of children aged 5 or less in Travis County is over 73,000. The gap highlights the significant demand for childcare services in the area. Additionally, Children at Risk, a research and advocacy organization, reported that Texas lost 21% of its childcare providers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from March 2020 to September 2021.
On average, families in Travis County spend from $9,417 to $11,705 every year on childcare, which represents a significant percentage of household income, with the median household income in Travis County being $92,731 as of 2022.
Final Thoughts
In summary, the Childcare Biz Bootcamp represents a significant step towards addressing the childcare crisis in Austin. By empowering providers with the necessary skills and resources, EGBI is fostering a more resilient and accessible childcare system. This initiative not only benefits the providers but also the families and children who rely on their essential services.
If you are a childcare provider or know a childcare provider, reach out to EGBI to be on the list for the Childcare Biz Bootcamp. Contact 512-928-2594 or hello@egbi.org.
The steps you need to take to transform your bill and spend management from a chaotic mess that controls you.
The team knows that their current process of managing their bills is wrong, but they’re so overwhelmed that they don’t know where to start. It’s better for such a team to continue with the wrong process than to try to change. Something or someone has to come in and be that element of change. The current team can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. They know that things need to get done regardless of how convoluted the process is.
So, what can you do to transform your bill and spending management? Below are steps you can take to start to take control of your spending management. A complete overhaul will take months but at least you can start to have quick wins to help keep the team morale up and start to break the cycle of torment.
1. Current Process
a. Carve out the time
b. Document the current process with the team member responsible for each task
c. Remove redundant and unnecessary steps in the current process
d. Implement updated process
2. Update Process with Automation
a. Implement software to automate the majority of the tasks
b. Softwaretraining c. Update process document
3. Embed the new process into the company culture.
Current Process
You can’t fix anything if you don’t know what you’re currently doing. So, the first step to take when transforming your process is to document it. Make sure to tag which team member does what in each step. This is a painstaking process; you must carve out the time to do this as a team. Blindly choosing any software and implementing something new can be a deterrent to giving your team the needed breathing room. The inertia of doing the current process will make it hard to find the time to document it, but you can’t skip this step.
By documenting your current process task by task, you can clearly see what redundant and unnecessary steps can be removed. The team will be able to see and question why they’ve been doing something one way instead of a more optimized way. Once all unnecessary steps have been removed, have the team try it out and see if it works. This is taking the tiny steps needed to find the right software in the future. Implementing a software on a crappy process will produce crappy and unsatisfactory results.
Update Process with Automation
Once you have figured out your new updated manual process, you can start looking at which tasks can be automated via technology such as Ramp or an industry-specific one. You won’t know what to use unless you’ve done the previous step and looked at your company’s technological needs as a whole. You can use software to help you remove the need to give employees direct access to the bank account or debit card to pay bills. Along with this new software, it’s imperative to have adequate software training to make sure the team is comfortable with the technology. If the team isn’t using the software, then what’s the point?
You can use software to schedule out payments, process the bills, pay vendors via ACH or check, collect all necessary vendor information, and automate the necessary approval workflows. If one of the changes you’re making to your process is to have standard payment days, make sure to alert your vendors and contractors of what days you process payments. This way, if they don’t get their bills to you in time, they’ll have to wait until the next round of payment processing. You control the bill processing, not the other way around. It also puts the onus on the vendors to make sure they’re on time and gives them the confidence to know the days they’ll always get paid.
Embed the New Process into Company Culture
Embedding this new process and software into the company culture will take the concerted effort of the team leading it. You’ll need to gradually remove avenues to the old process and forward all requests and needs toward the new process and software. Everything related to spending and bill management should be in one control center. Everyone in the company should automatically think of this software when they need to spend money. You’ll know you’ve succeeded when random team members come up to you and are excited about doing something in the software — “I finally used the reimbursement feature, and it was so cool!” or “Omg, I can’t believe how easy it was for me to increase my spend limit.”
I believe any new process should be easy and comfortable for the team. It shouldn’t be as cumbersome as your old one. If your team has more stress on top of their old stress, then you know you messed up. Implementing this new process can take up to 6 months to 1 year. Try not to rush your team; take time for each new step. Remember, people don’t like change. But, if you can show how much time they can save and any other benefits, they’ll slowly use the new process. Unless your team is so fed up and grasping for something to save them, you may have an easier time.
About the author:
Anwuli Chukwurah is a versatile finance professional with a track record of starting new finance organizations and scaling them for growth in fast-paced entrepreneurial environments. She has over 6+ years of experience working with small business owners, startups, and nonprofit organizations to help connect finance with their business goals. She aims to ensure her clients become comfortable and adept at navigating their numbers. She works with clients at Woolichooks and writes a newsletter for non-finance folks.
Texas has long been recognized as a hub of economic growth and opportunity, consistently setting records for job creation and economic expansion. Now, small businesses are the backbone of this success, employing nearly half of the state’s workforce and contributing significantly to Texas’s vibrant economy. In recognition of the vital role that small businesses play, the Governor’s Office of Small Business Assistance offers a wealth of resources to support both budding entrepreneurs and established business owners. Among these resources is the Governor’s Small Business Resource Portal, a comprehensive tool designed to provide tailored assistance and information to help businesses thrive in Texas.
Who Can Use It?
The Governor’s Small Business Resource Portal is invaluable for a wide range of users, including:
Aspiring Entrepreneurs: For those considering starting a business or becoming self-employed, the portal offers essential guidance and resources to help turn ideas into reality.
Early-Stage Start-Ups: Businesses in their initial stages (0-2 years old) can find targeted support to navigate the challenges of early growth.
Businesses Moving to Texas: Companies relocating to Texas can access resources to facilitate a smooth transition and integration into the local economy.
Established Businesses: Whether a small business with 1-3 employees or a larger enterprise with up to 100+ employees, the portal provides ongoing support and growth opportunities.
Benefits
The portal offers numerous benefits, including:
Tailored Assistance: Customized resource lists are provided so that users receive the most relevant information and support based on their specific needs and business stage.
Comprehensive Support: The portal covers a wide range of topics, from funding and licensing to business growth and networking.
Convenient Access: The portal is easy to use, with resources that can be printed or emailed directly to you.
Local and State Resources: Allows users to connect with local and state resources so that they can tap into regional support systems and opportunities.
Key Features
The Governor’s Small Business Resource Portal includes several key features:
Federal, State, and Local Resources
Business Advice and Growth Assistance
Funding Sources
Licensing and Permitting Information
Additional Specific Resources
Small Business Assistance Team Contact Information
How It Works
Using the Governor’s Small Business Resource Portal is straightforward and user-friendly. The process involves answering five simple questions to generate a customized list of resources. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
Fill in Your Current Business Position: Select the option that best represents your business’s current position. Choices include thinking about starting a business, early-stage start-up, moving to Texas, or established business with varying numbers of employees.
Add in any Special Business Designations: Indicate if your business is non-profit, veteran-owned, woman-owned, or minority-owned to receive resources specific to these categories.
Add Your Location: Provide your city in Texas to connect with local resources.
Select Your Industry and Business Type: Select your industry and the specific type of business. This ensures that the resources provided are relevant to your sector.
Specify Any State Agency Services: Specify any state agency services you are interested in, such as business registration, permit information, state taxes, or employer services.
Choose Any Additional Resource Options: Choose from additional resources, including start-up support, funding information, exporting advice, public procurement, networking, business training, and emergency management resources.
Once you complete these questions, this portal will generate a customized resource list that you can print or email for easy reference. This tailored approach ensures that you receive the most relevant and helpful information to support your business journey in Texas.
Hashtags may guide users to content relevant to their interests. When you attach hashtags to your posts, you index them under specific topics or themes. This allows your content to be discovered by individuals searching for or following those hashtags. For example, if you’re a fitness enthusiast posting about your workouts, including popular hashtags like #FitnessMotivation can help those with similar interests find and engage with your content.
Amplifying Reach
You can reach a broader audience beyond your followers by leveraging trending hashtags. When your post aligns with a trending hashtag, it becomes more likely to appear in searches or trending sections, exposing your brand to a broader demographic.
Fostering Community Engagement
Hashtags serve as community magnets, bringing together individuals with common interests, hobbies, or causes. Creating branded hashtags specific to your business can encourage user-generated content.
Organizing Content Campaigns
Hashtags organize and track content campaigns across various social media platforms. Whether running a promotional campaign, hosting an event, or launching a product, creating a unique hashtag for the initiative allows you to monitor its performance and measure engagement.
Conclusion
In conclusion, hashtags are vital for achieving visibility, engagement, and growth. By strategically implementing hashtags into your social media marketing, you can enhance discoverability, amplify reach, foster community engagement, and organize content campaigns.
