I talk with small business owners who are struggling during this pandemic. One of the questions I ask is "Do you have enough in cash reserves to cover expenses for the next 30-90 days?" Why? These reserves are crucial to help you pay vendors and employees during a financial crisis. Here’s how to figure out how much cash reserves your business needs for the next three months.

As the economy slowly begins to recover from COVID-19 lockdowns, I talk with small business owners who are rethinking their business model. Now, more than ever is the time for all small business owners to engage in a new kind of planning; new ways of monitoring and projecting cashflow; including new models of business.  Thinking outside the box -  and planning differently - are the keys.

Cash flow may be a challenge during normal times but COVID-19 is putting at risk the survival of each business. Projecting the results of reduced income, even if temporary, will guide changes in spending priorities, billing, and business model. I advise my small business clients to adopt a proactive approach to managing their small business with the help of a CPA who can assist with financial forecasting.

In this time of COVID-19, managing cash flow is more critical than ever. A new commitment to cash flow planning and management is needed. Projecting the results of reduced income, even if temporary, will guide changes in spending priorities, billing, and business model. In my work with small businesses I have seen how necessary current cash flow projections are to quantify those changes.

The recent COVID-19 crisis has had a major impact on small businesses everywhere. Cash flow may be a challenge during normal times but this emergency is putting at risk the survival of each business. Further, it threatens the livelihood of owners and employees.

In my work with small businesses I am familiar with how cash flow management can make-or-break a company. Simply stated, if you aren't properly managing the flow of your money, then you are setting your business up for failure. In this time of COVID-19, managing cash flow is more critical than ever. A new commitment to cash flow planning and management is needed.

What seems true, now, is that when the COVID-19 threats have subsided, the ways of life we knew and counted on before the pandemic will not be returning to us in precisely the same ways. We are at the beginning of a new era, and it can still be hard to imagine. In short, this departure from old ways of doing things is not "temporary."

Many companies have been using video software to connect remotely for years. However, only recently have we seen almost every industry look for ways to work from home to follow social distancing recommendations due to COVID-19. Small business owners are hard at work imagining new ways to do business; new ways to lead and manage in a future that will rely more heavily on technology than ever before.

We recently focused on tips and links to resources for small businesses and nonprofits, including churches, that have been adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Today, we want to focus on resources for individuals in the Washington, DC metro region who have lost their employment due to COVID-19.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to reinvent the wheel, and this is one of those times! This special blog post includes, in its entirety, an important and time-sensitive message for church leaders, from the Rev. Saeed Richardson, Program & Operations Officer at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference.