Running your own small business as a one man/lady band is tough. You tend to wear all the caps… marketing, admin, finance, worker, customer service, etc… which can be quite exhausting. And even after all your hard-work the small business killer lurks, in a word its called…..

CASH-FLOW 
So many business fold because of this one important aspect. While I am by no means an expert at slaying this proverbial dragon, I do have some thoughts and suggestions to make:

1. Time - Everyday we receive a gift of  86400 seconds. How you spend it is crucial for small business owners. Focus on what really matters, don’t waste it on unnecessary things, but invest it in the things that will bring you the most profit.
2. Social Media – STOP SELLING… the biggest mistake i see with small business owners when it comes to social media is the attitude of ” ahh social media is a great way to push my services for free” All this does is send people screaming in the opposite direction.
3. Good Content - Spend time building an audience around your brand by sharing helpful and easy to understand content for free. I can hear the sirens going off in your head by now. Yes i know its cliche but “But people don’t care about you until they know how much you care”. You have to give to get.
4. Build Retainers - Many small business have services they offer as a “once off” Have good look at your service ans see if you can mold one or two of them into something you can invoice for on a month to month basis. If you can…. you will see that your base income starts to stabilize and eventually your retainers pay the bills. This one action takes huge pressure off you and allows you now to find time to improve your services and implement new ideas.
   

@richardmclaughlin Thanks Mac, I have a ton of these ideas, I guess i need to stop sharing bits and pieces and start putting together everything in eBook format. Good Call.

Great topic, a lot depends on the product or service you are providing.  When I sold handmade wedding invitations, I only needed to make 1 or 2 samples and then I would get paid 50% of the total before the rest were made.  So the product was actually financed by the buyer. 

There is a whole software making business that is run by a guy named Dane Maxwell where the development of his products are fully paid for in advance by 1 or 2 clients and he offers them free lifetime updates or some other bonus.  It was a very interesting concept, I heard him on a podcast called smart passive income by Pat Flynn, it was episode 46.  I have no affiliation with either of those guys, but it certainly addressed cash flow in a new way.

I have heard a lot about crowd sourcing products before they are made also, but have no personal experience with that.  I think there is a lot of room for creativity in this topic of cash flow and am interested to hear others inpur