13 Week Rolling Cash Flow

How To Set Up a 13-Week Rolling Cash Flow

You want to think about cash as the gas that keeps your business moving. Understanding how your cash will move through the business will make a huge difference in your ability to grow your business. Your cash flow is different than what your accountant or bookkeeper creates (that is a P & L or Profit and Loss). In order to make sure that after buying inventory you still have money to pay yourself, your bills, etc. You need MUST keep a regularly updated cash flow.

** Note: For those who are not analytical in nature we recommend that you use the Profit First methodology for managing your cash flow. We have a complete course on that available here.

Step 1. What is your business costing you?

How much does your business cost you every month? If you haven’t run the numbers yet, write down a guess.

Now add up all of your monthly expenses, before buying any inventory. Here are some common expenses for our eCommerce to help jog your memory:

Amazon Professional Seller Plan – 39.99

Scanning and Listing Services (Inventory Lab, Profit Bandit, Scan Power, etc)

Boxes, tape, labels

Courses (The cost of this course, any other courses or programs)

Facebook Groups, Sourcing Lists, Membership Fees (Scanner Monkey, Sourcing Lists, etc)

Those basic costs, added together, is the minimum amount of after Amazon fees, you will need to net to keep your business alive. The video below will give you an idea of exactly how to create your own cash flow template. We also have a sample excel file that you can use to create your own cash flow sheet.

Knowing Your Operating Expenses

Step 2. Create a List of Expenses by Charge Date

Now that you know your operating expenses. If you haven’t already see which day you are billed for each service, lease, etc. You will then create a list of reoccurring expenses by when the payment needs to be made. This will make the process significantly easier.

Step 3. Create Your Own Cash Flow Spreadsheet

NOTE: For this Cash Flow Spreadsheet YOU ONLY NEED TO DO FROM TODAY GOING FORWARD. You will need the information for the past for your accountant. However, I don’t want you to get mired up in that today.

As your business grows and gets more complicated, you will need to update your cash flow more regularly.

Weekly Cashflow Example.xlsx