Small Business Financial Health Check-Up

One thing that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed for many small business owners is that they were not as prepared as they could have been for a dramatic financial downturn. This can happen in any economic dip or natural disaster, but the COVID-19 situation hit companies across the world all at once.

What Makes a Resilient Business?

What we also know is that those businesses that were positioned better financially going into the pandemic have been able to withstand the resulting hardship far better than those who were not as sound financially. Having cash reserves, access to funds — like a revolving line of credit, and lower debt loads to service made sleeping at night much easier.

It’s a little late now to go back and get a financial ‘do-over’, but we can be better prepared for the next time a disaster strikes — whatever it may look like.

Financial Health Check-Up

The Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network has a program that you can take advantage of, at no-cost to you, that can help make you a better financial manager of your business. It is called a Financial Health Check-up and it uses a combination of computer software and our internal expertise in the area of financial analysis to help business owners feel more comfortable with their financial reports. Many, in fact probably most, business owners would rather sell their service or manufacture their product than spend time looking at numbers. However, they also realize that it is important to the long-term success of their enterprise.

Our free program consists of a computer analysis of your historical financial data that will compare a local business to others in that industry as well as look at trends within the business itself. The result is an easy-to-read narrative report that can be viewed by the owner or with the assistance of a Wyoming SBDC Network counselor.

Another aspect of this program is the ability to do some forecasting and see what the financial picture might look like if certain changes were implemented. With any projection there are lots of variables and uncertainty, but at least it gives you a place to start. To learn more about this service, you can contact your local Wyoming SBDC Network for no-cost, confidential assistance by clicking here..

Master Your Profits

If you really want to dig deep into your financial numbers and learn to manage that part of the business thoroughly, you will want to register for our upcoming Profit Mastery webinars. This free series will take place weekly from February 11 to March 25 to provide independent business owners with an unparalleled financial perspective as well as the tools to take advantage of opportunities and deal with challenges. You can register for the webinar series here: https://wyomingsbdc.org/events/profit-mastery-series/

About the Author: Bruce’s experience as a former banker and Economic Development Finance Professional helps him to assist clients with all things numbers: loan applications, financial analysis, business planning and projections, and crowdfunding ideas. When he’s not in the office, Bruce loves travel, good food, and an occasional round of golf!