When I See a Little Light

Things are still pretty bleak in the short-term.  However, I'm seeing a little light on the horizon.

Things aren't good, mind you, but they show some signs that they may be survivable.  We have over $20K in A/R at the moment.  Historically speaking, that's a frighteningly low amount, but our overhead is lower now than any other time in the past 4 or 5 years.  So, we can do a lot with $20K. 

Everything is slow pay right now, though.  In the past, I'd expect that money this week.  The way things go these days, it's more like it could show up anytime between now and three months from now.

We also have some larger jobs that should be finished in June.  Figure they'll get paid out in July.  Maybe August.  In August, we retire one of our equipment notes and that will free up $300 a month. 

It truly is a game where every month we survive brings us a step closer to salvation. 

It's been an adjustment for me, too.  A couple years ago, I was on the golf course at the country club.  If I kept my luxury spending below about $3,000 a month, life was fine.  Purchases under $1,000?  I didn't even flinch.  Not for that kind of money.

Now, I'm back to having to think twice about spending $40 for a book.  It was like this for pretty much the first two years I had my business.  I still remember buying ice skates for $500 and an iPod for $500.  Those were major purchases that were guilty indulgences that involved a stretch.

Didn't take me long to get spoiled, though.  I'll tell ya, life sure is good when you're doing well financially. 

Things are still very tense.  We need to bring in some of that A/R.  We're just sorta squeaking along, but that's better than shutting the doors for good. 

I've been selling stuff on e-bay and will soon start getting rid of guns on gunbroker.  I'll regret it when the zombie apocalypse happens, but if not, it's a good move.

I'm looking for opportunities to serve in the reserves.  It's not a great paycheck, and it takes me away from my son, but a few thousand bucks here or there makes a big difference. 

Things will get easier when that note is paid off.  Also, I think I can get a much better rate (like 50% less) on my business general liability insurance.  That's pretty much all the cost savings I'm likely to muster, though.  The business has to get up off the mat and start paying its own way, soon. 

So, no good news in the very short-term.  However, if we can hang on a few more weeks, there's every indication that there'll be good news in the not too distant future. 

Even so, although it sounds like debt is the problem, it really isn't.  Lack of sales is the problem.  Even if we didn't have any of these debt payments, we'd still have trouble.  They're a small part of our operating budget.  (They're about 1/3 the size of our payroll, even in our current skeleton-crew phase.)  It'll help when the debt is gone, but we need sales to make this whole thing work.