CASH IS KING

Nothing new  but eternal truth. Continuous positive cash flow is critical to any business. Many dont understand the difference between profitability and cash flow.

1) Estimate the minimum cash reserve at any given time.  --- A
2) Annual top line estimate  and arrive at monthly  fig bt dividing it by 12 --- B
3) Ensure you always have ---- A + 2 B in your current account all the time.

How you can do it

1) Buy late (Just in Time)
2) Negotiate also on credit period ( Not only price) while buying
3) Bill fast and Collect fast very-- very fast.
4) Insist on bank transfer. This saves 3-4 days
5) Monitoring cash flow on daily basis is somebodys job in the organisation and he must do it.

IMPORTANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN SME

This is vital subject for your success and  perpetual progress of business. By infrastructure I mean set up, manpower and  systems.

Obviously all this will cost you . But trust me you should  have judiciously invest in all above to succeed.
 Better set up includes
1) Good ,spacious, clean, polished workplace.
2) Good hardware with all necessary licensed softwares. (Printers, scanner,fax )
3) Latest tools and machinery.
4) Functional and ergonomically designed  furniture.(Pushback chaires, filing cabinet)
5) Good Illumination. Safe electric fittings
6) Clean Toilets.
7) Good Housekeeping. (Daily dusting, brooming,glass cleaning,use of room freshner etc)

Manpower

Again this is HR . Steps that can be followed  are ,

1) Write down the function areas of your business. (Sales, commercial, stores etc.)
2) Break down each these functions in to actual work description in brief.
3) Find out who is doing whta presently ,
4) Identify grey spots.
5) Recruit, Train or replace.
6) Induct systematically. (Written job description)

Systems

This is business specific. I will write about this later.

HR in SME

This is about HR aspects which  might be useful,

Building the team is an essence of any business especially in the begining phase. Initially the business is small resources are limited, brand is yet to develop, infrastructure is less than modest. All this makes it difficult to attract experienced people.

In such scenerio what an small ,very small, businessman should do.

1) Look above I am saying experienced, not saying good. Hire good , genuine people.
2) Take great care in recruiting.
3) Creat job templates for evry post.
4) Induction plays vital role.Allow, some time for adoption. Dont expect tangiblees in first month.
5) Training should be systematic and preferably well defined .
6) Respecting is must. Remember  everybody loves recognition.
7) Motivation does not mean money --money -- and money. Think about it.
8) Pay salary on time every time.
9) Constantly appraise your employee. Raise the bar and enable them to cross.
10) Retention is  natural phenomena. It is very simple. People will always be with you if you can keep them happy. And how, Pay well, Pay on time, aligning is critical, grow your organisation , personnel growth is equally critical , bond with their family.