My15 years of owning Olympic Cellars taught me so much. Coming from a corporate environment, I didn't think about cash flow... just profit and stock price. But it didn't take me long to learn CASH was King in a small business. And after a few years when tourism was down due to early fall rains or the closing of Hood Canal Bridge during the summer, the importance of having a Rainy Day Fund (that's what I called ours) and keeping it funded became a line item on my annual budget.
While I don't dive deep into small business financials in the book focusing more on marketing and making money, I do give examples of what I did during some of the hard times. Bottom line I knew I had to work ON my business but I was always obsessed with my numbers. I tracked my income by day for 15 years with notes about the weather, if it was holiday, what sold best at the bar, who was working, etc. Trends started to jump out at me and I tested/made changes to see how it impacted the business. This was a job I couldn't delicate.
Ou barn and lower field that becomes home to ducks during the rainy season. The only cars in the parking lot are winery staff.
