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Answer from our Guest Expert Mark Bower of Aberdeen Mobile Home Repair PAGE 2 Start-up Cash-Flow Strategies When I got started (read my bio), I bought tools as I needed them. Often times, I could build the cost of the tools directly into the job and pay for them with the deposit I received. Then I opened up charge accounts with various local merchants, like the lumberyard and hardware store. This was a godsend to my start-up cash flow since they carried my materials cost until I got paid. (I still take advantage of those accounts to help me out.) And if I need an expensive tool, sometimes I charge it and pay it off after working three or four jobs. Just adhere to one rule -- when you get paid, pay off your account! Don't wait until you get your statement to pay them. Let's say you have a job where you need scaffolding or big ladders. Just go and rent them. Later, you may want to buy your own, but for the time being, include the cost of renting the equipment in your bids. Another thing you can do is get a deposit from the customer. If it's a two- or three-day job, I'd get 50% down. You could use the down payment to pay for materials. Once you get some cash-flow strategies going that work for you, here's some advice for finding jobs. (continued) Page 1 - 2 - 3 Enter your search terms Submit search form       Search Idea Cafe Web Small Business Tax Center • Idea Cafe Home • Sign Up • Biz Grant Center • CyberSchmooz •Coffee Talk with Experts • People in Biz Profiles • Starting Your Biz • Biz Planning • Running Your Biz • FREE Trade Publications • Marketing • Financing Your Biz • Human Resources • Legal & Biz Forms • Managing Your Biz • eCommerce • You and Your Biz • Gen X • Work@Home • The Fridge • De-Stress • Send an Award • Send an eGreeting • Yoga @ Your Desk • Web Guide • Idea Cafe in the News • About Idea Cafe • Advertise on Idea Cafe • Contact Us • Privacy Policy • Site Map • Small Biz News Copyright 1995-2024, Idea Cafe Inc. Downloads are for personal use only, not for resale to others, and may not be reprinted in any form without written permission from Idea Cafe Inc. DISCLAIMER: We hope whatever you find on this site is helpful, but be cautioned that it may not apply to your own situation, or be totally current at any given time. Idea Cafe Inc. and all of its current and past experts, sponsors, advertisers, agents, contractors and advisors disclaim all warranties with regard to anything found anywhere on this family of websites, quoted from, or sent from Idea Cafe. and its related sites, publications and companies. We also take no responsibility for comments published by others on these pages. TRADEMARKS: The following are Registered Trademarks or Servicemarks of DevStart, Inc.: Idea Cafe®, Online Coffee Break®, The Small Business Gathering Place®, Take out Info®, Biz Bar & Grill®, Complaint-O-Meter®, A Fun Approach to Serious Business™, CyberSchmooz™, and BizCafe™.