GREAT 34 IDEA: Even Out Your Cash Flow

Running a seasonal business is challenging, but there are strategies to manage cash flow in order to make it through the slow times of the year.

Paula Wolff, a former certified public accountant (CPA) with a major firm who also served as an interim chief financial officer (CFO) with a biotech company, agreed to help her son, Barry, expand Seasonal Solutions, his Overland Park, Kansas–based landscaping business. After he lost his job when Lehmann Brothers collapsed, he went into the commercial real estate and property management business.

Landscaping companies in the Midwest are busier in the summer than the winter, so the mother-and-son team needed to figure out more ways to keep their six full-time employees busy all year round. (They hire more help during the summer.)

“We expanded our services to think out of the box,” said Wolff. “We are also good about asking for business.”

For example, in addition to doing lawn care and maintenance, Seasonal Solutions can install a sprinkler system or build an outdoor kitchen. “We try to package our services into a menu, so we are not just knocking on doors doing a onesie or twosie service.”

They take credit cards and thank American Express for helping them manage cash flow with small business–oriented financial products. Wolff said their Business Platinum card offers cash rebates that are credited against the monthly bill. The card also permits them to make monthly payments versus paying off the balance every month.

“We are using the American Express Business Platinum card with a $20,000 limit as our line of credit,” said Wolff, adding that she also bills clients twice a month and encourages clients to sign up for automatic bill payments.

In the winter months, the company provides snow and ice removal. “We sign a contract and ask for level payments over time, which helps us stretch our cash flow over a 10-month period, rather than six months.”

In addition to requiring payment the day a project is completed, “we offer a bundle of services versus a discount,” she said. “For instance, we'll say, we'll do this job and provide the first chemical treatment for fertilization and weed control at no charge. That guarantees us more work because you can't just do one chemical treatment—you need to do five.”

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