Is Your Business Ready for a Recession?

Running a business in today’s world is risky and one must always be ready for some kickback. Especially with the volatility of the market every day. With the volatility comes rumors, and the latest rumor is that the recession is coming. The best time to prepare for a recession is when the business is still running. You will have the chance to make your choices playing offense instead of reacting to circumstances playing defense to make sure that your business survives. 
Because the recessions are unpredictable and can occur anytime without any prior notice, you will be learning the tips & tricks to get your business ready for recession. Currently, the yield curve is looking bearish, as in a bear market is coming. But judging from the current world situation, anything could happen.
Cash Reserve:
One of the very first signs of a recession is that invoice payments of the companies become slower and start demanding earlier payment from their clients. The flow of cash is disturbed and without that, the survival of the company during a recession is not possible.
The idea of cash flow and cash reserves are two different things so make sure not to confuse those two. Of course, a business can be profitable even when the cash flow is not good and you do not have any cash reserves, but you do not want to do that when the economy is not going great.
If you want your business to build a cash reserve, then the idea is simple but acting upon it is not that easy. Make sure to store enough money in your bank account for the times of recession. The longer period your cash reserve covers, the better. It depends upon your business how much you can cut and put aside. Coworking can definitely help you save money so you can put more aside. 
One disadvantage of putting money in a bank account is that the money just sits there without giving you any profit since you are not reinvesting that money. The money sitting there without being invested can hinder the growth of the company.
Payment and Invoice Management:
As mentioned earlier, during the recession your clients will take longer to pay and some may never pay because they went bankrupt. The times of recession are really hard and can impact your business even if you are stable. The best you can do is manage your invoice and collection more carefully.
Most of the clients may want an extension of terms, make sure that you check the credits of the client before you offer them a term. If they have been paying their other vendors on time then they might be worth giving an extension.
In the end, if you do not have any means to know the track the invoices then implement a system to do so so that you can collect the overdue invoices. 
Another reason for having a good invoice and tracking system is that you will get to know when the clients will change their methods of payments. The change in habits of payments can be used as a measurement for the indication of recession. If the clients have not been paying immediately then it means they are getting ready for downtimes.
New Costs:
The mistake most of the business owners make is that they do not give any attention to the new costs, probably because the business is good and the cash is flowing smoothly. When not given any attention, new costs can pile up and cause a problem. The worst-case scenario is that this pile of costs can pose a threat during a recession and maybe too late to go back. This is the reason you must not spend the money on something unnecessary. You can spend the money on things that can improve the business but be fair with the cash.
Financial Statements:
Keep track of the financial statements of a company is crucial and it is a good practice to be followed by good company owners, does not matter if the times are good or bad.
Keep the reports and accounts updated while reviewing them regularly so that there is not anything missing from the picture.

1. Profit and loss statement
2. Invoice aging report
3. Payables aging report
4. Cash flow statement
5. Balance sheet

The Client Base:
If you want to prepare your business for a recession that you will have to expand your client base. A wise man once said not to put all your eggs in one basket. Most of the businessmen make the mistake of keeping only a few clients and only concentrating on them. This can cause problems for you in the future if you do not diversify your client base because with the few clients that you have if they start to leave then you can go out of business. This happens very often when the recession hits.
To make sure that you survive, diversify your client base to fix the situation. If the cash reserve is more important, diversifying the client base can become the second priority. During peaceful times, if you diversify your client base then you can have the chance to try different techniques and strategies to get a better hold of the business. Diversifying your client base can make the recession times easier for you and increase the survival chances of your business.
Similar to the diversification of the clients, diversify the means through which you acquire your clientage. Do not depend on a single channel through which you get your channels, it can pose a threat to your business if that single mean of getting clients ceases to exist. Diversification of your channel for getting clients shall be on your list of priorities. If you prepare when the times are good then you will not have to worry much when the recession hits.
Come to Treehouse Society to cowork and ensure to meet others so you can diversify your client base and get creative on how to tackle your upcoming project!