Dealing in Millions is Not Fun

Wait, before you judge me, I am not one of those people who has tons of cash and goes around saying "money does not buy happiness". I firmly believe that money does make life easier, especially when you can spend it on a pair of Louboutins and a Herve Leger bandage dress (gotta use those curves).

Unfortunately, the only millions I'm seeing are those I have to shell out as payments to my vendors. Vendors who don't deliver on time and still expect your cheques to be credited correctly. Vendors who send equipment and conveniently forget to send the experts to install it. Hey, I'm not talking about your average desktop here, these are high-end diagnostic and testing equipment. (My homeboy techie can manage all your regular electronic stuff, what else will he do with that fancy engineering degree)

As you can see I have a bone to pick when it comes to vendors, more about that another day. My main struggle here is managing business cash flows. Now I'm the self-proclaimed queen of excel sheets and when it comes to creating advanced models for business forecasting, I'm your girl. However, reality strikes when I have to juggle cash outflows, which do not coincide with the inflows. I have learnt my most important lessons in humility after we started this business.  

Take the example of last week, we had major equipment payments coming up, which I was comfortable with since we had scheduled for them. Unfortunately, the finance head of one of our investors was out of action for a few days and a cheque which we were expecting was delayed by a week. I had to sweet talk and cajole a whole bunch of people in the hopes that at least 25 percent of payments due could be postponed by 7 days.

Finally, we did get a bit of leeway and managed to balance the payments to fit the investment receipt schedule. However for that whole week, till we got the investment deposits, I woke up in a cold sweat every night, imagining bounced cheques, being turned out of the house and not being able to send my daughter to school.

Like I said, dealing in millions is not fun.

Is it financially easier running your own business or earning a salary? I always thought both had their pros and cons, but am leaning towards employment in terms of financial stability.

Luxury vs Babies and New Business

I'm feeling totally guilty today. I just blew about 400 bucks on a terrible lunch, adding on about 400 (no pun intended) empty calories and making my wallet a lot lighter. 400 big ones may not seem like much to a lot of you and it didn't to me about 2 years back. However, with a toddler to provide for and a business into which hubby and I have pored all our life savings, our finances are precarious, right now, to say the least.

Apart from our scary financial situation, is the fact that the food sucked, big time. So I didn't even get my money's worth. In retrospect, I can think of at least 10 very productive and urgent uses for the money:
1. pull-ups for my daughter (who is potty trained, however I don't like her using public toilets)
2. Toiletries for all of us
3. School snacks
4. Part of my brother's birthday gift (his gift costs way more, and will be worth every bit)
5. A pen drive (for work)
6. The phone bill
7. My weekly dance class fee (this is not a luxury, I need the class to stay semi-fit)
8. Formal work shoes for my hubby (his are in tatters from standing for hours at the construction site)
9. Batteries for my watch
10. Overtime payment for my babysitter

I know, it's not a very glamorous list. I used to have way more fun stuff on my shopping list when I was an employee, rather than an employer. For example, in my not so distant past here's what I would have blown the 400 on (if I hadn't had that lunch):
1. Chick lit, Cosmo, Vogue
2. Art supplies
3. Surprise gifts for my family - 'just to say I love u' - now I just have to say 'I love u'
4. Growing my birthday gifting fund
5. Printing pictures and getting pretty frames for them
6. A cute top or fun bling ring
7. A mani or pedi (depending on the season)
8. Getting my hubby his favourite Thai Red curry dinner (home delivery, not homemade)
9. Catching a movie at the cinema with my hubby and a big tub of caramel popcorn (definitely a night show)
10. Dark Chocolate from Lindt

I can't believe both these lists were created by the same girl. Oh! how the mighty fall!