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Make sure you are paying yourself.
In all business small or large, cash flow is the most important factor to the health of a business. Many times it is easy as the owner of the business to put yourself on the back burner when it comes to payroll.
"I will catch up next week." "I will wait for that big check to come in." "I have to make sure I do not lose my employees." The fact is that if you are not able to pay yourself you do not have a viable business. I have heard bosses say "I am not even taking a check!" This is not a good thing to hear as it means there is a cash flow problem.
If you are in this situation as an owner, a boss, or part of a company where you are hearing this, take a good hard look at what is going on. Are there too many employees? Is it a sales problem? Is it a collections issue? You can not run a business and be effective by deferring your pay. No matter how much you love those employees, or your clients, find the real cause of the problem and fix it. More often than not, you will actually find a way to bring home more money than you thought was possible, and you will be a better boss or owner when your business is viable!
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Great point Jason! I think that not having a salary creates stress which ultimately hurts everybody in the company.
I've worked for organizations in which this occurred; my last gig, in fact. I know some people think, "how noble." I think, "wow, if this guy's not paying himself, no wonder he expects me to work for peanuts." It's usually a strong indicator that it's time to seek greener, more verdant pastures, fast.
There must also be something said about the opposite...my last employer is having some serious issues, because of some of the choices he made. He would raise his salary in rough times and cut our hours. He would always be the first person paid, and then if there was enough, he would pay us, or cut us down. This was a total motivation killer, and he eventually lost all his employees because of the obvious differentiation in salaries and sacrifices made.
I think there should be a balance, if there are slow times though, the business owner should be the one to take the cut, and that will force them to take a look at the state of their business.
However, Brandon, I think it takes a "special" business owner to take the cut for his troops in favor for the corporate health and motivation of the the individuals that work for him.
But business owners aren't saints. Do you have an examples in history or in your own experience of something this remarkable happening?
Did it boost company morale and decrease stress or did the company end up tanking anyway?
Amanda, yeah, I think it definitely would be a special person who takes a hit for his employees, but of all the jobs I've had, I have yet to experience anything even remotely close to this.
Perhaps I've just worked at the wrong places, and should still be searching, but all my experiences with employers have been on the "workers are dispensable" level. My last employer actually called us "overhead".
I hope to either find somewhere that appreciates the people who do a large bulk of the work, or if all goes well, I will have my business up and running, and try my best not to be the way that seems to be the norm.