Unpredicted Entrepreneur Episode 83: Financial Agility

Unpredicted Entrepreneur

“You mentioned the SCORE Methodology. Can you give us a brief overview of what that is?

Back to the notion of a symphony. Every family we work with is different. We work with a lot of entrepreneurial families and all of those businesses run a little bit differently on their cashflow schedules, variability, all of these things. S is for understanding their story, what they do, how their life works, and who the key players are in their family; things we need to be mindful of. C gets into cash and cash flow. When we look at studies from the Small Business Administration and other resources, they all say the same thing. About 80% of businesses fail because of a lack of cash flow. You really want to know where your cash and cash flow is. It's the very first thing we ask before we get into any of O for opportunity, which are the investments, R is for real return, what does that net of tax cashflow look like? We’re doing a lot of that planning right now.

And then E is for avoiding easy money mistakes. They come in a lot of different forms. We spend a lot of time reading first. It's almost like studying a musical score back when I was running the music department, studying the score, understanding how it worked, and what the really important things were. It’s the same thing with families and businesses. We want to read all of the documents that our prospective clients give us and understand who they are and how we need to make that money align or be harmonious with what's happening in their lives. This is what we spent a lot of time doing.”

The SCORE Methodology offers a methodical yet personalized approach to business planning, blending practicality with an almost artistic touch. The symphony metaphor, emphasizing harmony between a business's financial strategy and the owner's life, provides a unique perspective. It underscores the need to tailor financial plans to individual circumstances while addressing the leading cause of business failure - poor cash flow management. This balance of structured analysis and personalized alignment presents a fresh and effective approach to building and sustaining a successful business.

We cover many current and relevant topics. A few include:

◈ Preparing for business ownership - knowing and understanding your cash flow

◈ Disruption = opportunity

◈ The right and wrong time to ask a bank for money

*Registered representative of and securities offered through Bethel Fisher & Company Financial Services, Inc. (BFCFS). Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment Advisory Services offered through BFC Planning, Fiscal Harmony, GS Wealth Management are not affiliated with BFCFS and BFC Planning.