On The Money

Cash crunches happen to every homebased entrepreneur. How to cope? "You can tighten your belt without your hurting your customers, your professionalism or your efficiency," promises Kimberly Stanséll, author of Bootstrapper's Success Secrets: 151 Tactics for Building Your Business on a Shoestring Budget (Career Press, $13.99, 800-CAREER-1). "[Because] homebased businesses have a veil of privacy, they can get by without things that would be necessary if the business were outside the home." Stanséll's suggestions:

• Take on additional work. Get a part-time job or use a hobby to generate quick cash." As long as you continue to service your regular clients, they won't know you're running two or three businesses from home," Stanséll says.

• Bring outsourced tasks in-house until the crisis passes. If you can't manage alone, convince your spouse, a parent or a friend to help. If you have children, give them tasks that can free you to concentrate on bringing in the bucks.

• Cut phone costs. Little extras add up. Do you really need call forwarding and three-way calling?

Contact Source

Kimberly Stansell, c/o Research Done Write!, 6308 W. 89th St., #306-BS, Los Angeles, CA 90045, (310) 568-8589

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Lynn Colwell  is a life coach and writer in the Seattle area.