How can I improve my cash flow?

By Pam Newman

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

I have a IT company. We have our own portals. These are our long term projects. But the problem is managing short term financing to pay office rent, salary and day to day basic expenses. Once we launch our projects things will improve but for the time being I'm facing problems regarding managing expenditure.
There are a couple of different things that can help with cash flow:

1. When working with a client, request a down payment up front and/or do incremental billings so that you have cash flow throughout the project vs. just at the end.

2. Supplement your long term projects with short term to mix the cash flow cycles.

3. Depending on your credit and length in business, some businesses find it helpful to get a line of credit to help during the slow months. Just don't rely on this all the time or the cost of financing may eat up your profits.
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Pam Newman is a Certified Management Accountant, author and Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor for Financial and Point-of-Sale software. She is also president of RPPC, Inc., which provides customized business development services.

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