Solid cash flow management is vital to ensuring your business survives, but not everyone understands what cash flow is or how to manage it. That’s likely what makes it a leading cause of stress for small business owners.

Some small business owners find themselves in the difficult position of running a business that appears to be profitable, but still having no money in the bank. It’s an important situation to address. After all, a lack of adequate cash flow is one of the main causes of small business failure.

Maintaining positive cash flow can be challenging for small businesses, whether you’re just starting out or have been running your company for years.

These tips will help you get paid faster, so you can avoid a dangerous cash flow crunch.

Now is the perfect time to evaluate your financial position and come up with innovative ways to add revenue streams and generate cash. Here are five ways you might consider to improve your cash inflow.

Your “war chest” is the financial reserve your business has built up so you can take advantage of an opportunity or cover unexpected costs or emergencies. Building a cash reserve when finances are tight, however, can be difficult.

If you’re like most people you’ve probably gone for periods of time without really thinking about how you spent your money. Maybe you even avoided looking at your bank statement so you wouldn’t see how much money you spent and how little you saved.