Wimbledon Centre Court Nadal V Murray in the Cash growth Semi Final

Let's look at the financial prize stats to date and see if we can serve up any conclusions on the outcome of the match (Wimbledon 2011) Andy Murray has played 391 Career tennis matches of those he has won 289 and lost 102 and in the process has earned himself $16million USD that works out at an average of $41,000 for each game played. Rafael Nadal has played 625 Career tennis matches of those he has won 517 and lost 108 and in the process has earned himself $42million USD that works out at an average of $67,000 for each game played.

So it looks like it's all over for the Scot until you challenge recent baseline performance with hawk eye. Year to date Murray has played 30 career tennis matches of those he has won 22 and lost 8 and in the process has earned himself $2million USD that works out at an average of $67,000 for each game played.  Year to date Nadal has played 52 career tennis matches of those he has won 45 and lost 7 and in the process has earned himself $4.3 million USD that works out at an average of $83,000 for each game played. So Nadal PLC is expected to win until you look at the prize earnings growth.

The earnings growth for Murray PLC has increased by $26,000 over the average baseline figure of $41,000 as compared to Nadal's increase of $16,000 over his average baseline serve of $67,000.  So there you have it invest in Nadal PLC for a powerful serve and a nice stable return or Murray PLC for a vastly improved baseline serve, a speedy return and a potential future winner. 

Finally, use your head. Nothing in this post is intended to replace common sense, and as you can imagine Cash prize money is only a part of a Players income. But the question remains how do others perceive your companies growth potential? Remember, it's all about Finding Cash in Your Business, handling it well and looking for the golden opportunities it creates. 

The Greek Tragedy

The Greek government employs 1/3 of the population. It has the highest budget deficit in the EU. In monetary terms it spends approx. $45Billion per annum more than it raises in taxes, and it's debt mountain stands at about $544 billion.  A new loan package of a further circa 120 billion euro over three years is currently being considered by the IMF. So not surprisingly any additional loans come with very strong caveats. On 13 June 2011, Standard and Poors lowered the Greek sovereign debt credit rating to "CCC', which means: vulnerable, dependent on current economic situation!


If the outstanding debt is restructured delaying repayment further the credit agencies will rate the Greek government bonds as Junk, which means that the lenders are not expected to get anything like the face value back.  It's all very well getting a loan but the debt problem has not gone away, the deficit has not gone away and in fact the problem has now been compounded with high interest payments.  


The next few weeks will be critical to the future of the eurozone.  Here are some potential consequences of the a Greek sovereign debt default.  The so called PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) will struggle to raise any additional funding at favourable rates. A number of banks including the bank of Cypress could go bust, "flag of convenience" shipping and holidaying in Greece could become much cheaper. 


But here is the billion dollar question "why are the eurozone heavy weights like Germany and France not throwing themselves behind more loans to Greece at more favourable rates?"  Could it be that the eurozone has reached the tipping point, and it is now better for the eurozone if Greece just slipped away?  Ask yourself the question how long could you run a business in deficit?  The key to surviving the global credit crunch is to look for cash in your Business, find it, handle it well and look for the golden opportunities it creates.  Finding Cash in Your Business

Are you up to your waist in quotes?

Cutting costs and improving Cash Flow is where all small businesses need to be right now.  The big question is where do you start?

Recently the owner of a small business said to me I am quoting for more business opportunities than ever before, converting less, constantly running short of time and my costs keep going up.

He then showed me into his office where ring binders full of quotes that had not converted to orders were stacked in waist height piles, taking up valuable floor space. May I first say that these guys were experts at filling quotes, with a keen eye for methodical approach, and if that had been their core business they would have been very profitable. Mentally I could see cash sticking out of the ring binders and falling onto the floor. He asked me the obvious question why have I lost out on so many quotes? His business was a car body repair shop and rather than provide an answer to a subject I knew nothing about. I asked him to indulge me as we started to evaluate how much money he had invested in creating the stacks of quotes.

The results were staggering in one year alone he had investing about two years wages, which had ultimately feed through to his bottom line costs and explained why he was busier without seeing any improvement in cash flow.

Small businesses cannot afford the luxury of doing “business as usual” in a recessionary environment it is critical to re-evaluate how your business operates.