The LivePlan Blog

Industry benchmarks are a great tool to measure your company’s performance against similar businesses, but they can also be used by startups to help with forecasting and budgeting, and ultimately, to help drive business growth. Here’s how to use them effectively.

You most likely take a deep look at your business numbers once every three months—but reviewing your key numbers only once a quarter can limit your opportunities. However, there’s a simple solution you can use to improve your company, making it more nimble and agile than your competition.

Now that we’re well into the beginning of 2019, there are some small business trends that seem to be on the horizon that small businesses and startups should pay attention to.

Mass communication, and even personalized communication, isn’t going to foster true connection with your customers. The key to authentic connection? Relevant communication. Learn the key difference between personalized and relevant communication, and how to create it within your business.

Cash is the lifeblood of every business—and understanding your cash flow statement will keep your business alive. Here’s how to make sense of your cash flow statement (and how a cash flow statement differs from a cash flow forecast).

Accounts payable is the total of the bills that you have to pay, but that you haven’t paid yet. Here’s why accounts payable matters for your business, and how to manage it.

2019 is off to a great start at LivePlan—our team has been busy adding new features. Now, it’s easy to export your business plan into a professionally-designed Word document, view your payment history, get copies of billing receipts, and access nine helpful new in-app videos.

The balance sheet is the most misunderstood financial statement—which is problematic because it is also one of the most useful. Here’s why the balance sheet matters, and how to read and create one.

So, you got funding for your business—congratulations! Now, how are you going to use that money? Since there are so many ways to use funding, it’s important to keep track of your funding with use of funds reporting. A use of funds report is a simple statement of why you need the funding, and how it will help your business.

Congratulations—you put a lot of research and thought into writing your business plan, and it’s finally finished! But now what? Here’s what to do once your business plan is finished—and how to turn that finished business plan into strong business management habits.