The number one business killer is lack of cash.  More new businesses fail from lack of capitalization than any other factor.  Of course, this is especially true in times like these, when credit is harder than usual to get and much more expensive. 

Oddly enough, profit is not as important during a downturn as cash.  It seems like a paradox, but you can run an extremely profitable business that still fails because it doesn’t have enough cash.  Cash is the blood that has to pump through the business to keep it viable.  A profitable business with no cash flow will soon be a dead business. 

Given that cash flow is vital, your attention should be focused on doing the things that generate cash—especially closing deals quickly and collecting deferred payments—or that reduce its outflow.  Reduce expenses where you can, but beware of making cuts that hurt your potential for closing deals and bringing new cash in.  It may not hurt to reduce your building maintenance but cutting back on lead generation could have a serious negative impact on your future. 

Dr. Reed Holden, author of Pricing with Confidence: Ten Ways to Stop Leaving Money on the Table argues that survival must be the number one goal in difficult times.  “Survival pricing focuses on immediate pricing actions businesses need to take in order to make it through a deep and potentially long financial crisis,” he says.  He recommends using incremental cost pricing to keep money flowing into the system and searching for services that will keep customer costs low and service levels high.  You can read his nine other specific recommendations for avoiding death by cash strangulation at http://reedholden.wordpress.com. 

But most smart, experienced business people know how to manage their cash.  A bigger challenge is figuring out how to manage our attitude. 

In a financial downturn, panic is the enemy of good thinking and good manners.  We find business owners and managers forgetting to treat employees with respect, failing to be patient and empathetic with clients. 

A positive attitude goes a long way to establishing the momentum for success.  If you treat clients and opportunities without desperation, if you maintain an optimistic outlook, you pull others toward you.  That’s exactly the kind of attitude your clients and employees want to be near.  Not anger, not resentment, and certainly not fear.  No, they want to be near somebody who exudes confidence and a positive frame of mind. 

Plus, it’s worth making the effort to treat clients and employees with respect.  One thing we all know is that the economic climate will change again, and when it does you want your clients to have strong, positive memories of working with you through the bad times.  You want them to come back eagerly when things turn around. 

Sadly, maintaining an upbeat, respectful attitude is sometimes more difficult than maintaining cash flow!  It may be easier to track the numbers and make appropriate choices on pricing and cost containment than it is to monitor our own emotions and resist the temptation to succumb to fear or negativity. 

The end of the year is a good time to reflect on your business’s progress over the past year and plan how you want your business to develop. Do you want increased success in 2010 or the chance to enjoy the success you’ve achieved more? These top 10 New Year’s resolutions are designed to help you strike a better work-life balance, so you can achieve a truly satisfying success in the New Year.

1. Learn how to delegate and do more of it.

There are so many things to do when you’re running a small business, it’s easy to delude ourselves that we need to do all of them. Then we wonder why we’re so tired and frazzled and have no time to do anything else! Determine Your Personal Return on Investment, and decide to let someone else do some of the tasks for a change. Delegation is the key to a healthy work-life balance.

2. Promote your business regularly and consistently.

Too often the task of promoting a small business slips to the bottom of the to-do list in the press of urgent tasks. If you want to attract new customers, you have to make promotion a priority. Make a New Year’s resolution to hire a marketing expert, or take the time to create a marketing plan on your own and follow through.

3. Make business planning a weekly event.

Planning is vital if you want a healthy, growing business. Business planning lets you take stock of what worked and what didn’t work, and helps you set new directions or adjust old goals. So why do it just once a year or once a quarter? Set aside time each week to review, adjust, and look forward – or even better, make business planning a part of each day. Not only will this help you avoid costly mistakes and stay on track, but you’ll feel more focused and relaxed.

4. Learn something new.

What you choose to learn may be directly related to your business or completely unrelated. Learning something new will add to your skills and add a new dimension of interest to your life – another important part of achieving a healthy work-life balance. Depending on how you choose to learn, you may meet new and interesting people, who may become customers, colleagues, or friends. How will you find the time to learn something new? By delegating, remember?

5. Join a new business organization or networking group.

There’s nothing like talking to other business people for sparking new ideas, refining old ones, and making contacts. Whether it’s a group specifically designed for networking or an organization dedicated to a particular type of business, in person or over the Net, making the effort to be a part of a group will revitalize you and your business.

6. Give something back to your community.

There are all kinds of worthy organizations that make a difference in your community. Make a New Year’s resolution to find a cause that matters to you, and give what you can. Make this the year that you serve on a committee, be a mentor, volunteer, or make regular donations to the groups in your community that try to make the place you live a better place. And those that give get.

7. Put time for you on your calendar.

All work and no play is a recipe for mental and physical disaster. So if you have trouble freeing up time to do the things you enjoy, write time regularly into your schedule to “meet with yourself” and stick to that commitment. If you won’t invest in yourself, who will?

8. Set realistic goals.

Goal setting is a valuable habit – if the goals lead to success rather than distress. Make a New Year’s resolution that the goals you set will be goals that are achievable, rather than unrealistic pipe dreams that are so far out of reach they only lead to frustration.

9. Don’t make do; get a new one.

Is there a piece of equipment in your office that’s interfering with your success or something that you lack that’s making your working life harder? Whether it’s an old fax machine that’s a pain to use, or the need for a new employee to lighten your work load, make a New Year’s resolution to stop putting off getting what you need. The irritation of making do just isn’t worth it.

10. Drop what’s not working for you and move on.

All products aren’t going to be super sellers, all sales methods aren’t going to work for everyone, and all suppliers or contractors aren’t going to be ideally suited to your business. If a technique or a product or a business relationship isn’t working for you, stop using it. Don’t invest a lot of energy into trying to make the unworkable workable. Move on. Something better will turn up.

Achieving a healthy work-life balance is like maintaining a good relationship; you have to keep working on it. But if you apply these New Year’s resolutions throughout the year, your success is guaranteed!

So how should you behave when your boss is the host?   Some business experts who have seen the best and worst office party behavior were recently polled.   What follows is a list of their tips for “Surviving Your Holiday Office Party with Your Face and Your Job Intact.”

1. When you gotta go, you gotta go. Even if your boss is named Ebenezer, you should show up at your company office party.  “You cannot skip these parties,” said Margery Sinclair, etiquette teacher and head of Good Manners are Good Business in Glendale.  “You have to put in an appearance.  This is an extension of the business office.”

2. Mind your threads.  Dress appropriately. (Hint: Leave the “desperate housewife” lingerie look at home).  “Avoid the too-toos – too short, too tight, too transparent, too low-cut.  Cleavage is not in good taste at an office party,” says Sinclair.  Sometimes party invitations will specify festive attire, “but nobody knows what that means,” she said.  What it means is: bright colors.  Black is always sophisticated, but color says “holidays.”  If the party is being held at an elegant locale, dress up.  For women, that means pulling the better fabrics – silks, satins, velvets – out of storage.  men, it means an overcoat and shirt with a tie and “nice dress slacks,” Lewis said.

3. Watch the clock (in a good way).  Just like your mom told you: Arrive on time.”  But leave early, don’t overstay,” Sinclair advised.  “An hour and a half is time enough.  Tact is the pleasant side of truth, so if you say you have another party to go to, that’s all right.  Perhaps that ‘other party’ is for the two of you at home.”

4. Come with ‘tude in tune.  The party is being given for your benefit, so leave your Grinch personality and memories of lousy raises at home.  Elizabeth Meinz, special event coordinator at Trocadero, 1758 N. Water St. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), has seen employee attitude make or break holiday events.”  Guests should attend parties realizing that it is being given for their benefit,” she said.  ” So people should have some gratitude for the party instead of acting like, ‘We’re here and we should get whatever we want,’ and being ultra-demanding.  Come to enjoy yourself and realize a lot of planning has gone into this, so have a good time.”

5. Bag the booze. Career planning experts agree that staying sober is the most important “do” at any office party. Alcohol clouds judgment. At the time, you may feel that doing your Rambo impression makes you look dashing, but your boss may think differently when he sees the digital pictures of you wearing your silk polka dot tie as a headband with a plastic knife between your teeth. In fact, most company party horror stories begin at the bar.” Whenever they drink too much, things go wrong,” said Marc Bianchini, co-owner of Cubanitas, 728 N. Milwaukee St., and Osteria, 1028 E. Juneau Ave., venues that host dozens of holiday parties each year. ” They start having it out with their co-workers and it gets a little hostile.” Remember that you have to face your colleagues again on Monday, warned Dawn Rosenberg McKay, guide of the Career Planning Site on About.com (careerplanning.about.com).” The director of a graduate program threw a party for his fellow faculty and students at his house. He got so drunk that he tripped over his dog, who in turn bit him on his posterior,” McKay said in an e-mail. “Imagine getting up in front of a class after that . . . or running a staff meeting?” How much alcohol should you knock back? Several experts advise a one-drink maximum, but Sinclair has another suggestion:”A beverage is a beverage is a beverage. Having a drink in your hand makes you look sociable, but that just means liquid. It could be vodka, or apple juice or water.”

6. Mingle. Office experts suggest that parties are not the time to shrink into the wallpaper. Mike Halloran, program coordinator and instructor for the management development department at Milwaukee Area Technical College, suggests you prime yourself by learning the names of the senior corporate biggies who will be at the party too. Then, said Halloran: “Go around and introduce yourself to everyone at the party. Start at the top and work yourself down.”

7. Talk the talk. Now that you’re mingling, what do you say? The trick is coming armed with “the gift of conversation,” said Debra Fine, author of “The Fine Art of Small Talk” (Hyperion; $16.95).” Have two or three things to talk about in your head,” Fine said. “The worst time to think about what to talk about is when you don’t have anything to talk about. Tell people your name and help people play the conversation game with you. Have some ice-breakers ready.”Some suggestions: “Hi, what’s your connection to the firm?” “What are your plans for the holidays?” and “Bring me up to date on your life.” Guaranteed conversation deflators include: “Do you have kids?” (If the answer is no, there’s no place to go from there.) Also, Fine warns, at all costs avoid deadly faux pas like “Are those real?” – whether you’re referring to diamond earrings, or anything else. And under no circumstances should you traffic in office gossip. You never know who is standing behind you.

8. Skirt the flirt. This is an office party, not a singles bar.

9. Leash guests. First, make sure guests are welcome at your office event. Then find out if your colleagues are bringing significant others; you both may feel twitchy if you bring the only non-employee. Guests should also be savvy enough to follow the same rules you have to follow. “Their actions could damage your reputation as well,” McKay warned.

10. And, last, leave the leftovers. There’s nothing that says “greed” to your boss like seeing you try to sneak out the door with buffet booty in a doggie bag.