Or better yet, can it afford NOT to have one?

In a previous post, I talked about how I was working more and more with women entrepreneurs. And before that, I was discussing my cash flow problem and pondering what to do about it.

I think I have figured out a solution that will benefit all of us.

For example, even though more and more women are becoming entrepreneurs, they often face challenges that are not faced by men in the same situation.

And, according to research done by National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), women entrepreneurs start companies with an average of  50% less capital than their male counterparts. This can mean that cash flow in the first few years is critical, and sometimes decisions on where to spend the money come down to a make-it-or-break-it decision.

Enter me, wanting to help these women keep their businesses going, and trying to figure out a way to help them get the website they came to me for, without causing a huge ripple in the often delicate budget they are trying to stick to. I also have a little cash flow problem (see this post for more about that).

So in the last couple of months, I have put a great deal of thought into it and I’ve come up with a new payment model. It’s very simple, really. The price of the website will be determined and written into a contract before the work starts. Then that figure will be divided into equal payments – options being for the duration of 3, 6, or 12 months. This allows the client to have a completed website without having to lay out the full price at once, and it ensures me a certain stability of cash flow. Two birds, one stone!

This option has proved to be very popular, and will be offered to all of my clients, not just women, although they were in large part the inspiration for it.