How to ... Manage cash flow in slow times

Everything is negotiable.That's a good rule to remember when it comes to managing cash flow during slower months, especially in Florida where so much business is seasonal.

Duane Hoversten, a consultant with the small business development center at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, knows all about that. He owned an operated a fertilizer plant that did most of its sales in two months out of the year. “If you run out of cash, you're done,” Hoversten says.

The first thing to do is identify the fixed and variable costs in your business. “You have to have a system for controlling that,” Hoversten says.