AmiSight 10/19: What Money Really Buys Is Options

I have always hated being cornered. When I feel like my paths are disappearing, my instinct is to fight like hell to create another. That is one reason money matters so much to me.

Entrepreneurs talk constantly about revenue, profit, valuation, and net worth. But money itself is rarely the real goal. What money buys is options.

Cash can give you time to wait for the right employee, turn down an expensive loan, walk away from a bad customer, or survive a delayed payment without panicking. Personal savings can let you make the decision your company needs without wondering whether your family can pay its bills.

When I started MultiFunding, I wrote a $170,000 check against our home-equity line and put it into a savings account. I wasn’t buying equipment or inventory. I was buying time to build the company before it could support me. Of course, that option came with a serious risk: our house was behind the money.

I regularly see what happens when owners run out of options. A cash-flow problem leads to an expensive loan. The payment creates more pressure, so the owner borrows again. Eventually, what began as a choice becomes the only path left. Urgency starts thinking.

Money cannot tell you which decision to make. But it can give you enough room to slow down, consider another path, and say no.

The question isn’t simply how much money you have. It’s what choices that money gives you—and what those choices are for.