from the Introduction If you are anything at all like me, financial management was a mysterious skill possessed by people with degrees from business schools. I knew it bore some vague resemblance to my regular chore of taking care of the household finances, but it additionally included things like amortization, depreciation, capitalization and other far-away accounting concepts with strange-sounding names. One of the things that happens when you are running a business, though, is that you eventually reach a point where the native ambition that got you started in the first place reasserts itself, makes itself felt above the cumulative stresses of running a one-woman show. And, when it does, you suddenly find yourself wanting to make real plans, to point yourself in a direction, because you know (possibly without even having fully articulated the thought) that you won't get far if you don't know where you are and can't figure out how you got there or how to get from there to where you want to be. That is the task of financial management. In a nutshell, it is the practice of documenting the sources and uses of the funds at your disposal. Where does your money come from? Where does it go? How much do you need to have on hand? What kinds of things can you do with the extra - assuming, of course, that there is some extra. In short, financial management lets you accurately plan the timing of income and cash outflow, so that you are getting in enough cash to meet your business's financial obligations as they come due. Successful financial management will allow you to avoid mistaken perceptions about how your business is doing, to pinpoint and correct counterproductive business practices and make long-range strategic plans for the future of your enterprise. Unsuccessful financial management is usually the reason why small businesses fail, so it pays to figure this stuff out. Compiled from a series of articles published by Wahmpreneur News Magazine between April 2000 and March 2001, this workbook will speak to those among us who have little experience in bookkeeping, accounting or professional business management beyond the family checkbook and the blessings of a practical mind. Writing it was a tremendous boon for me; I expect I learned as much from putting it together as I hope you will learn from using it. Financial management is one of the most crucial business skills you will ever come to possess, and it is a good idea to master it early and use it regularly. And that, my friends, is why we're here.