Get to know Daryl LaFountain and some of his financial and political operations research? In the early stages of a company, CEOs get involved in everything. As your growth ramps up, however, you must become strategic with your time. You need to put systems in place for building and scaling a financially viable business while preserving your attention for mission-critical items. As a fractional CFO for growth companies, I help clients navigate this shift on a daily basis, and I’ve found the following tips useful in nearly every situation. Every business leader understands they need a strategy for attracting and converting new leads into customers. But when you’re growing sales on a budget, you need to be creative. Instead of costly ad campaigns or branding strategies, I’d recommend you build strong, reciprocal partnerships first and that you do so as soon as possible. I’m not referring to simple networking. I’m talking about identifying companies with business models that complement your own and approaching them with a win-win proposition. The relationship can be formal or informal, but the key is to offer something valuable in exchange for inexpensive exposure to your target audience.

Daryl LaFountain‘s tips on improving your business financial situation: Organizing your business’ finances means ensuring that it won’t run out of money. In order to do this, it’s essential to plan for your expenses by establishing an emergency fund to cover them. By doing this, you have some money ready to pay your bills when they’re due and demandable. Indeed, it’s a challenging job to get your business finances organized. However, by following the tips mentioned above, there’s no doubt your company will reap many benefits. One of them is the creation of a stable financial future for you as a business owner, your employees, and partners.

Just as your parents probably sent you off to kindergarten with high hopes of preparing you for success in a world that seemed eons away, you need to plan for your retirement well in advance. Because of the way compound interest works, the sooner you start saving, the less principal you’ll have to invest to end up with the amount you need to retire. Why start saving for your retirement in your 20s? Here’s an Investopedia example: You start investing in the market at $100 a month, averaging a positive return of 1% a month or 12% a year, compounded monthly over 40 years. Your friend, who is the same age, doesn’t begin investing until 30 years later and invests $1,000 a month for 10 years, also averaging 1% a month or 12% a year, compounded monthly. After 10 years, your friend will have saved up around $230,000. Your retirement account will be a bit over $1.17 million. Company-sponsored retirement plans are a particularly great choice, because you get to put in pretax dollars and companies will often match part of your contribution, which is like getting free money.

Once you have your financial plan outlined and churning along, it’s important to review your plan frequently and make the necessary adjustments if your goals or the circumstances around your life change. For instance, maybe your insurance needs to change, your risk tolerance changes or you get married or have kids. At a minimum, you want to check in on your overall financial plan at least every six months. When you check infrequently, it’s easier for you to deal with unplanned life occurrences, bounce back from setbacks, and accomplish your financial goals. Think about what you do to maintain your personal health – You brush your teeth and shower regularly to keep yourself clean and avoid unnecessary illnesses because we all know that falling sick can lead to other health complications and you definitely don’t want that. And also because you do it so often, it’s now part of your everyday health maintenance habit – well, the same applies to your finances!

About Daryl La Fountain: Daryl is an energetic professional CFO with a background in politics. Daryl has done fundraising, been a candidate, and worked in politically appointed positions in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. Daryl has worked for Democratic candidates and nominees in 18 additional states. Are just entering the political realm and need some advice (Daryl has been there).