Take a second to stop and answer this question: How many weeks could your business keep operating on the cash you have right now?

Most ecommerce owners don’t know. And that’s the problem.

Cash runway is one of the most important numbers in your business, and it takes about five minutes to calculate. Add up everything in your business bank accounts. Then calculate your average weekly operating expenses — payroll, rent, subscriptions, platform fees, and anything else that goes out regardless of sales volume.

Divide the first number by the second. That’s your runway in weeks.

If the answer is less than eight weeks, you need a plan. If it’s less than four, you need one now.

Most businesses that run into a cash crisis didn’t run out of money overnight. They ran out of visibility. They didn’t know the runway was short until it was gone.