Sales are up. Margins look fine on paper. But every month is a scramble to cover the next inventory order, and the bank account never seems to recover between restock cycles.

That’s the Cash Flow Canyon — and it’s one of the most common traps in ecommerce.

Here’s what creates it: you pay for inventory 60–90 days before you collect the revenue from selling it. In between, you’re covering storage, ads, fulfillment, and operating expenses with cash you haven’t received yet. The bigger you grow, the wider the canyon gets.

To avoid it, you need to build a cash buffer that covers at least one full inventory cycle. That means setting aside a percentage of every sale — before you pay yourself or anything else — into a dedicated inventory account. Over time, that account funds your next order without you having to drain your operating cash.

This is core to how Profit First works for ecommerce. You build the buffer intentionally, before the canyon appears — not after you’ve already fallen in.