Your cash flow is a rebel. It plays by his own rules. It doesn’t listen to society. It’s an unconventional cash flow.
A conventional cash flow pattern involves cash going in one direction overtime. You might have negative cash flow in the first year of doing business, but once you turn positive, it stays positive. One change in direction...that’s the usual situation: the conventional cash flow pattern.
An unconventional cash flow pattern is more volatile. Sometimes, your company posts positive cash flow. Sometimes, it's negative. It bounces back and forth between plus and minus...more than one change in direction.
You started your company in 2014. You had negative cash flow in 2014 and 2015. It switched to positive in 2016 and has been positive since...in the plus territory for 2017, 2018, and 2019. That situation represents a conventional pattern.
Your sister started her business at the same time. It had negative cash flow in 2014, but quickly jumped into positive territory for 2015 (you really had to listen to some insufferable bragging that Thanksgiving). But (and you pointed this out at the next Fourth of July picnic), her business slipped back into the negative in 2016. It was positive again in 2017 and 2018. But negative again in 2019. That situation represents an unconventional pattern.
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