Debt-Free, Cash-Broke: The Reserve Mistake Nobody Warns You About [E231]

Debt-Free, Cash-Broke: The Reserve Mistake Nobody Warns You About [E231]

July 16, 2026 · 23 min · Episode 231

About this episode

Hunt Demarest discusses the importance of cash reserves for shop owners and common financial mistakes they make.

Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve How much cash did your shop actually make last month — and how much of it is still sitting in the bank? If you paid off every dollar of debt tomorrow, would you have anything left to cover a bad month? In this episode, Hunt Demarest, CPA, goes solo to tackle a topic he says trips up shop owners more than almost anything else: cash and reserves. He breaks down the simple rule of thumb for how much you should be keeping in the bank, then walks through four specific mistakes he sees shop owners make — from draining the business dry to (on the flip side) hoarding so much cash it becomes a legal liability, to the sneaky problem of debt payoff plans that leave owners debt-free and cash-poor at the same time. Hunt also shares the exact system he recommends clients use to set their own distributions so reserves never dip below where they need to be. Whether you're sitting on six figures in the checking account or wondering why you're always scrambling before payroll, this episode is a practical gut-check on the number that actually keeps a shop alive: cash. What You'll Learn... 02:41 Cash vs. profit — the…

People in this episode

Host: Hunt Demarest

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Sponsors

Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, Overdryve

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