Free cash flow is one of the most honest measures of a business's financial health. It's what's left after you've paid for the operations and the assets needed to sustain and grow the business. A company can have strong net income and still generate no free cash flow if it's spending heavily on capital assets.
Why free cash flow matters more than profit
Net income is an accounting figure subject to depreciation schedules, accrual timing, and non-cash items. Free cash flow is a harder number — it reflects actual cash generation after the business has sustained itself. Investors and acquirers often value businesses on free cash flow multiples for exactly this reason: it's harder to manipulate and more directly tied to what the business can actually return to its owners.
Free cash flow for small businesses
For a small business with minimal CapEx — a service business that doesn't buy much equipment — free cash flow and operating cash flow are nearly identical. For a business that regularly invests in vehicles, machinery, or real estate, the gap between the two can be significant. Knowing your free cash flow tells you what's truly available for paying down debt, building reserves, or taking distributions — after the business has paid for its own upkeep.
Free cash flow and the Four Forces
Greg Crabtree's Four Forces of Cash Flow framework (taxes, debt, core capital, distributions) applies to free cash flow — the actual cash available after operations and capital spending. Running the Four Forces analysis against accounting profit alone misses the CapEx impact on what's truly available.
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