In a recent trend, I am learning that more and more entrepreneurs do not have a bright line separation between their business budget and their personal budget. And you NEED to have both. Separately. The written business budget is the plan to spend the businesses money. You need a business budget to know what you “must make” each month to cover all overhead and expenses. A personal written budget is the plan to spend your personal money. You need to make a written personal budget, so you know what your minimum “take home” salary needs to be. And yes, that “side hustle” is a small business, so even if it is “only” worked part-time, you must have a separate budget.
Once you know what the business needs to make and what you personally need to take home, you can prevent “co-mingling” your business and personal money. And it takes only a moment to fix: just write yourself a “reasonable salary” paycheck. On the personal side, after your paycheck, set aside the amount for your personal taxes. Have an accountant help you figure out your quarterly deposits but set aside each month (or each payday) towards your quarterly. Pay yourself on a regular basis (yes, for startups this can be hard). However, if you pay yourself a paycheck, on a regular cycle, you can budget personally.
If that sounds like an unnecessary “extra step” because it’s really all “your money anyway” you are skipping an opportunity to manage your finances better on both sides of the table. Many businesses have an “ebb and flow” of income and expenses. Proper budgeting allows for the buildup of a business emergency fund, the “management reserve” if you will. This is any money that the business has earned that is not needed for current expenses. This “extra” money, so to speak, should be set aside for lean months, when you are struggling to meet your minimums. By making yourself an expense, instead of just a “leftover” you know what you must do to make sure a regular paycheck comes in.
Why am I so adamant about this? Because we made this mistake early on as business owners. Using the business cash out of the till as it comes in, without tracking, can become a huge issue for taxes, as well as making overhead payments on time. What bills are you paying? Did you pay personal self-employment taxes on your draw? Do you know how much you’ve taken this week? Month? In fact, debt and taxes doom many small businesses. And you should know where it’s all going. This can be a huge challenge when you are just starting up, but you can make the decision early to schedule yourself in the budget, wait between paydays, and do not just write business checks for personal bills. Happy entrepreneuring!
