I’m now privileged and humbled to have been in business for 10 years. April 5th 2019 sees 10 years since I set my company up.
This series of blog posts gives you my top 10 tips to surviving in business… This isn’t necessarily how you should do it, but it is how I did it!
Live frugally
I do this in my business and in home life.
Business
Many businesses think they make a profit but they don’t.
Profit is what is left AFTER the owner has taken out what they want from the business.
Profit is what remains with in the business each year, it can be used for a variety of reasons but it is not drawn by the business owner.
Keep your drawings and costs under control, whilst keeping turnover high to ensure you make a genuine profit.
Home life
I draw the minimum I can out of the business, I keep costs at home as low as possible while still enjoying the lifestyle I want to enjoy.
This allows me to keep the maximum amount of profit in the business, this can be used to make calculated and planned investments.
As a small business owner, personal finances are inextricably linked to our business. If we always live to our means the reality is that we will push ourselves and live outside of our means.
Stay humble. If you can’t afford it you can’t have it.
Just because you run your own business or have X profession doesn’t mean that you should earn a particular amount. If your business doesn’t generate it then you don’t own it!
I remember once being called into a practice, the practice owner told me they were in desperate need, their business was about to fall apart, they were about to make their team redundant, they were about to lose everything… Apart from the brand-new Mercedes AMG parked in the driveway.
I’m not suggesting that they shouldn’t have a Mercedes AMG, but I’m suggesting that that may be a symptom of why their business was in such disarray, perhaps they just spent too much!
Keep it under control.
Stay humble.
Only buy what you can genuinely afford.