My daughter’s school follows a method of teaching that helps children to develop mathematical skills  by focusing on their practical applications in life. Instead of memorizing times tables and formulas  – which is the way that I learned math – the children are taught how to use math to solve real life problems. There are plenty of arguments both for and against this type of teaching. While I do see some of its shortcomings, one of the things I am very happy about is that since kindergarten my daughter has worked with money in the classroom, becoming increasingly comfortable with some financial basics that I know will serve her well.

I remember the first time  she was learning the differences between pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. We would play a game where she would be offered a “trade” and would have to decide if she wanted to make the deal. For example, I might have two dimes and offer to trade them for one of her quarters. It was fascinating to watch how in the beginning she would eagerly make that trade. I could also easily get her to hand over those two dimes for just five pennies. Of course, given her basic understanding of numbers – two was better than one – and five was certainly better than two! Read more »

In our last blog post, Walk From Where You’re Standing, we talked about creating a strong financial foundation – doing the things necessary to know (and continue to be aware of) your current financial situation.

The next critical step to creating success as a small business owner, is figuring out exactly where you would like to end up.  Where you are going is almost as important as your starting point.  It gives you a destination, a target, a place on which to set your sights. Read more »

Imagine this.  You want to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle.  You are serious about it and you are pumped.  You are going to exercise and eat nutritious foods.  Yet day after day you are surrounded by people who hang out in front of the television eating pizza, chips, and ice cream.  They complain all of the time about not having any energy and feeling lousy, but they never do anything about it.  How successful do you really believe you are going to be unless you change your environment? Read more »

As entrepreneurs, it is easy to sometimes feel like our finances are outside of our control.  Especially in the early years of your business you may not have the regular earnings that came with a job. Our spending often varies as well, since building a successful business costs money.

These factors make it even more critical that we develop financial consistency.  Keeping a handle on the ways of managing our money that are within our control, will go a long way towards building financial stability and avoiding the financial roller coaster that plagues many small business owners. Read more »

One of the challenges of being a small business owner can be the often times solitary nature of your work. The desire to connect with people can easily turn into regular restaurant lunches and meeting friends for dinner or drinks. Never mind the fact that, with a couple of $10 drinks, a $15 plate of food and a 20% tip, that social hour ends up costing you over $40.  Doing this just a couple of times per week adds up to an extra $320 each month that you could really do with avoiding.  BUT…everyone else is doing it, and you don’t want to be the one to admit that finances are tight, and be a downer on the evening.  So you go along and have a good time, but all the while you feel just slightly anxious because you know that most of this is going to end up on a credit card at the end of the month, and those bills are getting high enough as it is…

So the question is: how do we balance the need for a social life with the realities of a tight budget? Read more »