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 »

You’re committed to the success of your small business right? So let’s think about what makes a business a business.  Think of how a big company runs things.  They have a business bank account and business credit cards, they keep records of all business expenses and sales, and they know when they have made a profit and how much.

Do you run your business like this?  If the answer is no, then you don’t actually have a business. You’re merely engaging in a hobby, and it may be an expensive one.  You might be saying, “But I’m not an accountant.”  True.  However, as challenging as it may seem initially, you can absolutely learn to keep proper track of your business finances. It is critical to your success as a small business owner. Read more »

We’re all familiar with the phrase “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”  Unfortunately, especially when it comes to money, it’s completely wrong.  What we don’t know about money can lead to extremely painful and expensive mistakes and cost us success as small business owners.

What we want to achieve with this post is nothing grand. No big concepts or sweeping statements.  Our goal is to provide just a few simple, practical things you can implement right away that can save anywhere from a few, to a few hundred, dollars a month. Read more »

Right now success for small business owners may feel particularly elusive.

It goes without saying that a lot of people are in the midst of financial struggle. The stock market is running at a 12 year low, unemployment is close to 8%, and many are predicting the recession to run at least into 2010. This means less income, greater levels of debt, and a tightening of belts across all levels of careers, from bank executives to McDonald’s employees.

For us, as entrepreneurs, it can mean all those things, except that we have the additional need to continue growing towards success as small business owners, and finding the money it takes to do that. Sometimes, that can feel overwhelming. We go through periods where we make good money, and periods where there isn’t enough. Often the down times are subsidized with credit cards, which then increase our expenses when we are making money again, and only add to the financial pressure we feel.

So what are we to do? Read more »