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 »

How many of you read the title of this blog post and said “Oh no!  Not that again!”?

If you have ever attended any kind of financial seminar or read any books on finances, you have been told that you should consistently be putting a set amount of your income into savings.  We all know that we are supposed to be putting away money every single month.  Still, the reality is that an extremely small percentage of us actually do it.

So let’s just be extremely clear – no more beating around the bush . . . If you are not willing to make the commitment to automatically pay yourself first – every, single month without exception – you will NEVER build any kind of financial stability, let alone wealth. Read more »

I have to admit that I sometimes get concerned with the amount of information out there about the “power of positive thinking.” I worry that many entrepreneurs who want to be financially successful, spend a great deal of time focused on this area of mindset, while ignoring many of the practical action steps that must be taken to create success in any small business. This lack of balance will rarely lead to real forward movement and lasting results. Read more »