Money comes from 2 things: you can make it or you can save it.
For example: if your goal is to make $5000 per month AFTER expenses, and your incoming is $10,000 but your outgoing is $7,000 your leftover is $3,000.
You can:
1. Find more money and keep your expenses the same
2. Cut your current expenses by $2,000 so your take home goes up
NOW FOR THE MATH! WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING TO COME FROM IF YOU NEED TO MAKE MORE?
Financial Health and Well-Being is one of the MOST stressful things in a person’s life, and if you have your own business, double down on that overwhelming anxiety.
TAKE THE TEST. WHAT IS YOUR FINANCIAL HEALTH SCORE?
Financial health isn’t about a number in your bank account nor is about the type of job you have. For example, how far would $30,000 a year stretch in Lansing, Michigan in a tiny house versus a 3,000 sf home in Austin, Texas? How much would you need to cover yourself if you lost income for four months? Have you looked and done a personal audit to determine what is a ‘want’ or ‘need’ on your credit card bill? Are there things you can cut out to save more?
The truth is that many live paycheck to paycheck and feel the pinch and complain they don’t make enough. And while that is a heated conversation on what people deserve to make and what is an appropriate amount to be paid, there is one truth: the less we spend, the more we save.
When I start to work with clients about their business budget, MANY DON’T HAVE ONE. I give them a budget booklet and they often don’t fill it out…either personally or professionally, and when I start setting up ‘if this than that’ columns, they suddenly get frustrated and confused. Why? Because in marketing and business, we often have to weigh what we want most, what has the most effect, what has the BEST effect, and what we have to scale back on. It doesn’t matter if we are buying lunches for our children or deciding whether to upgrade a website versus buying more Facebook ads. Remember, it’s the MOST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK regardless if it is personal or business.
And both personally and professionally, the goal is to take the money we have, spend less, and use it to magically make us more. But it is down in black and white when we see it on the paper: make more money or spend wisely. I always suggest both, or at least a serious visit to spending: both personally and professionally. Remember, habits are habits, and if you are out of control in your personally life, you sometimes try to overcompensate in your professional business life and you start to do ‘unwise’ things that are NOT good for the health of your business. Good decisions are good habits…in ALL parts of your life.