Chances are you’ve heard the classic advice "pay yourself first" when it comes to your personal finance and savings. One of my favorite books, "The Richest Man in Babylon" made that saying popular I believe.
The idea is that if you save the first 10% when you get paid, or maybe even have it automatically withdrawn to another account, you won’t even notice it’s missing and you’ll adjust your lifestyle accordingly.
A game changer for me was when I decided to apply this advice to paying myself in my business. Tell me if you’ve ever done this…paid the employees, paid for supplies, paid for repairs, paid taxes, then if there was anything else left that was what you made for the week.
The problem is there usually isn’t much left.
What if you completely shifted that way of thinking? If Uncle Sam announced tomorrow there was a new tax required every week and you either paid it or went out of business, do you think you’d probably figure out a way to pay it? You wouldn’t like it of course, but you’d get used to it and you’d figure it out. How do I know? Because they do it all the time and we whine about it then pay up one way or another.
Can’t you do the same thing for yourself? Start with a conservative number if it makes you feel better…what’s the amount I need to get paid every week to make this business worth my time? Then you can set a target number where you want it to be six months from now.
But let’s start at the beginning. If your bill to yourself got paid first every week, do you think you’d figure out how to pay everyone else? You’d have to, right? Employees, supplies, repairs, taxes, all that other stuff has to be paid, and if you’re paying it with what’s left your brain will quickly go into a mode to figure out how to get it all paid.
Is it pressure? Sure. But do you really want to be the least and last paid employee at your company?
I can hear the self talk now…that would never work in the real world. I’m telling you, by putting yourself in a tight spot a few times by paying yourself first, you’ll figure out how to pay everyone else. You’ll be forced to take on more jobs, raise your prices, cut costs, or otherwise find creative solutions you wouldn’t use if you were still stuck in the mode of being paid last. After all, you’re taking on all the risk here as a business owner, right?
Follow Uncle Sam’s example. He wants paid out of your employee’s paycheck first, because he knows if he let’s them wait, it will be a lot harder to collect from most people. Do the same thing for yourself, set your weekly amount and pay yourself first. Why not try it and see if it changes your business life like it did mine?
To your success,
Jeremy & Stefanie Overturf
Phenomenal Business Coaching
The idea is that if you save the first 10% when you get paid, or maybe even have it automatically withdrawn to another account, you won’t even notice it’s missing and you’ll adjust your lifestyle accordingly.
A game changer for me was when I decided to apply this advice to paying myself in my business. Tell me if you’ve ever done this…paid the employees, paid for supplies, paid for repairs, paid taxes, then if there was anything else left that was what you made for the week.
The problem is there usually isn’t much left.
What if you completely shifted that way of thinking? If Uncle Sam announced tomorrow there was a new tax required every week and you either paid it or went out of business, do you think you’d probably figure out a way to pay it? You wouldn’t like it of course, but you’d get used to it and you’d figure it out. How do I know? Because they do it all the time and we whine about it then pay up one way or another.
Can’t you do the same thing for yourself? Start with a conservative number if it makes you feel better…what’s the amount I need to get paid every week to make this business worth my time? Then you can set a target number where you want it to be six months from now.
But let’s start at the beginning. If your bill to yourself got paid first every week, do you think you’d figure out how to pay everyone else? You’d have to, right? Employees, supplies, repairs, taxes, all that other stuff has to be paid, and if you’re paying it with what’s left your brain will quickly go into a mode to figure out how to get it all paid.
Is it pressure? Sure. But do you really want to be the least and last paid employee at your company?
I can hear the self talk now…that would never work in the real world. I’m telling you, by putting yourself in a tight spot a few times by paying yourself first, you’ll figure out how to pay everyone else. You’ll be forced to take on more jobs, raise your prices, cut costs, or otherwise find creative solutions you wouldn’t use if you were still stuck in the mode of being paid last. After all, you’re taking on all the risk here as a business owner, right?
Follow Uncle Sam’s example. He wants paid out of your employee’s paycheck first, because he knows if he let’s them wait, it will be a lot harder to collect from most people. Do the same thing for yourself, set your weekly amount and pay yourself first. Why not try it and see if it changes your business life like it did mine?
To your success,
Jeremy & Stefanie Overturf
Phenomenal Business Coaching