Do you feel like you can’t save money because your business isn’t making enough?

The 3 steps in this episode will help you start saving money right away.

They’re not money saving tips – they’re tips on how to set up your money system so it  SUPPORTS in saving successfully!

So if you’ve been wondering how to start saving money as a small business owner, read on >>

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When I was going through my ‘broke single mum’ phase, I implemented these 3 things – and they helped me go from having no money to spare – to actually saving!

And if I was able to start saving at a time my income was basically zero, you can too!

What you’ll find is that as you start to consistently save even just a little, the gates will open and momentum will gather. A trickle will become a flow and then a flood.

And before you know it, you’ll be ticking off all those things on your financial goals list.

For me that was buying my dream house, buying an investment property, then another one, taking the kids on overseas holidays, Tick, tick, tick, tick!

All the things I used to dream about started coming true. And it happened a lot faster than I ever thought possible – because I dared to get started and allow the momentum to kick in.

And the same will happen for you! You just need to make a start.

So let’s talk about how to start saving money as a small business owner (especially if you feel like you’re not making enough money to save).

And while we’re here – are you clear on what you actually want? What are your  financial goals? What do you want those savings for? Start getting clear & be specific! It will make a massive difference to how fast you can achieve them.

The wonderful thing we have going for us as business owners is that we have the opportunity to bring in additional income.. and the amount that’s possible is basically unlimited. 

But the very FIRST step to help you start saving money is separating that business money from your personal money.

THAT’S STEP NUMBER 1: Your Business Pays You!

This will help you start recognizing and celebrating when your business is able to pay you. And that income from your business is money that can start going towards your savings.

Keeping your money separate from your business’ money is important because you’ll know that your business has enough to operate and your money is yours to spend.


STEP 2: SPEND MONEY!

Having designated spending money for fun stuff is important!

It helps you cultivate an abundance mindset and feel great about your finances.

The trick to spending money without guilt or worry is to keep it SEPARATE. 

By separating your fun money, you’ll protect the money needed to pay your bills – and the money designated for spending.

PLUS, you protect your ‘fun money’ so you can enjoy whatever you choose to spend it on – without worry or guilt.

This helps you feel abundant & raise your vibration, making you magnetic to more.

Your fun money can be as little as $10 a week! 

The amount is not important! It’s about the practice and the feeling.
Momentum will gather from there, bringing you more money to spend, have fun with AND save.

So separate discretionary spending from fixed expenses.

What’s the difference?

DISCRETIONARY SPENDING is money you CHOOSE to spend.

You can choose to spend it today, tomorrow, or not at all.
You also get to choose how much.

Let’s take haircuts as an example:
I could get a haircut today, next week or next year.
I can go to an expensive hairdresser or I can go to a much more affordable hairdresser.

It’s a discretionary expense. You choose when and how much.

FIXED EXPENSES are things you can’t avoid spending money on.

You also usually can’t avoid WHEN you have to spend it.

Rent, electricity, mobile phone and internet accounts and insurances are all examples of fixed expenses.

But the AMOUNT you spend on fixed expenses isn’t fixed either!

In fact, I highly recommend you review them and shop around for better deals. When our Magnetic Money™️ students go through this exercise, they literally reclaim THOUSANDS of dollars per year!

Most people tend to forget about and not review these ‘fixed expenses’ and end up wasting so much money.

That’s your money waiting to be reclaimed so you can put it towards those savings!
(in the video for this episode, I give you an inside peek at the Magnetic Money™️ Planner and show you how we lay out discretionary vs fixed expenses, so you may want to check that out)

Let me know in the comments:
Have you separated your discretionary spending from your fixed expenses?

Having this separation gives you the freedom to spend money guilt-free – without worrying that you’ll struggle to pay the power bill!  And that goes a very long way towards your peace of mind – which raises your vibration and helps you become magnetic to more money 😊

And if you’re thinking, “What fun money, Miriam? I don’t have any! It all goes on bills!” be sure to watch the linked episode below. It’ll help you understand why you need to implement this kind of system BEFORE you can start consistently saving.

STEP 3: HOW MUCH?

Having a business or side hustle is awesome because you have the ability to bring in an unlimited amount of extra income.

But how much do you really need?

You need to be able to work that out. That’s why the Magnetic Money™️ Planner includes several handy calculators. One of them is literally titled: How much does my business need to make? (there’s a demo in the video of this episode)

You need to calculate your business GROSS income target so it can:

1. cover its operating costs
2. pay its taxes
3. pay YOU what you need in order to pay your bills, have your fun money AND achieve your savings goals

If you feel like you’re not making enough money to be able to save money, this is what you need to do! You need to calculate that gap.

You need to know your target gross income.

Then you can make tweaks to your business strategy and make plans to ensure you achieve it.

(If you’re keen to get started on this, jump into the Magnetic Money™️ System Bootcamp! It’s where I walk you through the step-by-step process and help you set up a money system that gives every dollar a job to do and ensures you achieve your financial goals)

If you’d like to play with the income target calculator, get your copy here.

BEFORE YOU GO:
What will your first action step be? Let me know in the comments below.

See you in the next episode.

xx Miriam

GET YOUR INCOME TARGET CALCULATOR HERE:

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Confused about how to manage your business bank account?
Feel like you’re making it up as you go?

You’re not alone!

Nobody tells us how to manage finances in business. So we mostly just have to figure it out for ourselves.

Over the years, I’ve spoken with hundreds of business owners who were stressed, confused & embarrassed because they had no idea if they were doing it right.

Often, their business and personal money was all mixed up – or they constantly had to top up their business account with personal money.

And if any of that’s been going on for you, today’s episode will definitely help!

We’ll talk about how to manage finances in business by implementing 3 simple rules for organizing your business bank account.

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CONTINUE READING….

Applying these rules will help you gain so much peace of mind, because like most of us, you probably assume the worst when you’re not sure what’s happening. And that’s really stressful!

By implementing these 3 simple rules for organizing your business bank accounts, you’ll be able to relax, knowing everything is working and on track.

In the video version of this episode, I share my screen and show you the Magnetic Money™️ Bucket System – so you might want to check that out.

Ok, let’s get into these 3 basic rules for managing finances in business:

NUMBER 1: Separate Business And Personal

The first thing to do as a business owner is to separate your business and personal money.

And that means having separate business and personal bank accounts and being really clear on which is which.

Be sure your business accounts are in your business’ name and that they match the entity under which you operate your business (eg if you’re operating as a company, the business bank account should be owned by the company, not by you)

Your business is a separate entity to you – both legally & energetically, so this separation is important.

Plus, if the money’s all mixed up, you’ll have no idea what’s going on!

You’ll struggle to figure out if your business is even profitable. And like most of us, when you lack clarity, your confidence will drop and you’ll assume the worst.


NUMBER 2: Every Dollar Needs a Job To Do (and a place to do it)

Every dollar needs a job to do and a workplace where it fulfils that role.

This means you need to be clear on the PURPOSE of each bank account.
(Check out the video for this episode where I walk you through the Magnetic Money™️ bucket system, which will help everything make a lot more sense)

Let’s press pause so you can think about this for a moment…

Do you know exactly what the purpose of the money in each of your bank accounts is?
Are you clear on that? Have you named your accounts accordingly? Is it really obvious?


And if you still need to sort this out, let me know in the comments what your next action step is!

NUMBER 3: PUT TAX MONEY ASIDE

When you’re organizing your business bank accounts, you need to separate tax money.

I highly recommend having a separate business account that you top up every week or month to cover your tax bill.

Firstly, it’s good money management because when that tax bill comes, you’ll have the money ready to go!

Not only is it a wonderful feeling, you’re also energetically sending out a clear message that you expect to make profit. Because that’s what a tax bill is! It’s confirmation by the government that your business made a profit. 

CONGRATULATIONS!!

So start looking at tax money as confirmation of your business’ success and profitability.

And isn’t that a total game changer to your mindset around tax?

Remember also that even though you’re putting that tax money aside, it’s still your money! Until you hand it over to pay your tax, it’s still available to you. You haven’t given it away or paid tax in advance. You’re simply preparing to cover your tax bill. This avoids any nasty surprises AND shows that you EXPECT to pay tax because you EXPECT to make profit.

Once you’ve implemented the above 3 rules, your business will be able to pay YOU.

And the money can then flow through from your ‘business bucket’ into your personal buckets, which include your BILLS bucket, your FUN MONEY bucket and your WEALTH CREATION bucket.

The Limiting Belief Busting Toolkit™️ (Money Block Buster System)

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Have you wanted to give up on budgeting because your income is variable?

Then this episode is for you!

Budgets and irregular income don’t mix very well. And it can make you think your business is failing – when it’s really not!

In this episode, I cover 3 practical and mindset shifts to help you budget with variable income – so you can get back on track.

We will cover:

• Why the rules are different in business
• 3 mindset – and practical – shifts you need to make
• The No.1 practise to keep your cash flow on track

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If you’ve wanted to give up on budgeting because your variable income just seems to make it impossible, I absolutely hear you. And you are definitely not alone!

Sadly, it can make you feel like your business isn’t doing well – when it’s actually doing fine!

The problem is that budgets work well when you have steady, predictable income – when you have a JOB. But as entrepreneurs and business owners, we left the security of the job because we wanted the opportunity to have unlimited income.

But the rules around money are different in business. Mostly, because of this variable income issue.

And so it simply requires a different approach – both from a practical and a mindset point of view.

That’s why we’re going to cover 3 mindset and practical shifts that go hand in hand to help you navigate your variable income and get back on track.

Over the years, I’ve definitely had a love-hate relationship with budgeting. In fact, I don’t even like that word – I mainly use it because people relate to it. I much prefer to talk about having a money plan and a system to help you implement it.

Budgeting is something that I tried on and off over the years. At times I felt like I didn’t need to budget because I had plenty of income. And at other times, I felt like I didn’t have enough money to budget!

But it was the period I spent utterly broke after my marriage split, that made me apply some of the principles which I then took into business…  and which I still teach and implement today. 

So the 3 things I’m sharing with you today are really helpful from both a practical point of view and a mindset point of view –  whether your irregular income is because you have a business… or because of something else.

The principal idea that flows through all of these is that you need to know your numbers. And then you need to be willing to make real-time adjustments as you go!

NUMBER 1: Let’s talk about variable income.

It’s really critical that you smooth your cash flow as much as possible. Because if your income is on a roller coaster, the last thing you want is for your emotions to follow!

This is a common issue – especially for new business owners. They go on an emotional roller coaster that matches the income roller coaster.

They go from feeling rich to feeling poor. From celebrating to worrying. From congratulating themselves for firing the boss, to stressing out about paying the bills. Sometimes all in the same day!

And that’s not healthy for you and also not helpful to your business because if you’re feeling stressed and worried about money, you’re going to make decisions driven by fear and coming from a lack mentality.

And then energetically you’re going to attract more of the same. You’ll go into a downward spiral of negative thinking and won’t be showing up as your best self.

Clients and customers can smell that ‘Eau de Desperation’ – nothing makes them run for the hills faster!

I recently released an episode that shows you how to smooth your cash flow in just a couple of simple steps. It’ll be linked for you below so you can watch that next.

So you want to smooth that cash flow, and you also want to smooth the emotional rollercoaster and not have your inner world so linked to how much money came in today or this week or even this month.

Here’s a practical thing I did in my own business:

I made a decision and a promise to myself to never judge my business on anything other than the last 6 months average.

I recognized there would be a bit of a roller coaster and didn’t want to get sucked into that emotionally. So any time I was tempted to worry, I would just look at the last 6 months’ average. And pretty much every single time, everything was absolutely fine.

Smoothing your cash flow and smoothing your emotions about your income are two things that really go hand in hand.

NUMBER 2:  Separation is Peace!

The next one is the principle that your business pays YOU.

A lot of people into business, still having the mindset of an employee. (I talked about this in a previous episode which I’ll also link below)

But the mindset of an employee has no place in business!

You need to start thinking like a business owner. And that means that you are both YOU with your personal finances… and you are also now in charge of the business’ finances. But the two are SEPARATE.

So you need to create separation between them and have your business pay you. From a practical point of view, be sure to actually put that in place. In Magnetic Money, we do our business income distribution every week. It only takes 5 minutes, but it’s critical to ensuring that your business keeps running and that YOU get paid so you can pay your bills.

The most important part of this process is smoothing your cash flow.

So from a mindset (and a practical) point of view, create that separation and always ask yourself, “Am I looking at my business’ finances right now – or my personal ones?”

Do you have that separation? Do you have separate bank accounts for your business?
Let me know in the comments!

See, you and your business are separate legal and ENERGETIC entities. So creating separation in the way you manage your money and in the way you think of it are both critical.

NUMBER 3:  Plan & adjust!

Yes, you should be doing some forecasting. You should be planning your future income and expenses – doing those projections.

Where will your business income come from? How much do you expect? What expenses do you have ongoing & what others are coming up?

But it’s not set & forget! It’s a dynamic, ever-changing thing.

And because the income is planned – but not predictable – you’ll need to smooth your cashflow and adjust as you go.

So by all means, have a forecast, have a plan, but be sure to make real-time adjustments as you go…. so you can smooth your cashflow & reset expectations.

Here’s the practical way I would approach that, which will also address the mindset side of things:

Sit down to do your business forecast. Look at what your goals & plans are – and whether they’re achievable. Maybe you’ll need to raise your prices or sell more/other products and services to meet your goal.

Plan what you want to achieve.

You want to revisit that, say quarterly to make any adjustments. So that’s your planning.

But then you need to also track what’s ACTUALLY coming in and distribute that income properly. I recommend tracking weekly or even daily and distributing weekly.

This will help you reconnect with your money – rather than sticking your head in the sand, hoping for the best. 

Tracking your income every day is also a very insightful mindset practice that allows you to notice your thought patterns around your income and business.

You will notice things like a worry pattern kicking in the moment you have one or two low income days. Or maybe that you start beating up on yourself for being ‘lazy’ and having taken the weekend off if your income dips.

These are amazing opportunities to find room for improvement in your mindset. They give you deep insight into the way you think about your business…  and the way you talk to and treat yourself. 

So the practice of tracking your income is handy because it helps you do your income distribution at the end of the week. But it’s also a really awesome mindset practice!

Above all else, please be as loving and kind to yourself as possible. If self judgment kicks in, just notice it and think, “Oh, look at that. I’m judging myself. I’m beating up on myself. Isn’t that interesting? I wonder what that’s all about? I wonder what I can do to shift and heal that, so I can start having a much better attitude about my abilities, my worth, my business, and start treating myself more kindly.”

These practical strategies are also amazing mindset strategies.

And between the two, you’ll be able to come to a place of beautiful new balance, where you have the right mindset to run a business successfully – and where you’ll have the daily practical habits that make you a successful business owner.

So those are 3 things I wanted to cover off for you today.

Again, my main message is to know your numbers, then make real-time adjustments as you go. Because when you’re operating a business, your income is going to vary. It’s going to fluctuate. That’s just how it goes.

Now, an important place to start is by getting your banking all sorted. So if you need a bit of help with that, be sure to grab my ‘Organize & Tidy Your Banking’ workshop at the link below. It’s free.

In this punchy 35 minute workshop we start to organize and tidy your banking so your money can flow more easily from your business into your personal accounts. We also cover some important principles – both from a practical and a mindset point of view – that will help you become a more successful and abundant-feeling business owner.

The link is below.

Before you go!
Did you enjoy this episode?
What did you learn? What’s your biggest takeaway?
Let me know in the comments below!

Remember that abundance is a state of being. And yes, it’s about money in the bank, but most importantly, it’s about feeling abundant, worthy, and loving life.

And that’s what we’re here to help you do. See you next time! 

Ready to go deeper?

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Organize & Tidy Your Banking

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Are you a business owner or entrepreneur and have given up on trying to budget? I get it - variable income can make it feel impossible, right? Here’s 3 mindset and practical shifts to help you get back on track: https://youtu.be/TsvaHeNIxJ4 Click to Tweet

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