When it comes to the expenses of your business, do you know what payments you need to make each month, or do they catch you off guard?

Have you ever had a large, annual charge sneak up on you when you weren’t prepared for it, and then had to dip into your personal savings to cover it?

If this has happened to you, you are not alone. 

As solopreneurs, we wear many hats and spend much of our time focused on marketing and connecting with new clients, while serving our existing clients.  Financial management often gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. 

You might feel that knowing generally that your revenue covers your business expenses is good enough, and that a late payment now or then isn’t a big deal. 

However, imagine how much less stressful it would be if you knew exactly how much you need to pay for your business expenses each month and when those payments are due. And what if you never had to dip into your personal savings to cover them?

So what is the simple tool that you can use to make this process much, much easier?

Create a business budget.

I know, I know… YAWN…

It’s not sexy or glamorous, but I promise you that once you have a budget set up, paying your bills becomes just another part of running your business.

And I’m here to tell you, that budgeting doesn’t need to be scary or restrictive - or boring.

And once in place, it helps bring those stress levels WAY down.

So, how do you create a budget for your business?

First, sit down and take a good look at each of your business expenses and note when they are due. Be sure to do that for each of your monthly expenses, as well as any expenses that occur annually. 

If you are looking to streamline your expenses, note which of the ones you listed are absolutely necessary, and which ones are nice to have.  This gives you an easy way to identify the ones you might want to eliminate.

Tally up the money that you owe each month and allocate your revenue accordingly (more about revenue planning another day!)

And that's how you create a basic budget. I recommend revisiting this budget each month to be sure it is always current.

Are you ready to get started? Or could you use some support?

If you want some help creating a simple budget for your business, send me an email at sara@sarafins.com and let’s chat!