3 ways to help you stick to your budget as an entrepreneur

Being an entrepreneur is really different than working a 9-5 and it’s no different when it comes to managing your finances. Wanting to stick to your budget is fine, but it’s even more tricky when your income is variable because ALL the guidance out there is for people pulling in regular paychecks. In fact, we have become so conditioned to believe that we need regular inflows of money to create “stability” that we try to recreate these circumstances in our business in the offers we create and the way to run our business. But it’s a lie.

Three reasons your find it hard to stick to your budget as an entrepreneur

1. Unexpected expenses
2. Inconsistent cash flow
3. Too many things they need

How to stick to your budget by proactively addressing these three things

These are the outlines of the solutions I use myself and that I teach my one-on-one clients. While these solutions may not work in every scenario they are based repeatedly positive outcomes that I have personally seen in my own life and the lives of my clients.

When unexpected expenses make it hard to stick to your budget

Solution: Make your life “emergency free” by creating contingency funds for everything!

1. Write down a list of everything in your business that would prevent you from working or continuing business if it broke or went wrong
2. Price check a dollar amount for what it would take to fix this should it occur
3. Create separately named sections of your savings account for each item (easy to do if you have Novo for your business banking – check out the episode on that if you missed it – https://moneymythbusterpodcast.com/podcast/business-banking-novo/)
4. Start setting aside savings towards each of these items now – even if it’s small it will help to know that the money is there if you need it

For when inconsistent cash flow makes it hard to stick to your budget

Solution: Stop focusing on inflow and focus on consistent outflow instead

1. Go back and listen to episode 6 – https://moneymythbusterpodcast.com/podcast/financial-stability/
2. Understand that the reason you income feels inconsistent is that you are spending it inconsistently
3. Creating a budget that levels your outflow means that when you have high cash months you don’t overspend but project your income out to cover the future months where there may be the inevitable “dip”
4. Set up your consistent business budget here – Business Budget
5. Set up your consistent personal budget (and heal your relationship with money) here – https://www.mybulletproofbudget.com/bulletproof-for-life-program/

When too many expenses makes it hard to stick to your budget – aka when you have “shiny object syndrome”

Solution: Plan, set aside your ego (oof) and start working

1. Plan – you will absolutely acquire more expenses as you grow but you should ideally be planning for these in advance. Too many of us (and I say us because I did it too!) try to look like established businesses from the start because we think no one will do business with a newb. Wrong. This is why you need a budget – set aside money for future expenses, continuing education, and other fun things you know you’ll spend money on anyway so it doesn’t derail your profits.
2. Let go of the ego – you do not need to look established to make money. You don’t need all those things, you want them to soothe your ego so you can feel more confident doing something you are new at. I say this with love because I have already walked through this phase and shiny object syndrome kept me from success for YEARS in my business because I was so focused on making things pretty and nice and not on the actual money-making tasks…
3. Stop learning for a time in your business and actually make money – you can stay in “learning” mode forever. So many people want to know “everything” before they get started. This is a conditioned fear response you use to try and keep you safe by giving you confidence by using competence as a strategy for safety. You think you are being smart when, in fact, you are preventing yourself from taking the risks necessary for success.

How to stick to your budget – conclusion

These three things are the top reason that you have a hard time trying to stick to your budget – but it doesn’t have to be your permanent reality. I have a whole series on how to create a business budget that you can read more about below on the My Bulletproof Budget Blog.