{Budgeting your business’ money, part II}

{photo credits}

This is the final post in my budgeting series. You can find the previous posts here: budgeting your family’s money, part I; budgeting your family’s money, part II; budgeting your business’ money, part I.

I wanted to be sure and give you a few days to put your new budgets into practice. Practice makes perfect, right? It’s been a week, and if you’ve started your budget you should be seeing some of the benefits already. Try and bypass the few extra minutes of work it’s giving you and focus on its rewards.

A few things that come to mind:

* by reviewing your budget every few days/weekly, you’ll stay on top of any items you forgot to write in your checkbook register
* having a budget allows you to foresee upcoming expenses and will completely remove the “SURPRISE!” feeling you may have experienced before
* save all your receipts! You can organize them by month, but be sure to keep personal and business receipts separate

Does this sound familiar?

I’m going to put on my Mrs. Obvious hat again and say, Having a budget frees you from the “what ifs” and bonds you to the “I wills…” Instead of worrying how you’re going to purchase materials because you overspent in advertising, for example, you’re able to make more product for your shop {because your time is now spent being productive instead of worrying} which in return will provide you with more income, which will allow you to advertise more, which will increase your sales, which will allow you to hire an employee.

DO YOU SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING?

And I have to type this out: I received an email about “not needing a budget.” And of course I welcome all comments, however I was kinda feeling like this mini-series isn’t about whether you want a budget. It is about making one and using one. If you don’t want one then you don’t have to have one. But saying one isn’t “needed” totally defeats the purpose of this mini-series. Because, and sorry to have to say this, budgets work and my business is successful proof. If you want to discuss this then we can chat off the blog.

{quietly walks off stage.}

Let’s chat a bit more…

I want to make this post special by asking you to leave any questions you have in the comment section. I’ll then go through and answer them in there as well, so we can all read the answers.

But before I do that… a few final tips on budgeting your business’ money:

* Be sure you are charging state sales tax

* File all sales as income

* Be sure you have a business checking account

* Know how much product you sell a month {# of orders, # of items, and $ amount}

* Know how much money you make in ads/month — also know how many items you have to sell to cover that expense

* If you’re ever unsure, call a local accountant. Many offer free consultations and this is a great way to get started!

Maybe you think this mini-series was too easy?

It’s OK if you did — the truth is having your budget work for you is easy! What makes it difficult is creating your budget & sticking to it. But let’s not focus on that, mmmk? Let’s focus on having a budget meaning you put more money into your bank account :]

Leave a question/comment below and I’ll answer it soon-ish!

PS. August sponsor feature/giveaway post — coming this evening!