Are you one of those pet business owners that is doing everything yourself and wondering when your business will start to give back to you a little? Let me tell you I Am One of Those Business Owners.

Since 2007 I’ve been wearing every possible hat available to keep my small business chuggin’ along. I do all of my social networking ( which doesn’t really seem like work most times :) I do all of my web, print and design stuff, I design my products I source manufacturers here and abroad, I pick out fabric, I sketch the drawings, I take of shipping, customer service and all of my blogging. Phew…I think I should be getting a mondo fat paycheck.  Well…nope not here my friend. But….I got an eye opener today.

I got a chance to speak with another fellow business owner who gave me some awesome advice this was his quick but very insightful tip! Here goes:

**No matter how much ‘profit’ you’re making, Pay.Yourself.First!  Now what exactly does that mean? Well it doesn’t mean you go and blow every dime of your sales on a Coach bag or new uber expensive plush spa bed for Dino. Here’s how my friend broke it down for me.

1) Even if you’re brining in $125/month. Set a pay structure in place, right from the beginning. Divide your ‘income’ into 3 divisions.

–>Pay yourself
–>Pay the business
–>Pay for growth, and expanding or sustaining ( depending on your personal or business goals)

If you can get in the habit of dividing up every single bit of income that your pet business brings in you’ll see that slowly or quickly it starts to build and you begin to gain more confidence in your business  and before you know it you’ve got a budge for yourself, your pet business and budget for the growth or sustainability of it.

You may know already what happens when you’re not paying yourself at all. You may doubt your endeavor at times, you may feel overworked and obviously underpaid. You may wonder why or why did you jump in and do this…But I can tell you that once your business has foundation and starts to ‘love’ you back it’s a great and wonderful feeling.

**So get those pay systems in place and start appreciating all your hard work**

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