A coffee here. Lunch on the run. Fuel for your weekend drive. A quick stop at Mitre 10 on the way home.
None of it feels like much at the time.
Then GST is due, the bills need paying on the 20th, or there isn’t enough money for next week’s wages and suddenly the business “has a cashflow problem”.
But sometimes the business isn’t the problem.
It’s all the little personal purchases going through the business bank account and draining the money needed to keep the doors open.
One $20 purchase won’t break the business. But $20 here, $50 there and a few hundred dollars on the weekend can soon add up to thousands over a year.
Your business needs its money for things like wages, rent, suppliers, tax and the everyday costs of getting the work done. You need money personally too, but it should come out as a planned amount, not disappear through dozens of random transactions.
Take ten minutes and look through the last month of spending from your business account.
How much was genuinely for the business?
And how much was the business paying for your personal life?
It might be more than you think.
Give yourself a regular, set amount to live on and transfer it into your personal account. Then use your personal card for personal spending.
It’s a simple change, but it gives you a much clearer picture of what the business can actually afford and stops those little purchases from eating the money meant to keep it running.
