I started a business in August 2022 as an independent promoter/booking agent for live music. Over the past year-plus, ive had my fair share of successes and failures, and never enough in either direction to quit outright or start paying myself consistently. I invested a lot of time and some of my personal money to either keep it afloat or make necessary purchases, and I’ve taken some money out of it as well as needed when I’ve been in a tougher financial position than my businesses and needed to pay bills, but never anything consistent. I adjusted the way I handle compensation to make it very difficult for me to lose money going forward, and I’ve decided on a couple different methods of making my stream of business more consistent as well starting in January.
Recently, I decided to set certain thresholds for paying myself a weekly “salary” and for increasing said salary going forward. My regular expenses are minimal, and I will occasionally lose money on certain shows, but the money that I make should give me a consistent stream of income if only by volume. The system is: when my business’ money in the account hits $500 (which it just did) I start by paying myself $50 a week, every Monday. Then, when I have $1000 in the business, I up my weekly pay to $100. $1500, $150, etc.
This gives me incentives to make sure I hit new goals, rather than essentially working a part time job volunteering. It may seem like those thresholds are super low, but the expenses themselves are low and I have to meet the next goal while paying myself my current weekly amount, so it will level out at some point I’m sure, but this gives me a good idea of how my business is doing, and how much I can depend on from it consistently as a “fixed” income for budgeting my personal expenses. I have also decided that starting in 2024, I will no longer be investing any more of my personal money, save for very specific circumstances that are either completely unpredictable or absolutely necessary. If I run out of money in the business, the business stops.
Just wanted to share my “success” that will hopefully continue, partially to say you can do it too and to stick with a business that you believe in, and partially to see how others managed giving themselves their first “paycheck.” Would love to hear from everyone!
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Your not even 18 months deep. The first two years of my company, I drove a company truck everywhere I went because I couldn’t afford a personal car. I barely paid rent, and at two years in my best friend came into town and my wife had a melt down over a company distribution I took for $200 so we could have fun that weekend. This is the hard part, this is where a lot of people give up and go back to working for someone else for the consistent pay. But if you can persevere, build systems, listen to podcasts and keep going… the rewards are amazing. Hang in there my friend! Your almost through the hard part!
Thanks for the kind words! Fortunately I have not been depending on my business to cover my expenses, but having essentially two part time jobs, only one of which paid me, while also going to school full time, is pretty taxing - it often feels like my business is playing third fiddle to the other “more important” or financially lucrative options. I’ve found it difficult sometimes to focus on improving my business or finding new work because of the lack of a reward from it, so it will make things easier for me to be able to keep going!
Congratulations! I bought a company a number of years ago that was an accounting train wreck. I didn’t get paid for 11 months, but that first check felt so damn good.
The best part was my staff had been promised raises before I took over. I shared with them our financial predicament and promised anyone who was capable of staying with us, they would get a raise when I got my first pay check. It was rewarding as hell to give out 6 raises at the same time.
That’s so cool! Fortunately I have no employees, so I don’t have to worry about that, but I can imagine how rewarding it is to be able to do that. I am responsible for paying the bands on my shows, and it feels great to give them generous payment for their efforts, which I do as much as possible :)
I didn’t think to do this, but this is actually a great model! I think I’ll be adapting it for my own business :3
If you have greater expenses, I would absolutely make the thresholds higher - that way, a bad month doesn’t leave you broke while paying yourself.