Busy, Broke and in Business e-Book

Busy, Broke and in Business

Turning hard work, sales and cash flow into reliable owner income.

You are working harder than you have ever worked. Sales are coming in. And yet, at the end of the month, there is still nothing sensible left for you.

This book fixes that in a specific way: it treats your pay as a number the business is built to produce, not as whatever happens to survive the month.

By the end of this book, you will be able to

• Name your own income figure — the amount you actually need each month to live without financial stress, written down and reviewed, instead of taking "whatever is left"
• Work out what the business must earn to pay you that amount — your balance point, covering running costs, wages, tax, loan repayments, reserves and your income, so you know the monthly target rather than hoping
• Pay yourself on a fixed date, every month — a base amount the business can genuinely support, with clear rules for when extra withdrawals are allowed and when they are not
• Stop being surprised by tax — money set aside as it arrives, so VAT, PAYE or Corporation Tax deadlines stop eating the money you had earmarked for yourself
• See which of your work actually pays you — the real cost of delivering each product, service or job, including your own time, so you know which sales fund your income and which quietly drain it
• Price so your pay is built in — rather than pricing to win the work and hoping the margin appears later
• Know your money position in twenty minutes a week — a weekly routine and a monthly review that replace checking the bank balance and guessing
• Forecast the months ahead — a simple monthly cash-flow forecast that shows when your pay is safe and when it is at risk, before it happens
• Judge whether growth will improve your income — before you hire, outsource, borrow or take on bigger work

What's inside

42 short chapters across seven parts, taking you from seeing the financial truth of your business, through making it more profitable, to creating the capacity to pay yourself properly and protecting that income as you grow. Plain English throughout — no jargon, no accounting background needed. Worked examples throughout from real business types: consultants, builders, bakers, online retailers.

The book closes with a 90-day plan: one action for pricing, one for costs, one for cash collection and one to protect your owner income, with a measure of success for each.

Who it's for

UK sole traders, directors and small business owners who are busy, profitable on paper, and still underpaid. Written by Katerina Sing, qualified practising accountant and founder of AnRos Consultancy.

You'll receive both PDF and EPUB, so it reads on your laptop, phone, Kindle, iPad or Kobo. Instant download.

Note: this book gives you a system for planning and taking your income. The exact legal route you take money — salary, dividends or drawings — depends on your structure and personal tax position, so speak to your accountant about the specifics.