3 Signs Your Business Is Still Living In Your Wallet

I knew a roofing inspector who built a strong reputation in both commercial and luxury residential construction.

Business was growing.

To keep up with demand, he hired an office manager to prepare reports, track hours, and handle billing.

She was excellent at organizing the work.

The problem?

She'd never managed billing before.

Invoices weren't going out consistently.

Collections weren't being tracked.

And she didn't ask for help because she didn't realize there was a problem.

Meanwhile, crews were getting paid.

Expenses kept coming.

The owner burned through his business cash reserves.

Then he started pulling money from personal savings to keep everything moving.

That's when he discovered three signs his business was still financially attached to him:

1. The business depends on your personal savings when cash flow gets tight.

2. You regularly move money between personal and business accounts to solve operational problems.

3. A breakdown inside the business immediately becomes a problem for your household finances.

The issue wasn't that he lacked customers.

The issue wasn't even that he lacked profit.

The issue was that the line between business finances and personal finances was thinner than he realized.

A lot of business owners think commingling starts with writing the occasional personal check from a business account.

More often, it starts when the business has no financial buffer except the owner.

Have you ever discovered a weakness in your business only after it affected your personal finances?