What to do with excess money in your business
First off, if you’re reading this because it pertains to you, major KUDOS to you.
Making enough money to support your business (and then some) is a major accomplishment, and I want to give you permission to take a moment and celebrate that fact.
I’m proud of you, and you should be proud of yourself.
But now it’s time to move forward and make a plan for that excess cash.
While many entrepreneurs are simply focused on making enough money to support their biz and pay themselves, you have graduated to the point where you have more than you know what to do with.
Great problem, sister.
However, you want to ensure that all the work you put into earning those dollars isn’t for naught. Excess cash in the bank isn’t a free pass to start upgrading to first class or renting out office space you don’t need.
It’s a chance to start building even more financial freedom for you and an opportunity to scale your income to the next level.
Don’t worry – that first class upgrade will come soon enough. But first, our plan of attack.
WHAT TO DO WITH EXCESS MONEY IN YOUR BUSINESS
MOVE TO PERSONAL SAVINGS
If you are a single member LLC or S Corp (meaning you are the sole owner and have registered your business), I would highly suggest moving any excess cash sitting in your business checking or savings accounts to a personal account.
Why?
Because as an LLC or S Corp, only your personal assets are protected if someone were to sue you.
Thus, if you kept that money in your business account, some sue-happy client could attempt to stake claim to it. If you move it to personal, they shouldn’t be able to touch it.
I suggest creating a separate checking or savings account to house this money so that you can keep it separated from your personal stockpile while you determine what to do from there. (I do this for my business, and it has allowed me to better allocate it towards my goals than if I had mixed it with personal savings.)
What about the multi-member LLCs or S-Corps you ask?
When you have multiple people involved, you can’t simple just move the money to personal accounts. The movement of this money is considered a distribution, so you’d need to adhere to your partnership agreement in how & when you could do this.
If you find yourself with excess cash in a multi-member situation, I would suggest having a conversation with your partners to determine which of the following you would like to do with those funds, and then take action from there.
CREATE AN EMERGENCY FUND
Ever had those months in your business where you can’t make a sale to save your life? Or the market just goes quiet without any reason, leaving you with next-to-no income but a whole lot of stress (because, you know, BILLS)?
There will be times of feast and famine in any industry, and you want to ensure that when the latter hits, you can survive the downward turn.
Thus, determine how much it actually costs to run your business each month (including paying yourself enough to cover your personal expenses, to be safe) and create an emergency fund that would cover 3-6 months of your business operations.
You can house this in a separate savings account, and again, if you’re a single-member LLC or S-Corp, feel free to put this under a personal account instead of a business one.
GIVE YOURSELF A RAISE
I am all about making smart financial moves, but that doesn’t mean you need to eat strictly rice & beans for the next 15 years.
If you’ve been paying yourself bare minimum, feel free to give yourself a little bonus for all of your hard work.
Or, if you’ve been in your business long enough to have enough financial history to support increasing the amount you pay yourself monthly, go ahead and up your salary.
This isn’t my permission to go buck wild, but it is me officially giving you the “OK” to compensate yourself fairly (as you know your pay is always the last thing that gets funded).
Go have fun.
REINVEST
I wrote an article titled “The Secret the Wealthy Know that You Don’t” eons ago, and it all centered around this one idea: delayed gratification.
So often we want results right now, in this moment, but those who have been able to build considerable wealth always point back to laying the seeds years and years ago as the reason they were able to amass so much money.
Thus, we want to start laying those seeds now so that you can reap the benefits of your success now for years to come. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:
INVEST IN YOUR BIZ
Excess cash gives you a bit of wiggle room to be a little risky and start to be strategic in how you want to grow your business.
Here are a few ideas on how to use that excess cash:
Outsource a labor-intensive task not in your zone of genius (i.e. social media marketing, bookkeeping, etc.)
Hire an employee who can help cover some of your workload so you can bring on more clients & expand your business
Take advantage of vendor discounts when offered (i.e. buying a 6-month supply of product for 15% off upfront)
Purchase equipment or software that will increase efficiency or help you offer a better product
Go to conferences to network with other individuals in your industry or potential clients
INVEST OUTSIDE OF YOUR BIZ
RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS
Did you know that the US offers tax-advantageous retirement accounts to self-employed individuals just like they do for salaried employees?
If you don’t already have one set up, check out my article below about the options you have as a self-employed individual to start saving for retirement.
And just like anyone else, the end goal is to always to contribute at least 15%. If you can’t swing it now, don’t sweat it – again, it’s a goal, so start somewhere and work towards it.
How to Invest When You’re Self-Employed
REAL ESTATE
People often are hesitant to invest in real estate, but let me ask you one question:
When is the last time you’ve heard of a house losing ALL of its value?
Likely never. But with stocks, that could very well happen, which is why real estate is one of the income streams I love to include as part of my wealth portfolio.
And the beauty of it is that there are numerous ways to earn money from real estate – from flipping houses to owning rental properties to buying & selling notes…the list goes on & on.
If you want more information, I highly suggest checking out BiggerPockets – they are a treasure trove for new and seasoned real estate investors and will get you comfortable with using some of your excess money to get into the game.
Or you can read about my first venture into real estate investing at the link below!
I Just Bought My First Rental Property
OTHER BUSINESSES
Know someone with a great idea but no way to fund it? Feel free to embark on being an “angel investor,” which essentially is a high(er) net worth individual who provides financial support in the form of a loan or equity share of the business for small start-ups or entrepreneurs.
One note of warning, though: Try to shy away from doing this for close friends & family as money can rip relationships apart faster than me opening up a Reese’s wrapper (which, FYI, is pretty quick).
And in any situation, make sure that you have an airtight agreement on what the funds will be used for, your rate of return, payback schedule, etc. This is still a financial transaction, and you want to treat it as such.
Again, kudos to you for having built such a killer business that money is pouring in through the cracks in the sidewalks.
Just compound that momentum into something even greater so that you can have more freedom and create a bigger impact.
Until then,
