My Secret Weapon for Business Budgeting

How I used to do it and why that didn’t work

I used to do manage my money the way I think most people manage their money. That is, the track what they expect to bring in for the month, and then whittle it down as the bills get paid, spending some for your wants as you go along, knowing that as long as there’s a positive number in the account, it’s all good. The problem is that this method has no built in planning, and the number in your account is almost always a lie. I got myself into trouble. I’m learning now that there are other factors which contributed to it, but that’s not the main story here.

Irregular income and budgeting

In my line of work, being an artist, income is irregular and even sporadic. There are also seasons to it. It’s not quite the same as freelancing, but that’s the closest approximation to it. Spring and Summer are my busy seasons because I primarily sell at in-person events in a tourist destination city. In the fall, the visitors stop coming, the locals come out, and sales take a nose-dive until the Xmas holiday shopping happens. Then from mid-December until April, my bank account income column is basically a ghost town.

The wake up call – going mostly broke

January 2023 was a huge wake up call for me. I’d been going through a very deep, dark depression (TMI?) fueled mostly by the incredible financial strain have back-to-back-to-back devastating events for in-person markets in my area. (COVID19, then Hurricane Florence, then Hurricane Dorian) It had drained me mentally and financially to the point where I had to take a emergency disaster loan from the federal government to stay afloat.

I figured 2023 was going to be the year things balanced out after such a wobbly few years. (spoiler alert: I’d end up being right about it that for me) The problem was they way I’d been handling my finances couldn’t allow me to see how far into the future my money would take me. In January of 2023 I had a panic attack over my finances because I couldn’t get my brain to focus on figuring it out. It wasn’t a pretty scene. It took me a month of scrambling for any markets in January and February, thinking if I could just get some more income then I’d fine, that I realized I needed help and that the “just get more income” wasn’t a sustainable or even sensible way of approaching my life. That’s when I found You Need A Budget (YNAB) (link at the bottom of this article if you want to learn more or give it a try for free).

YNAB to the rescue

Okay, a little more “too much info” for a sec because I have to open and a bit vulnerable to explain why YNAB has saved me. My mental health hasn’t been great for a while. As someone with undiagnosed ADHD (I know, I know), I’ve had to develop or find systems that keep me appearing to function normally. I’ve not been too shy about talking about a few specific systems that keep me going, but what I haven’t shared until now is that having these system in place literally keeps me going.

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After some serious internal work and reflection in that horrible Jan/Feb 2023 period, I realized that if I was going to literally survive, I needed a stronger foundation on which to build my own future. Keep in mind, that I’d already been a “successful” artist for years at this point. I knew that systems, processes, hacks, and tricks that clicked with my brain were the secret to appearing normal to the outside world. And I desperately wanted that…I still do. Only the ten people out of 8 billion or so who read this will know otherwise and those are acceptable odds to my brain for being so vulnerable here.

YNAB turned out to be that system for managing my money. Instead of focusing on tracking spending (which it also does a great job at), it was the budgeting portion that really caught my interest. Although they didn’t really market it this way, my brain saw their rules and approach as a game, and that meant I could “win” at budgeting my money. Using YNAB, I was able see how soon I’d run out of money, how I could shift priorities in my spending and saving habits to pivot and survive. (2nd spoiler: I survived, but my account got below $100 and I ate canned soup that I stretched into multiple meals by adding pasta or rice)

The 4 YNAB rules

The concept is simple: 1) Give every dollar a job, working only with the money you have. 2) This includes jobs that don’t happen every month or even at regular intervals, but that you know are jobs your money will need to accomplish–think car insurance and market application fees. 3) You got to be flexible because sometimes a job costs more than you thought and sometimes a new job for your money pops up that you have to address. 4) If you’re “winning” your budget, then you’ll start putting money towards the jobs in future months because your current month is fully funded.

How it’s going now

It fluctuates because my income does vary so much between seasons, but as I write this, it’s the beginning of November and I have 1/3 of February already funded. I’d certainly like to be further along, but with a strong holiday season this year, I’ll be fully funded into the next spring season, and will be ahead, and that trend will continue.

I still struggle. I goof and self-sabotage my own budget from time to time. That’s part of what I deal with for not being brave enough to go get the proper treatment for my mental health. However, this system has allowed me to have much more peace of mind, which has itself done wonders for my battle with depression. Who knows, maybe it will one day give me the courage I need. All of that is to say if you’re basically a nuerotypical person who is looking for a great tool to get a handle on your money so future you can high-five current you. Than YNAB is going to rock your world!

Since I’m a subscriber to their great service, they’ve given me this code to share that allows you to check out everything they have to offer for 34 days for free. Why 34 days? Because part of the magic is when you roll over to the next month and see any unspent money in the jobs you have get stacked into the next month. That, my friend, gives you options, and it feels very good to have options about your spending and budgeting priorities! Just click this link to start your 34 day free trial, and if you decide to sign up, we’ll both get an extra free month!!

Check out my artwork

Well, you know I’m an artist, so here’s a link to check out my work:

Click here to check out the coastal stuff

Click here to check out the weird stuff

Thanks for reading and clicking some links. It really does help me in ways I can’t fully describe. Any thoughts about this article? Let me know in the comments!