Rule #9 – Control Expenses Better Than Your Competition.
Being able to control expenses related to your business is crucial to the success of your business. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage. You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you are too inefficient.
How many of you spend above your means when it comes to business? I know I have. I am not talking about your initial investment or what you need to operate your business. I am talking about buying courses or books when you have not finished the course your on or finished reading the book not along applying what you learnt? We call these people knowledge junkies.
I am embarrassed to say I was one of those people. I had lots of knowledge from all the courses and books I had read but I was not stopping and taking what I had learnt and applying it to my business till I met a mentor who nailed me on this.
I thought that when I was not achieving my business goals fast enough that I didn’t know enough. So the more I failed the more I read or the more courses I took and the more frustrated I became. Have you ever felt that way?
“Becoming financially independent DOES NOT mean becoming perfect! However, it does require you to be honest with yourself.”
The path to financial independence is simple: live (spend) below your means. Your objective is to increase your means while decreasing your spending.
In other words we need to track our expenses and our income. In other words “budget.”
Most people get a sick feeling in the pit of their stomach when they hear the word “budgeting.” That’s because most money budgeting programs make people feel restricted and tied down. But “budgeting” your money doesn’t have to be a drudgery. Now is the time to change the way you think about keeping track of your money.
Rich dad would often say, “People who cannot control their cash flow work for those who can.”
Tracking vs. Budgeting
How do tracking and budgeting differ?
| BUDGETING | TRACKING |
| Budgeting dictates which areas to cut. |
Tracking indicates the most meaningful areas in which to spend. |
| Budgeting is difficult to force oneself to do. | Tracking is an exciting adventure so long as you are spending in the right areas of your life. |
| Budgeting is depressing. | Tracking is uplifting and encouraging when it is done with specific goals and dreams for now and the future in mind. |
| Budgeting is argumentative. | Tracking helps a person make a decision in advance of the moment, leaving no room for impulsive behavior or arguments with self or spouse. |
Here is FREE Personal Finance Software (budgettracker.com) to track your Bills, Budget, Calendar, and Transactions. For a small business, BudgetTracker offers Invoice, Estimates, Charts, and other useful tools.
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