Even though they had a customer, a local brewery, it was far from certain if this company would work or if it would ever make the amount of money I was used to earning again. Despite the uncertainty, the business opportunity was too attractive to pass up. “We saw that there was an opportunity to work with a client of a certain caliber, but without the outdated structure that most agencies exist in,” he says. And I'd rather do something entrepreneurial and see where it goes and how it grows than be nice and comfortable with nothing to show for myself. Melanie Hopkins, founder of Finance Friend, a New York-based firm that helps entrepreneurs start and grow businesses, states that there is no set formula for how business owners should pay themselves.
Businesses vary by type, legal structure, and other determining factors that affect the amount of salary a business owner pays for their services and experience. Along with these considerations, each company has different operating costs. Hopkins' main advice is that business owners should pay themselves something. People should be paid for their work, she says. They don't have it, because they have a scarcity mentality and fear that, even if they have budgeted and everything looks good, they have to keep the money in the company's bank account.
Not paying yourself leads to exhaustion, so it is essential to make even a modest monthly payment. Deciding what salary figure to land on requires some work, starting with creating a personal budget. You must determine how much you need to withdraw from business to live. Be realistic about how much your life costs, advises Hopkins. You want to pay yourself enough to be able to maintain the business and maintain your lifestyle.
Like Bajan, when he decided it was time to start spending more on marketing, he had to reassess how much he really needed to eliminate from the company. After reviewing her personal expenses, she lowered her drawing to 35% and started paying herself every week instead of about every other week. “What I was doing before was too much,” he says. I felt like I needed to be smarter. Until this month, Bajan and Artz had what Bajan admits is a strange way to pay themselves. At the end of each month, they would see how much money they needed to cover their personal expenses and then they would write a check for that amount.
While they made sure that the draw was the same for both of them, the figure changed monthly. Their wives' salaries would cover part of it, but they both have mortgages, credit card payments and countless other things to pay, so they would cover what their salaries can't cover, she says. In March, however, Familiar Creatures became an S corporation, requiring its owners to receive a salary comparable to what someone in their position would earn elsewhere. The IRS doesn't want people to pay themselves a small salary and then take the rest as dividends, which are taxed at a lower rate, Hopkins explains. Because of that change, Bajan and Artz had to determine a real salary, one that could be paid every two weeks.
To do this, he looked at Glassdoor, a site where people anonymously post their salaries. The two co-founders call themselves creative directors, so they analyzed what a creative director of an advertising agency could do and took the lowest number they could find. After all these calculations, they still earn a much lower salary than in their previous jobs. I'm paying myself what they paid me five years ago; it's in the middle of five figures. Both Bajan and Eckert expect their salaries to grow over time but Hopkins says getting more out of the business is easier said than done. In many cases, business owners forget to raise their salaries; especially if they pay themselves every two weeks instead of simply taking what is left out of the bank account at the end of the month.
You should recheck your salary regularly; Eckert plans to continue paying herself around 35% of revenues. If income grows so will your paycheck; according to her projections if they reach their numbers she will be able to raise her salary because the company will grow” she says. It gives me the motivation to achieve those goals. As for Bajan he says that if his company has a big year then he would like to take a little more for himself although he is not sure how much; you are more likely to at least for now take only what you need and nothing more until my children wear the same clothes every day we will continue to invest money in the business” he says. It's more fun to see me add an employee than spend money on (renovating) my house. Before starting a business a common question asked by aspiring entrepreneurs is: “How much does a small business owner earn? While the typical salary of a small business owner will probably not fund a glamorous lifestyle it is possible to create a vibrant and successful business that can offer financial stability and generate real wealth. Let's dive into more detail about the salary range of a small business owner what affects overall compensation and how to find and use a salary calculator for small business owners. Keep in mind that the average salary of a business owner is different from the average income of a small business owner; salary refers to the basic compensation you get from your business while income refers to your total payment from other sources including tips commissions and sweepstakes (i.e.
Also keep in mind that the average business owner sometimes earns money in ways other than a salary such as distributions.
