I’m not gonna to lie. Owning a business is tougher than I thought.
While all the other pups are sleeping at night in their comfy beds, I’m burning the midnight oil trying to map out my plans for the next day before my human wakes up. When other pups are hanging out at yappy hour, I find myself working on Woof Foods trying to determine the best peanut butter to try out my new pupcake recipe. And while some pups are buying a new outfit for pup girls’ night out, I’m staring at my closet thinking of new ways to recreate my outfit.
However, the most challenging thing about owning a business is budgeting.
Those nudges I used to have roaming the aisles of Tailget are now used for all those business odds and end that no one ever tells you about before you decide to open your pup business. You know, like pupcake boxes. Honestly, who knew that putting these Sweet Cake Pupcakes in a box required this much financial planning?
Honestly, I miss those moments where I could buy a ticket to a woof concert at a moment’s notice. However, in the words of my BFF…
It takes nudges to invest in yourself.
And since I’m financing my pup business ownership dream myself, budgeting my nudges is one of my biggest priorities. But honestly, I learned pretty early on that I’m not willing to give up all the fun things in my life. Pup business ownership is a lot of hard work and if there’s no fun from time to time you can burn out really easily.
So, as I started to strategize and re-strategize my budget, I made the conscious decision to include entertainment into my budget. And, since a majority of my extra nudges would go towards financing Pupcake Sugar, I became really good at re-working my budget to get some extra nudges to have some fun with. Here are a few tips.
ADOPTED A NUDGE ONLY LIFESTYLE
No. This isn’t some new pup food diet. However, it is a pup financial diet. I moved away from using credit cards for purchasing items and only used nudges. That’s right! Nudges only. Using nudges only for every purchase made me really think about my purchases. Was it a want or a need? What do I have to give up in order to buy it? Do I really even want it? When you don’t have an unlimited access to nudges it really helps you think through your purchase decisions. And, it also helped me cut back on spending, which created a little more money for me to do those entertainment things that really brought me joy and sparked my creativity.
TURNED EVERY PURCHASE INTO A CHANGE EXPEDITION
Since I was using nudges only to purchase items, there was always a little change left over. So, anytime I would break a nudge, I’d put that change into my “crazy idea” fund jar. And, anytime I found some change on the street I’d pick it up and put that in the jar too. Do you know how much change I’d find laying on the floor at the pup self-checkout lane at Tail-get? Anyway, you’d be surprised how much change can add up. It also allowed me to save money without even thinking about it.
STARTED A PAWTY FUND
When I began my journey, I was still working. In fact, it was my only income. So, every time I’d get paid I’d take a 20-nudge bill and put it in an envelope. After a while, those nudges added up. And, before I knew it I had the nudges I needed to buy a concert ticket, go on a trip with my BFF or whatever other fun activity I wanted to do. Plus, if an emergency popped up. It was nice to know that I had a few nudges on paw to take care of it.
LEARNED TO WOOF “NO”
When I was starting my pup business, I realized how many nudges I was giving away without even thinking about it. Whether it was loaning a pup friend a few nudges here, donating to a worthy pup cause there or sponsoring some pup in living out her dream was getting really expensive. Every time I turned around I felt like I was giving away my nudges instead of investing in the things I wanted. So, I decided to create a giving plan. I budgeted a certain amount of nudges each month. And, once it was gone, no matter how great the cause, the answer was “no.” It allowed me to both invest in myself and give back.
As I’ve moved through my journey, I’ve learned that your budget changes as you go. There is no stagnant pup budget. I’ve also learned that budgeting is a great way to really help you assess what’s important to you and where you want to go with your “crazy ideas.” So, I’d definitely love to hear from you.
What are your budgeting tactics to help you fund your “crazy ideas” and have a little fun too?
Please share in the comment box below.
