016. My Business Didn't Fall Apart When My Life Did
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[00:00:00] INTRODUCTION
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[00:00:00] Simplicity balance and efficiency. Shouldn't just be items on your eternal wishlist. If you're a side hustler or mompreneur, who wants to level up and be a true CEO, create a business that supports your family while still maintaining a life you love you're in the right place. I'm your host lisa Kinser and you're listening to the simply booked podcast. I'm a wife, hashtag girl, mom of two. Bookkeeper and owner of simply booked llc where i help small business owners like you know and grow their profits so heat that cup of coffee for the third time this morning and let's get started
All right. Let's talk about something that I know a lot of people are avoiding, even though they don't want to admit it. If your business only works when you're constantly pushing, constantly launching, or constantly doing the most, it's not stable. It's fragile and fragility can look really impressive.
Online, you have big [00:01:00] months and big goals, big energy. But behind the scenes, an underpaid owner. A nervous system that never fully regulates, and this constant low grade panic every time your stripe or your PayPal is quiet. So today we're talking about stability. We're not talking about scaling or hustling or chasing whatever is next.
Stability. And more specifically, we're talking about why paying yourself consistently is not a bonus or a reward. It is not something that you earn later. It's the whole damn reason you started a business in the first place. We've been taught that success in business always looks like more, more offers, more launches, more income goals, more pressure to figure out what comes next and listen.
Growth is not bad. I'm not anti-growth. I am very anti. The whole idea that paying yourself is something that happens after you're successful. That story keeps people stuck [00:02:00] because when more is always the goal, there's always a reason not to pay yourself yet. You say this month we're investing. This month we're preparing for a launch.
After that, maybe we'll see, and suddenly you've been in business for years making real money with real responsibilities, but your own paycheck still feels optional. I don't want that for you. If your business only works when you're constantly pushing, it's not stable. Fragile businesses burn out their owners.
Stability is one of the most underrated business goals because it's not flashy or exciting. It doesn't sell hype or promise, overnight wins. Stability is exactly what supports your life. Stability is predictable income. It's knowing that your bills are covered without doing mental math at 2:00 AM trying to figure out how to make it work.
It's not panicking. Every time your notifications are quiet. Stability is what lets you get sick without everything falling [00:03:00] apart. It's what lets you rest without guilt. It's what lets you grieve or slow down or step back when life happens. If you listen to my last episode, you'll see how that was literally me for the past several years.
Growth without stability does not feel like freedom. It feels like louder stress, you don't feel successful. Instead, you end up feeling responsible for keeping a very expensive machine running. And I will always, always choose stability over speed because real life happens and systems are what carry you when motivation doesn't.
Now let's talk about paying yourself. I know you're gonna ask this question because this is where so much of the mindset gets twisted. Paying yourself should not be a reward for success. It's not a treat or a bonus. It's not something you earn [00:04:00] by suffering long enough. Paying yourself is proof that your business works.
It is the reason you didn't just. Go get another job. Your pay is not what's left over after everyone else gets theirs. It is a non-negotiable operating expense because a business that can't pay its owner is not successful. It's expensive.
If your business needs your labor, your ideas, your emotional energy, your decision making, then the business needs to pay you. It is not entitlement. That is just basic math. Now, if paying yourself feels scary or inconsistent, or impossible, I wanna say this. This is not a discipline problem. It's clarity problem.
Most people aren't avoiding owner pay because they're irresponsible. They're avoiding it because of things like fear of owing more in taxes than you expected. Inconsistent [00:05:00] income, months, messy books that you don't trust, not knowing what's actually safe to take, being told to reinvest everything forever.
When you don't have clean numbers, every decision feels risky, so you wait or you hold off, or you tell yourself. You'll start paying yourself when things feel more stable. But stability doesn't come from waiting. It comes from building systems that support consistency.
[00:05:28]
AD BREAK
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Sorry to interrupt, but I know what you're thinking. You have already decided that you want to outsource your bookkeeping and you wanted to outsource it like yesterday. I would love to meet with you on a no pressure discovery call. You can book a free call on my website at Simply Booked, llc. Once you fill out a short questionnaire, you'll be set to book a time that works for you.
I can't wait to dive into your business and see if we are a good fit for each other. Now back to the [00:06:00] episode.
[00:06:01] BACK TO THE EPISODE
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Now let's talk about what stability actually looks like, because I think people imagine something that's unrealistic.
Stability doesn't mean six figures. Please don't wait until you make six figures to start paying yourself. It also doesn't mean massive months. It means consistency, stability looks like a regular owner pay, even if it's modest. It looks like clean books that you trust. Fewer financial surprises and decisions made with data, not vibes.
It looks like checking your banking app without your heart rate spiking. Calm bank app energy. That's the goal. And if you're wondering how to start shifting towards stability without overwhelming yourself, here's where to begin. Look at your average monthly income. Please get some kind of bookkeeping system.
If you don't have one already, you have to be able to see your average monthly income. [00:07:00] Don't just look at your best months because those are not your baseline. Decide on a realistic, consistent owner's pay that fits inside that average. And automate it. If you can build systems before you chase new offers, this is exactly what clean bookkeeping and real financial support make possible, not just better numbers, but you make better decisions.
I went in with this. You did not start a business to white knuckle your job forever. You started it to feel safe, independent, supported. Stability is not boring. Because paying yourself is not optional. A stable business pays its owners every time,
and you deserve a business that supports your life, not one that drains it.
[00:07:47] CLOSING
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Thank you so much for listening and you've made it all the way to the end to view the complete show notes and all the links mentioned in today's episode, please visit simplybooked.llc/podcast [00:08:00] And before you go, make sure you leave a rating and review because even though it just takes a few seconds, it really does make a difference. Thanks again for joining me in this episode of the simply book podcast. I'll see you soon.
