What are you working for, anyway?

If you are self-employed you probably went into business for yourself for one of two reasons.  Either you were passionate about your chosen field and wanted to be in control of your own destiny or you couldn’t find work with an established company so you decided to go out on your own.

In either case, the main purpose of your business (or any employment for that matter) is to provide for the needs of you and your family (unless you are independently wealthy and are just doing it for fun, in which case, you don’t need to read any further.)

Do you know what your needs are? Do you have a clear vision of what you want your life to be like 3,5,10 20 or 30 years from now?  Do you know what you need to do to make that vision become a reality?

These are questions every self-employed business person needs to ask themselves and find answers to.  Unfortunately, most business people are so busy scrambling to just break-even that they don’t spend the time necessary to create a viable plan that not only provides for their family now but also allows them to retire from the business some day.

That’s why you need a Financial Life Plan that will allow you to see how much income your business needs to generate to create the life you want for your family. Your plan needs to be flexible enough for you to try out new business ideas on paper before spending money on them. It also needs to be able to adapt readily to changes that might occur in your business or family life.

A Financial Life Plan, like your Business Plan needs to be regularly reviewed and updated.  It compliments and completes your Business Plan.  To do this you need access to flexible planning software along with someone who can guide you through the complexities of personal financial planning as well as act as your business financial counsellor.

To be a Good Steward of your resources you need to spend time deciding what you want from life and how you are going to get it.