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Owner Finances

How Much Should I Pay Myself From My Business?

Start from what your household needs after tax, then work backward to the profit your business has to make. A five-step method with a worked example.

6 min read Owner Finances

Quitting Your Job: The Number That Tells You When

Most business plans start with the business. The question that decides when you can quit starts with your household. Here's how to work out the number, and the savings that cover the gap.

6 min read Owner Finances

Self-Employment Tax, Explained With One Example

Self-employment tax is 15.3% of about 92% of your business profit, on top of income tax. Here is where the rate comes from, what it pays for, and one full calculation on a $114,000 profit.

6 min read Owner Finances

Quarterly Estimated Taxes Without the Surprise Bill

How much to set aside for taxes when you work for yourself, when the four payments are due, and the prior-year rule that keeps you clear of penalties. Worked through on a seasonal business.

6 min read Owner Finances

When an S-Corp Election Saves Money (and When It Doesn't)

The payroll-tax saving is only the first line of the S-Corp math. Income tax moves too, payroll and a separate return cost money, and the salary decides everything. A full worked comparison.

6 min read Know Your Numbers

Understanding the Three Financial Statements: A Visual Guide

A 20-minute video on the Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement and Balance Sheet: what each one answers, how they connect, and the working spreadsheet to follow along.

Video Template 20 min Know Your Numbers

Profit Is Not Cash

A profitable month can still end with less money in the bank. Here are the four places profit goes before it reaches your account, with one worked example.

5 min read Know Your Numbers

You Have a Skill. Is Your Business Working?

Being great at the work and running a business that pays you are different jobs. Four numbers show whether the business side is working, and which one to fix first.

6 min read Know Your Numbers

The Profit and Loss Statement, in Plain Words

A profit and loss statement answers one question, did the business make money over this period, in three layers. Here is how to read each layer, with one full-year example.

7 min read Know Your Numbers

Gross Margin vs Net Margin

Gross margin tells you whether your prices work. Net margin tells you whether the whole business does. Here is how to calculate both, what a good gross margin looks like, and the test that matters more than any benchmark.

6 min read Know Your Numbers

Break-Even: How Much You Have to Sell to Stop Losing Money

Break-even is the sales level where profit is exactly zero. It takes two numbers to calculate, and a second version, the break-even that includes your own pay, is the one worth planning around.

6 min read Making Decisions

I Just Formed My LLC — Now What?

Forming the LLC was paperwork. The first real decisions are about money. Here are the five that come in the first few months, and how to answer each one with numbers.

6 min read Making Decisions

How to Price a Service So It Actually Pays

A service price has three jobs, covering the direct cost of the work, its share of overhead and the profit that pays you. Here is how to set one, with a worked example.

6 min read Making Decisions

Should I Raise My Prices? What a Price Increase Does to Profit

A small price increase can lift profit far more than it lifts revenue, and you can usually lose more customers than you fear before it stops paying. Here is the math, with one example.

6 min read Making Decisions

Should I Hire? Doing the Math on Your First Employee

A hire pays for itself when the work it makes possible brings in enough gross profit to cover the full cost of the person. Here is how to find that number, and what happens if the work doesn't come.

6 min read Planning Growth

How Much Money Do I Need to Start a Business?

Startup money comes in three buckets, and most estimates count only the first. Add the one-time costs, the cash the business needs before customers pay, and the months your household has to live on savings.

6 min read Planning Growth

Runway: How Many Months You Can Last

Runway is your cash divided by what you lose each month. Work it out two ways, for a normal slow stretch and for the month revenue stops, and you know how much time you have to act.

5 min read How-Tos

How to Find Your Freedom Number

Work out the extra monthly income your business has to provide, after tax, for your household to reach its goal. About 15 minutes, step by step.

3 min read How-Tos

How to Test a Price Increase Before You Raise Prices

Run the Pricing Power Play on a copy of your business and see what a price change does to annual cash flow before a single customer hears about it.

3 min read How-Tos

How to Try Any Change Yourself With a Custom Scenario

Copy your business, change the numbers yourself, and see the effect on annual cash flow. The one Play open on the free plan, with no credits used.

2 min read Our Approach

Why "Occam’s Model"? (Or: Complexity is the enemy of execution.)

In physics, the most elegant solution is usually the right one. In business, we tend to overcomplicate things to feel productive. Here is why I combined a physicist’s love for simplicity with an investor’s focus on profitability - and why that distinction matters for your business plan.

3 min read Our Approach

Best Financial Planning Tools for Small-Business Owners (2026)

An honest comparison of financial planning and forecasting tools for owner-run businesses with 1 to 10 people, with prices checked in September 2026 and who each one is really for.

7 min read Our Approach

Your CPA, a Fractional CFO or a Tool: Who Helps With Which Decision

Most owner-run businesses don't need a fractional CFO. They need a CPA for the books and the return, and decision analysis between tax seasons. Here is who does what, and what each costs in 2026.

6 min read