The ups and downs of running a business have taught me some hard lessons on how to live within my means. My 10-year journey of being an entrepreneur has taught me that there are many winning seasons and losing ones. The unavoidable financial fluctuations have made me respect and follow the principles in the bible scripture – Genesis 41: 25-36 when God said to Pharaoh: “For seven years, there will be plenty of food in Egypt, but then there will be seven years of hunger. The people will forget how much food had been in Egypt before”.
This has taught me the principle of preparing for rainy days when the winning season is over, and the losing one starts taking a toll and affects almost everything in my life. I’m grateful for the path I decided to take getting into business. However, it’s a tough yet fulfilling journey for anyone who owns an SMME. I don’t think I would have learnt these lessons had I not started my own business. You see, it’s easy to create a lot of debt when you have a permanent job because you know that come month end, you will have a guaranteed salary to make the required repayments. In business, it doesn’t work like that. Unfortunately, we don’t have month ends, money comes when it comes, depending on business opportunities and each client’s payment cycle.
Business has taught me to stretch my rand, no matter how small the amount I’m paid by clients – it has to last me until the next payment comes.
Entrepreneurship has forced me to change my bad habit of spending money to satisfy my need for instant gratification. Instant gratification is when we impatiently buy something that we know we cannot afford and when the timing is all wrong. The alternative is to ask ourselves if what we decide to buy is a want or a need. We also need to ask ourselves if there’s something more of a priority at that time – that we could be taking care of instead of splurging on something that will not help our financial situation. When I worked in my senior corporate jobs earning salaries that allowed me to buy what I thought I deserved, I used to use retail therapy as a way to make me feel good. Ladies know what I’m talking about – shopping makes us feel good until we realise that we have overspent and that the money we’ve used was supposed to have taken care of something more substantial.
Business has forced me to stick to the following rules that help me to live within my means:
- I do my best to stick to a very tight budget and ensure I don’t get detracted from that plan.
- Before buying anything, I always ask myself if I need it or not.
- If I still feel strongly that I want something, then I ask myself if it can wait until I’m in a better financial position to buy it.
- Also, if I do not have cash, then it means that whatever I want to buy – I cannot afford it at that time. I, therefore, leave it for later.
- I’ve also learnt to be patient and instead save for what I want and only buy it when I have the money and when the time is right.
I do this to avoid putting myself in a bad position financially and protect myself from the anxiety and stress that I feel after spending recklessly. When I used to shop excessively, I would feel so bad afterwards that the joy I got from the instant gratification would end very quickly. I’d look at the clothes and realise that I had made a big mistake but guess what? I’d do it again the following month. What caused me to do this was my entitlement when it came to my money. I always justified my monthly spending by telling myself that I had worked very hard for my money and, therefore, deserved it, even if it meant putting myself in an awkward position financially.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is to plan better and patiently save and invest during my winning season to cushion myself for the losing season. This youth month, I’d like to tell young aspirant entrepreneurs that a losing period in business is inevitable. The best thing that you can do for yourself is to prepare for it as much as possible. Invest in something that will sustain you when you hit a slump, and your business cash flow is inconsistent or badly affected.
Miranda Lusiba is the Founding Director of Strangé Consulting – a boutique PR Agency specialising in Communication, Freelance Writing, Media Relations, Reputation Management and Media Training.
