Anonymous discussion · Anxious
Balancing business reinvestment and personal pay as a founder
A former colleague mentioned her new salary in passing, and it’s more than I currently take from my own business each month. I’m genuinely pleased for her, but it stung more than expected. I built the thing, and I’m still paying myself like an afterthought. The business has steady enough revenue, but the cash buffer is fragile because I’ve kept reinvesting. I’ve started separating costs, reserve targets and my own pay in the monthly accounts, rather than taking whatever is left. Now I’m trying to work out what the business can reliably pay me without weakening it. Independence is lovely, but it’s not much of a triumph if I’m the one quietly subsidising it.