How do I Manage my Business’ Budget, Expenses and Income

During Juan Great Leap's Open Coffee event

Every one of us has a dozen of business ideas rambling inside our head but not everyone has the financial capacity to transform it into a means to generate profit. Like me I am previously so scared to start one because I don’t want to risk a single peso out of my wallet then end up to nothing. When I started in December, I decided to rely on organic way of search engine optimization to be reached by prospective clients but then I waited every single day, it is like I am waiting for the shooting star in a cloudy night… I haven’t had much.  Then one time I decided to try some online marketing worth P2,500 but it is on promo so I am only asked to pay 500. For me, a 500 peso bill is already big amount because I  am working so hard to get every single of it in my payday. 

Thanks to some online marketing (search engine marketing, social media marketing, etc…)

After a few days, my email started receiving a number of inquiries; my mobile phone kept ringing all day long for calls and text messages. I did not expect this influx considering that I was just starting. I was shocked by the overwhelming response that I am planning anytime soon to get a post-paid mobile service provider plan and a stable Internet connection because I need to be online anytime and anywhere.
 Now if I remained to be so scared to risk that P500 from my pocket and risking of no idea of what is going to be the percentage of exposure to clients I will get for the probability rate of closing the deal, I think I am still stuck from where I started.

Do you have any overhead expenses?

Best thing about doing an online business (small – medium range), it can operate without a physical office. I can do everything on a gadget that has an Internet connection. These are my expenses: online marketing ads, mobile load and Internet connection. I will also be doing a paid campaign for a month to build at least a 300 worth of likes to my Facebook Fan Page soon. I regretted not giving too much attention of my Fan Page for the past 4 years of blogging.

So how is the income?

My first income on the first month was 20 times the 500 bucks I gambled, wait let me spell it for yah t-w-e-n-t-y times. You do the math and that is it. I guess that first one was a bit of luck though but it was enough for me to realize that there is money here. On the succeeding months it became a little less because I did I still have a full-time and nearly eight year old night shift work that I have prioritize too. This is what scares the most of us, the uncertainty of having a business: the ups and downs. Unlike being employed in an office job, there is a fixed amount of salary every payday.

Anything you gained in doing this except you had a little more to spend?

I used to not care of expenses that eat my net salary from my work but now I learned to start monitoring my finances bit by bit. I become conscious of my buying habits, my saving capacity and dreaming of being financially secured until I grow old because I don’t want to be a burden to my family when that time comes.

What challenges that test you to the limits now?

I can only devote a few hours each day because I also have other responsibilities. Maintaining a professional relationship with a number of partner travel agencies is something that I don’t have a formula. This work needs a lot of communication to them: SMS, email and calls. I don’t want to waste their time neither mine. Client inquiries do not have a certain time to follow. They ask help anytime. The possibility of getting an assistant comes in here. Everything right now is experimentation of what will work, what will last and which ones deserve to do business with. I believe that even though profit should be the top driving force in choosing who to deal with, promptness and professionalism should never be taken for granted. At the end of the day, I will always choose those who possess good work ethics no matter what.