How My Clients Handle Seasonal and Irregular Income With Ease
Is your business highly seasonal? Do you go months without getting paid? Would you like to learn how to navigate the slow times with ease? Join me as I share how I handle inconsistent and seasonal income.
Hi, my name is Lucas and I love to show business owners and creatives how to improve their finances. (If you prefer to watch the video, please check it out here…)
Why is Seasonal Income So Difficult To Manage?
In my early 30s I opened a photo business in a highly seasonal mountain town. Money would pour in during the winter and summer and completely dry up during the spring and fall.
When it was good, I was able to add to my savings and get ahead But when the off seasons hit, I’d deplete my savings and end up borrowing on credit to get by. I was up and then I was down but all I wanted was a little financial stability.
I wasn’t sure how to make that happen so I pulled back on my spending, I tried budgeting and I worked a few side gigs but I was barely getting through the off seasons.
After a few years of this I realized that my problems had less to do with the amount of money I was making and everything to do with how I was handling it. And that’s when I had to get brutally honest with myself..
What Financial Problems Are Keeping You Stuck?
I knew there were several habits keeping me stuck but I didn’t know how to fix them so I just kinda of ignored them.
Let’s see if any of them sound familiar to you..
In the high seasons, money would pour in but I wasn’t taking advantage of that. In-fact, I was spending it all like some wannabe big shot.
Every off season I had some large expenses - taxes in the spring and holiday expenses at the end of fall - but, I wasn’t doing anything to prepare for those.
I was pretty laid back with my invoicing, so I’d often wait weeks and months to get paid
Plus, I wasn’t collecting deposits from people up-front which was hurting my cashflow
My business and personal finances were a confusing, disorganized mess so I avoided them
On top of all of that, I knew budgeting could help but I couldn’t stick with it so instead of coming up with my own plan, I struggled.
Any of those sound familiar? Or, maybe you have you own version? Let’s find out.
The First Step to Improving Seasonal Income Is to Recognize Your Financial Patterns…
The first thing is to get clear on all of the financial patterns you’re experiencing in your business and personal life. Let me give you some examples:
The majority of my income flows during the Winter and summer months and dries up during Spring and Fall. That means I need to stockpile as much as I can in the busy times so that I’m covered for the slow times.
Payroll is a big expense during the summer, the holidays always get expensive and taxes are due in spring. The more prepared I am for each of these large expenses, the less likely I’ll need to deplete my savings or borrow on credit.
A lot of my booking are 3-6 months in advance so when I require a 50%, I’m spreading the money out and covering myself in-case of cancellations. Now it’s your turn.
Does holiday spending or the cost of vacations throw you off? How many weeks or months do you go without income? When do people book? When is most of the money coming in? Which months are busy, which are slow? What other large expenses do you have throughout the year? Taxes? Payroll?
A lot of my Interior Designer Clients pay for furniture up-front and get reimbursed later - Real estate agents have large up-front marketing costs.
The goal is to identify all of the little nuances and financial patterns in your business & personal life. Then, we’ll use this info to identify our financial leaks.
The Second Step to Improving Seasonal Income Is to Identify Your Financial Leaks and Plug Them…
Most people think more money will improve their finances so they work 2nd and 3rd jobs but they don’t realize their financial bucket is full of holes but If you’d like enjoy your off-seasons, plug your financial leaks.
So what is a financial leak?
Not having a contract
Not getting the contract signed immediately
Not requiring a deposit
Not collecting the deposit immediately
Not preparing for the slow times
Avoiding your finances because they’re a confusing mess.
Making it difficult for clients to pay you
Forgetting to send payment requests
Doing work for the client when they haven’t paid
Not having a plan for your money and no accountably for your spending.
Chasing clients for money.
Most people struggle with several of these things at the same time. So, i’ll say it again.
You don’t need to hustle for more money, all you have to do is identify & plug your financial leaks.
By capturing more of your hard-earned money, it’ll be easier to build emergency funds, grow your savings and be prepared for the slow times.
How? Start with the list I just gave and watch my in-depth tutorials on YouTube. I walk you through the most common financial leaks and show you, step by step, how to plug each one.
And if you’d like a more personalized approach, consider My Big Split Boot Camp. It’s just you, me and your finances for a one week immersion and six months of mentoring calls. I’ll help you identify and plug your financial leaks, capture more of your income and radically improve your finances.
When our income is seasonal or irregular, it’s crucial that we receive timely payments but when we fail to implement simple business practices like contracts and payment policies, we lose a lot of money.
If you’d like to balance our your seasonal income, identify your financial leaks and then plug them one by one. This process will help you learn how to manage your money in a more sustainable way AND you’ll capture more of your hard earned cash.
The Third Step to Improving Seasonal Income Is to Build Stockpiles Across All of Your Accounts
The third thing I did to balance out seasonal income was build a stockpile of cash in each of my accounts. I created a simple system so that when a lot money comes in, I stockpile it and when stops flowing, life is a breeze.
I walk you through each step in this tutorial but the gist of it is this.. like a squirrel that stockpiles nuts for the winter, when the money comes in, spread the money out and send a little to your goals and responsibilities.
For example:
Every time I get paid, I send money to my business account, some to my living expenses, some to my savings and some goes towards my taxes.
When you do this each time you receive money, your accounts grow and within a short period of time you’ll have a surplus for each area of your life. This technique is big part of The Big Split Method and it’s how all of my clients get thought the slow times with ease.
If you’re tired of the off-season lows and saying no to vacations because you don’t have the money, there’s a better way to do your finances.
1st: Identify your financial patterns
2nd: Plug your financial leaks to capture more income
3rd: Build stockpiles in each of your accounts to prepare for the slow times.
And if you’d like a more personalized and approach, consider spending a week with me. Together we’ll radically improve your business and personal finances. You can set up a free session with me here.
Thank you for taking the time to watch this, it means the world to me. If you know anyone that could benefit setting up a payday routine, please share this with them. I’ll see you in the next one.
- Lucas Z.