30/08/2026
Your employees get a fixed salary every month. Do you?
Here's something I ask almost every founder I work with: "What's your salary from the business?"
Most give me a range. "Depends on the month." "Whatever's left after expenses." "I take what I need."
That answer alone tells me more about the business than the P&L does.
When your own income is a leftover instead of a line item, a few things quietly start happening.
You can't tell if the business is actually profitable, because your biggest personal expense isn't being treated as a real cost.
You end up making pricing and spending decisions based on your own cash needs that month, instead of what the business actually requires.
And during a slow month, you're the first person who doesn't get paid not the vendor, not the staff, you.
A fixed salary isn't just about personal financial stability, though that matters plenty.
It's a discipline that forces your business to actually price and plan around paying its owner properly, the same way it plans around paying everyone else.
I've watched founders resist this for years, worried that a fixed salary would strain cash flow.
In almost every case, once it was implemented properly, it did the opposite it forced pricing and cost decisions that made the whole business healthier.
So before you vote, think about last month specifically. Not what you're supposed to take.
What you actually took, and whether it was planned or just whatever was left.
Do you draw a fixed salary from your business?
Yes, fixed monthly
Withdraw as needed
Rarely pay myself
Never have
Vote above, and drop your industry in the comments I'll tell you how to calculate what your fixed salary should actually be.
