Pay Yourself First
Today I am going to talk about “paying yourself first”. In the ideal world, everyone would live “below” their means e.g., you earn $40,000 per year and your cost-of-living is lower than $32,000 per year; but in the real world most people live “above” their means e.g., they earn $40,000 per year and their cost-of-living is $45,000 per year. If the latter is you and/or your business/golf course, read on.
The very first thing any financial advisor will tell you when you seek financial consulting is, to always pay yourself first. For example, you must put aside 10% of your paycheck to pay yourself first before you pay any bills. You should then put another 10% for your savings and then allocate another portion as investment capital to grow your career and then of course, pay as much as possible on your debt.
The same approach should apply to running a business/golf course. If you are drowning in debt, you can’t just think about paying your debt. You have to think how this new-found wealth (revenue raised from MMC®’s Cash promotion) is going to launch you and your golf course into the future by growing your business. How is this cash-in-hand going to get you into a position of financial freedom and not just “catch you up”? The answer is simple; if you focus on paying for the past you will never have a future. Follow the previous advice and invest into your business’ future.
At this moment, you have the resources (if you have just run MMC®’s Cash promotion) to get ahead in the game. You can’t get ahead by targeting the same old core and avid golfers with the same old marketing. Casual and non-golfers are the segments you must be focusing on, those are the segments that increase the profit margins and grow the game.
You have two choices; pay your past debt and be back in debt again tomorrow or invest into your future and the financial health of your golf course. My way everyone wins, you’ll have something exciting to look forward to over the next several months as well as financial freedom for the next two or three years. Your creditors win because not only will you pay them in full but you’ll also be around for years to come which equates to future earnings for them as well.