Fake Money

I walked out of the bank confident and confused. The contradiction that I felt was wildly weird. I had just opened my first business checking account as a sole proprietor. I am now the proud owner of an EIN and a checking account and could (somewhat) comfortably project my annual gross revenue for the upcoming year (desperately hoping to meet and exceed that number given my track record of the past four months). Oh! And I had just deposited the checks that I had received from my clients since I funded my company with customer money. ::pats self on back::

Getting that “confident” stuff out of the way, here’s where the confusion set in… I had worked for months to be paid a dollar (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively) for work that I wanted to be doing. I wanted to find projects that would fulfill, challenge, and satisfy me. I wanted to be wholeheartedly engaged and immersed in the end result of my work. And, most importantly, I wanted to pitch myself to obtain the work: make the connections, build the relationships, and sell myself to get to the next step in my career. I had planned. I had prepared. And I had come to Dallas to conquer… well, you get the idea. 

So, here I am with the dollar. Now what?

What were my plans for that dollar? What did I want to buy? Or do? Or where did I want to go with that dollar? And so I found myself at the entrepreneurs impasse. Do I pay myself? Or do I “reinvest the money into my business”? And then the real questions set in… I have a business checking account. I’m legit. The IRS knows about me as the person and me as the business. Can I just “pay myself”? Oh dear... 

I left the bank with an account above the minimum, a ton of questions for my accountant, and an inbox full of “unconscious consumption” blog posts as the country heads into Black Friday and Cyber Monday. How badly did I want a haircut? Bad enough to pay myself to go and get it? What about [insert new gadget or coveted clothing item here]? Bad enough to take money out of my business to go and get it? Clearly, “unconscious” consumption was not going to be my problem. (Or was it?)

Remember: entrepreneurs impasse. I had made the dollar. I sat down with the bank and stated a projected annual gross revenue that I struggled with months earlier at the leasing office. These are good things - milestones that I’ve conquered. The impasse is now, pay myself (take the money and run) and keep doing exactly what I’m doing to make more money or “reinvest” and figure out what the next steps are to building a company that can impact my community and the world.

Which means I get to eat my own dog food (as gross as that sounds) and get back to the core of what I’m trying to do (create better first impressions for people and companies) to do it better, faster, and stronger. I’m excited!

But… about that haircut…