Your life as your business! In this post I am going to help you to see all the parallels of your life being like a business and how you are closer than you know to be able to start your own business with this simple comparison. Whether you are a seasoned professional or whether you are a just about to start your first job or business this post is for you.

I am constantly thinking about business and the different ways that business infiltrates every aspect of daily life. Lesson number one of “your life as your business” is, seeing yourself as the brand. First and foremost, you must protect the brand. In life and business, the brand or your reputation or the perception that people have of you must be protected at all costs.

What does this mean for you personally? Well on a personal level it’s about your integrity, which essentially means what you are doing when you think no one is watching. Once your integrity and/or reputation are tainted it can be a very hard thing to come back from and there is no guarantee that you will regain the status you once had in the eye of the public.

From a business standpoint, I would liken it to the Tommy Hilfiger and Abercrombie & Fitch scandals that gave these brands a horrible public persona. I don’t want to spread the rumors of what happened with these companies, but if you are unaware, I suggest you look it up. Another good example would be Paula Deen and Tiger Woods. Both did things when they thought no one was watching and no one was paying attention, but someone was, and their past came rushing in like a raging river and each lost tons of money in endorsements and sponsorships.

Lesson number two is how you handle money in your daily life is similar to how money is handled in business. In your daily life you may not use a budget, but if you do you are definitely on the right track to thinking about your life as your business. If you don’t, I can still draw the comparison and help you to at least track your expenses or the money you spend, the money going out in a business framework. If you don’t use a budget, expenses which would equate to your bills and just money that you spend on a daily or weekly basis.

On the other hand, your paycheck is going to be your revenue. Businesses look at money in terms of revenue and expenses. Most people look at these in their personal lives as their income or paycheck and bills or all money going out. Tracking your revenue vs. your expenses is a business concept, but it is very closely mirrored in creating a budget. In business this would be like expense reports and balance sheets which I won’t bore you with, but it all comes down to tracking your money and knowing where it goes each and every month on a macro level, daily on a micro level.

If you want to have more money left over at the end of the month, I will give you a couple of key concepts in business which are the only way to increase your profits or gross income. Key concept #1 is, you must find a way to increase sales or on a personal level you must find a way to increase your salary. Key concept #2 is, you must decrease your expenses or on a personal level you must decrease the amount of money you spend in a month or any given period really.

So, let’s break that down just a little bit. How do we increase sales or how do we increase our salaries or the money coming in? In business marketing and advertising are going to be the top two ways to increase sales and in your personal life this isn’t going to be much different. If you are trying to get a raise at work you need to be marketing yourself and advertising yourself as often as possible. Occasionally, let your boss know some of the amazing things that differentiate you from your coworkers and show the value that you are adding by being a part of the team. Also, on a personal level you can do what I am doing and find a couple of side hustles that have the potential to bring in extra income.

On the expense side, it’s really simple, spend less money. I know it doesn’t sound sexy, but being mindful of the things that you are spending your money on and understanding and knowing why you spent the money will help you to be less of a impulse spender. I have heard from many people that a good rule of thumb is when you see something that you think you need and just can’t live without, go home and give it 72 hours to think about it and decide if you really need it or just want it. In a business sense you have to find ways to cut costs which usually leads to layoffs, or reduced hours for workers, but there are plenty of other ways to save money and cut costs in business as well.

Lesson number three, which goes along with expenses and income is knowing the difference between your assets and liabilities. On a personal level, one thing that can be confusing as to whether it’s an asset or liability is your personal home. If you are renting it will always be a liability because assets make you money and liabilities just take money from you. If you are buying a home, it is still a liability, especially in the beginning until you get some equity in it and until you move out of it and rent it out. Assets are things that you own that produce or provide you income, while liabilities are things you own that take money out of your pocket.

I’m not going to get super in depth on the differences between assets and liabilities, but this is a key concept that translates so seamlessly between business and personal. I will throw this in there though because I want to drive home a couple of ways you can turn liabilities into assets. The first way is your car, because if you are paying for your car which is pretty much always a liability or at the very least a rapidly depreciating asset, you can turn it into an asset by doing something like becoming a rideshare driver i.e. uber or lyft driver. Also, for those who are renting or even buying a home, one way you can turn this liability into an asset is by making it your home office, which allows you to right off a portion of your monthly expenses as long as you can show how they are used in your business, i.e. internet used for blogging, electricity, rent/mortgage. These items can’t be written off fully, but you can definitely get a huge tax break especially if you are essentially losing money in your startup phase.

Lastly, one of the most important ways to think about “your life as your business” is, to always invest in yourself as often as possible. The reason that businesses continue to grow is because not only do the invest in themselves, but they also continue to reinvest in themselves as often as possible. On a personal level investing in yourself can come in many ways, but one is what you are doing right now which is seeking out content not for mere pleasure, but to learn and to grow. Invest money and time in good books on subjects that you want to know more about and that will give you skills and tools related to what you want to do in life, and this will surely add more value to your life and your income opportunities. You can also purchase courses and go to events in your area or catch live events online but do this with caution and if you do this take immediate action afterward to get the best results.

A key concept here is to know and understand that businesses don’t just start making money and profits and start pulling all of the money out and stuffing it into their pockets and bank accounts. What they do is they take the money and profits, and they reinvest it back into the company. The reasons they do this are various, but one of the main reasons other than the fact that it is vital to their success is taxes. If businesses and or business owners took the profits out, they would be subject to capital gains taxes, and they are trying to avoid this at all costs. Companies understand that they must invest in themselves to keep up and or stay ahead in their market, so they spend money on training and innovation. If you want to stay relevant and get ahead of the trends you must invest in yourself so you don’t get left behind in a world that is evolving quicker than I can write this post.

That’s all for now, but I hope you now have a better understanding of what it means to look at “your life as your business.”

As always, get out there and plant some seeds so you can start bearing some awesome fruits that will change your life for the better.

-Founder Magbunga.com