Run the numbers on your own business and you will find a queue. Staff at the front. HMRC right behind them. Then the suppliers, the landlord, the accountant, the van lease company.
You are at the back. The man who signed the lease, carried the risk and lay awake at 3am is the one eating whatever is left on the plate.
Everyone calls that normal. It is not normal. It is a con you agreed to without reading the terms.
The No Bullshit Version
- Every other mouth in your business gets fed before yours, and nobody thinks that is strange except you.
- Turnover is not income. A bigger business can quite happily make you poorer.
- Wanting your business to make you rich is not greed. It is the entire point of taking the risk in the first place.
- Another £45K salary on the payroll is another mouth in front of you in the queue.
You took the risk. You built the thing. You carry the stress. So why the hell are you eating last?
The business should be making YOU rich.
Apparently daring to say that is very crass of me.
Good. I’m a crass S.O.B.
Your business should make you rich and there is absolutely nothing grubby about that.
Last time I checked, most men don’t build a business so their kids can go without while everyone else gets fed.
An owner daring to make what he’s worth after years of blood, sweat and tears is not a reason for a public flogging.
…Despite what the social media do-gooders think.
Your business doesn’t exist to fund fat salaries, flexible Fridays, and chunky holiday pay.
After all…
Everyone gets paid before you do.
Employees. HMRC. Suppliers. Landlord. Accountant. Van lease company. Outsourcers.
Everyone takes their slice.
Then you get whatever sad little crumbs survive the feeding frenzy.
A financial kick in the nuts.
Which is exactly why I wrote ‘Mule To Millionaire.’ Inside, I cover:
- Why more turnover doesn’t always mean more money in YOUR pocket.
- How to turn a bigger business into a bigger personal payday.
- Why YOU should get paid first, not last.
- How to grow without feeding another £45K+ mouth.
- How to keep more of every extra pound the business makes.
- How to remove low-value donkey work so you can focus on high-value money-making work.
- How to build a £1M+ business that makes YOU richer as it grows.
Not saying it’s right for you.
Am saying that if you’re sick of building wealth for everyone except yourself, spending 10 minutes reading this is probably a smart move.
You’ve spent years building the bloody thing.
Time it started paying you properly.
Why does the business owner get paid last?
Because every other cost in the business is contractual and yours isn’t. Staff wages, HMRC, the landlord, the van lease, the accountant, they all have a legal claim on the money before you do. Your pay is whatever survives. That isn’t a rule of business, it’s just the default nobody challenges.
Is it wrong to want your business to make you rich?
No. You took the risk, signed the personal guarantee and carried the stress. The social media do-gooders who call that grubby have never had a payroll run land on a Friday with nothing in the account. A business that doesn’t make its owner wealthy is a job with extra paperwork.
Why doesn’t more turnover mean more money in my pocket?
Because turnover grows the queue. Another £200K of revenue usually arrives with another £45K salary, more overheads and more mouths eating ahead of you. Plenty of men turning over £2M take home less than men turning over £600K with no staff.
How do I pay myself first as a small business owner?
Decide what the owner is worth before you decide what the business can afford, then build the cost base around that number. In practice that means fewer bodies on the payroll and more of the repetitive donkey work handled by systems and automation. Every hire you avoid is money that stays yours.
What To Do Next
If you want the full playbook – the exact method hundreds of UK men have used to hit £1 million without a payroll dragging them under – start with my best-selling book. It’s here on Amazon
