Separate business and personal finances.

I’ve been a freelancer / entrepreneur for the last 6-7 years, and that apparently means I don’t have much creditworthiness (in spite of how much money I’ve made). For instance, Citibank refused to process my credit card application because I didn’t have an office landline number — I’ve been banking with them since the very beginning!

Anyway, the point I was trying to make was: If you’re a business owner, you need to separate your business and personal finances.

For a few reasons:

• You’ll know exactly how much you’re making and spending (on your business). You see as a freelancer, not everything that comes into your bank account is your profit!

• Tax processing at the end of the year becomes easier, because you can claim deductions on most business expenses.

• When you scale and have vendors / employees, you’ll get a clearer picture of your business’ financial strength.

• You’ll easily be able to build cash flow, expenses reports etc. to optimise profits.

• When you start a second business (or third, like I did with The Whole Works), you’ll know what’s performing and what’s not.

So, if you’re just starting to freelance and don’t have your finances sorted, get:

• A separate bank account — make sure it has the ability to receive foreign currency etc. just in case.

• A separate credit card — some online subscriptions don’t accept debit cards. If you don’t have a credit history, put some money in an FD and get a credit card against it.

At the end of each month, draw a fixed amount as remuneration, ideally an amount less than 75% of your profits.