Fluctuating income

For many of the self employed, monthly income can vary wildly. Some of this will just be normal seasonal variations that almost every business experiences, but some of it will just be from being "new" and not having built up momentum to carry you along.

Your seasonal variations may be different from mine. In my work, September and October are always very busy, while April is very slow, as is the period between the end of November and the first of the year. During your first few years in business, you may not know what to expect, but it really doesn't matter; whatever the reason for slow business is, your reaction is the same: concentrate on building it up.

After all, what else do you have to do? There's little or no business coming in, so this is the time to redouble your marketing efforts. Notice I said "redouble" - you should never stop marketing. People who stop marketing because they are too busy with work will always have dry cycles due to lack of marketing. They see a constant boom and bust.. that's a hard way to live, I think.

When times are good, save as much money as you can, and don't stop marketing. When times are bad, cut expenses but keep marketing. Eventually your business will be much more stable and you'll hardly notice the slumps at all.

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