How to Pay Yourself as a Business Owner Without Killing Your Business

We asked 10 small business owners a simple question: “Do you pay yourself?”

The answers were all over the place. Some started paying themselves from day one. Others went eight months before realising they hadn’t taken a kobo for themselves. A few knew they should pay themselves regularly but kept forgetting.

One fashion designer told us: “I thought taking money from the business was being greedy. Like the business should come first always.” Another admitted: “I didn’t know you had to separate business money from personal money.”

Here’s what we learned from their mistakes and their wins.

The Beliefs That Nearly Killed Their Businesses

Three wrong beliefs kept coming up:

• “Taking money is selfish.” That’s a wrong belief. You need to survive. If you can’t pay yourself, something’s broken in your business model.
• “I’ll wait until the business is big enough.” One owner waited a year and nearly gave up on the business entirely because she felt like she was working for nothing.
• “It’s my money anyway, I can take whatever I want.” This one almost collapsed a business. One owner was taking 60-70% until the business nearly died. He had to drop down to 20% to save it.

The turning point for most people came when someone asked them a simple question: “How are you surviving?” That’s when they realised they needed a system.

The Question Nobody Asks: Would You Work for Free?

Here’s something that came up during the interviews: Most business owners treat themselves worse than they’d treat an employee.

Think about it. If you hired someone to manage your business, you’d pay them every month whether the business was scaling rapidly or not. You wouldn’t tell them “Sorry, no salary this month because we’re reinvesting everything.” They’d quit.

But when you’re the owner, you convince yourself that going without pay is noble. That it shows commitment. That you’ll pay yourself “when things stabilise.” One business owner who paid herself from day one said: “I started the business to have financial independence. What’s the point if I’m broke?” She’s right. But here’s where it gets tricky.

The Scaling Dilemma

Truly, some businesses genuinely need aggressive reinvestment in the early stages. Equipment. Inventory. Marketing. Therefore, if you’re trying to capture market share quickly or you’re in a capital-intensive business, taking 30% for yourself might actually slow you down.

We spoke with one owner who runs two business lines. For his established line, he takes 30% consistently. For his new line that needs rapid scaling? He hasn’t paid himself a kobo from it yet. “I’m treating it like a separate business that’s still in startup mode,” he explained.

That was him being honest. But here’s what he also said: “Looking back, I wish I had the financial discipline I have now from the beginning.” This means that even when you’re scaling, you need some structure. Because what usually happens without it is that you tell yourself you’re “reinvesting everything,” but you’re just grabbing money randomly when you need it with no planning or no tracking.

So Should You Pay Yourself From Day One?

The answer isn’t yes or no. It’s “it depends on how you do it.”
If you hire someone, you budget for their salary before you hire them. You don’t just hope money appears. You should do the same for yourself.

One of the business owners we interviewed had it figured out: “Paying myself early forced me to make sure the business generates enough for everything.” That’s the key point. When you budget to pay yourself, even a small amount, it forces you to build a business that actually works.

The business owners who didn’t pay themselves early fell into two camps:
Some got lucky. Their businesses grew anyway, and they eventually created a payment structure. But they admitted they resented the business during those months of working for free.

Others nearly quit. Eight months of no personal income while watching the business account have money? That’s demoralising. One woman said her husband had to ask what she was doing with all the money before she realised she had no system at all.

The Magic Number: 20-30%

Almost everyone who had a system got somewhere between 20-30% of their monthly income. But the percentage isn’t the point. The system is.

Some owners use 20% because their business needs heavy reinvestment. Others use 30% because their costs are lower.

The ones struggling had no number at all. Just “whatever is left” or “whatever I need.” One person admitted: “Some months 50%, some months 10%. I just manage” and of course, his business wasn’t growing

Three Ways People Do It

After talking to all 10 business owners, a pattern emerged. The people follow three rules:

The Salary Method:

These owners pick a specific date each month and pay themselves like clockwork. It might be lower during scaling phases, but it’s consistent.

The Owner’s Draw:

These ones calculate expenses first, then take a percentage from what’s left. More flexible, but you need discipline.

The Chaos Method:

They had no system which means they just withdraw whenever they like. These businesses were struggling.

Again here’s what surprised us: The owners with the strictest systems had the fastest-growing businesses. This reveals that discipline in one area creates discipline everywhere.

How to Pay Yourself

Pay yourself something from the start even if it’s small during the scaling phase. If you’re reinvesting heavily, maybe it’s 10-15% instead of 30%. But make it consistent and deliberate.

Think of it this way: You wouldn’t hire an employee without budgeting for them. In the same view, don’t start a business without budgeting for yourself. The business owners who figured this out early? Their businesses grew and they didn’t burn out. The ones still figuring it out? They’re exhausted, broke, and wondering if entrepreneurship is worth it.

Second, treat it like a bill, not a bonus. Your pay isn’t optional. It’s part of your business expenses. If you can’t afford to pay yourself, your prices are too low or your costs are too high. Either ways, do something.

Third, increase it slowly. Don’t wait for a perfect time. One owner said she only increases when her business account stays above a certain amount for 6-10 straight months. That’s smart.

You can’t build a sustainable business if you’re not sustainable yourself. Pay yourself. Even during the scaling phase. Your business and your sanity will thank you for it.