Business · 7 min read

Your first year as a business owner

Separate the accounts, reserve for tax, pay yourself on purpose. Everything else can wait a quarter.

May 12, 2026

New owners typically make the same three fixes late: mixing personal and business accounts, under-reserving for tax, and paying themselves whatever is left over.

Open a separate business account on day one, and a second account that receives a fixed percentage of every deposit for tax. Then set a modest, regular owner draw and treat it like payroll.

Those three habits create the data you will need for every later decision — pricing, hiring, incorporation, and eventually your exit.

This article is educational content, not individual advice. Bring your own numbers to a class or a consultation and we will work through them together.

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