Mind the Store

Mind the story, and make money.

Key to making money your way, is the discipline to mind the store – essentially the using money, saving it, and giving it away wisely. Making money is both an offensive and defensive game. Good offense (producing and marketing) is critical. But you won’t have a successful business if you don’t play good defense (managing the money you make).

The basics of good defense are covered by George Clason in his time-honored parable The Richest Man in Babylon. Start early, the earlier the better: Save at least ten percent, give ten percent to charity, live on the rest.

Two additional resources – that cover many of the basics about personal finance: financial goal setting, budgeting, saving, investing, credit management, insurance, and estate planning – include Suze Orman’s Nine Steps to Financial Freedom and Bill and Mary Stanton’s Worry-Free Family Finances. Orman talks at length about protecting the financial well-being of people you love. The Stantons talk about savy long-term investing strategies that build wealth easily and surely, especially if you start early.

An excellent guide for building and managing a small business is The Ultimate Small Business Guide--A Resource for Startups and Growing Businesses by Bloomsbury Publishing (2004).

It's obvious, but there are really two stores: your personal finances, and your business finances. Bookstore sheves are replete with financial advice. Orman and Stanton seem to us to be two capable resources for personal financial management. The Bloomsbury Small Business Guide, or something like it, is a must-have guide for managing a business. If you can grab it off your shelf, when you have a question, so much the better. Print copies available at Amazon.com.