One of the ways that a home business owner can tell if he or she is on track and sticking to budget projections is to track income or revenue by the day. While this may add a little bit of administrative time to your daily schedule, it can help you see if you are making the most of your work time.
Tracking revenue by the day can serve several purposes and can work for you in a variety of ways. It helps if you have set a monthly goal so that you can break that goal down into a daily objective. For example, if you would like to make $3,000 a month in income, you will need to make an average of $100 a day. If you choose to not work on weekends or allow yourself an average of 8 days off a month, this means that you need to average $136 a day on the days you work. Now, of course you might make more or less than that in revenue on any given day, but by tracking the income by the day, you will be able to see if you are sticking close to projections or not.
A simple spreadsheet or log book may be all you need to track your revenue. I keep a simple sheet in my writing idea notebook and at the end of every work day, I tally the work I have done and figure the amount of revenue I can expect. I do not take into account taxes or “net,” I just write down the gross value of the work I have done for that day. In a separate tally, I keep track of any monthly revenue that is not tied to my daily efforts (royalty, for example). This way, I have an accurate, on-going document that shows me how I am doing financially at any given time. AND, I can see if I am making the most of my work time on a daily basis.
See Also: How Long Should You Keep Your Business Records?
Budget Strategies: Budgeting a Variable Income