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A Tool for Complete Cash Flow Clarity

Stop letting big expenses surprise you and start making real financial progress for your small business with the power of a zero-based budget.

Tired of Playing the Guessing Game?

Do you redesign the website or save the money for the dry season? Do you bulk up your marketing budget or hire an extra hand? Whether you’re making $5,000 or $5 million a year, there is a question that haunts every small business owner: can I afford this?

Start Planning Your Growth with Confidence

Learn a unique and powerful method to keep more of your money, eliminate the cash flow roller coaster, and get a good night’s sleep (finally!). See your runway clearly and plan your growth with You Need a Budget—a budgeting tool for your small business.

Take Your Business Finances from Stressful to Stress Free

You’ll watch your checking account balance swell, make that new hire with all the confidence in the world, and give yourself a steadily growing paycheck.

  • I Have More Mental Margin

    Excel required too much mental energy and was eventually a drain on my attention and brain power.”

    Monica Acupuncturist

Why You’ll Love YNAB for Small Business

If you run a small business on a cash basis or don’t have to deal with physical inventory, or provide a service, YNAB could simplify your cash flow and help you make the most of every dollar that flows through your business.

  • Master expense list

    Your YNAB budget will show you all of your upcoming bills and non-monthly expenses in one master view.

  • Detailed reports

    Have a cash flow statement and see spending trends over time.

  • A tangible plan for growth

    Plan out your future investments and start putting money behind them without sacrificing your current expenses.

  • Save for big projects

    Those hefty investments that feel too big to pull off? Save for them in smaller chunks and make them happen.

  • A dashboard for decision making

    A zero-based budget creates a series of tradeoffs so you know when to save and when to grow. You’ll be able to make financial decisions in seconds.

  • Easy exports of your data

    Working with an accountant or tax preparer? You can export your budget data to pass off.

Empowered Decision-Making for Your Small Business

Why I Use YNAB Instead of Quickbooks to Run My Business

YNAB helped me empower my cash flow. I know what I need expense-wise on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

Is YNAB Right for You?

YNAB will serve your small business well. It has mine. It gave me what I call, “pile-of-money clarity.” I suddenly had clarity surrounding the business checking account balance. I no longer had to wonder if we could hire, because I could see that our category for payroll was doing just fine.

How to Set Up a Business Budget in YNAB

If I had to come up with one word for why you should have a small business budget, it would be clarity. If that’s what you’re craving, I’ll walk you through how to set up your budget in YNAB to give you exactly that.

Practical Tools For Small Business Budgeting

  • See a Real Budget

    Want an example? See how this small business owner sets up her budget for maximum profit and stress-free taxes.

  • Take A Free Class

    Watch this class recorded by one of our YNAB teachers on creating a small business budget that works for you.

  • Listen to the Podcast

    Jesse Mecham and Mark Butler teach you how to manage your business cash flow, hone your business model, and not freak out about money.

  • Read the Guide

    This guide has nothing to do with accounting and everything to do with getting ahead with your small business. Ready to change your mindset around money for good?

$11.99/month or $84/year. You can try it before you buy it! Just sign up for a free 34-day trial and we won’t even ask you to enter your credit card.

YNAB is a fantastic budgeting tool but it doesn’t do everything (and if we can interject here, we might argue an end-all-be-all software package can, many times, be harder to use than approaching your software needs a la carte). Here’s a list of things YNAB doesn’t do for your small business:

  • Invoicing
  • Time tracking
  • Mileage tracking
  • Asset depreciation
  • Check printing
  • Tax filing
  • Payroll
  • Inventory

It will add value to your business by giving you the insights you need to clarify your priorities, cut wasteful spending, boost spending where profitable, and maybe even show you that you can take a steady salary. It will give you peace of mind, as it relates to your business’ cash flow. As far as I know, I think some of the other software packages are still working on that last one.

Nope! Simply create another budget within your account and master both your personal AND your small business finances (and also, go you! A budgeter AND an entrepreneur? What can’t you do?!)