Creating a budget for your business can be one of the most frustrating and frightening aspects about starting a new business. Not only are you putting part of your personal budget toward your business; the business requires a completely separate budget of its own – almost like it’s a person!

I know so many business owners who don’t pay attention to budgeting for their business – they pay for what they need and move on.

Not only does this make it all too easy for a business owner to find him or herself underwater, it makes it difficult to stay organized with taxes, pay stubs and more. Here are a few simple steps to help keep your business budget organized for the upcoming year:

1. Organize your income

Figure out where all your money is coming from, whether or not that income is set. This could be your hourly income, sales, loans, investment income, savings, etc. Lay out your projected income for each month and at the end of each month, lay out your actual income and the difference between the two.

There’s nothing wrong with your projected income being less than your actual income at the end of the month – it’s a great learning opportunity to see what financial changes need to be made. This lays out the groundwork for how you decide to spend your income.

2. Organize your fixed costs

No matter what you do or how successful you are, there are some costs you’re going to have to pay as a business owner. That list includes rent or mortgage and utilities for your office space, employee salaries, taxes, etc.

Your fixed costs are probably the easiest expenses to put in your budget because you know what you can expect each month.

3. Organize your variable expenses

Sometimes, some of your expenses will change in price range each month. That could be advertising, employee training, donations, etc. One way to look at variable expenses is as discretionary expenses, which basically means they’re optional.

You might feel like you need advertisements, but you need to pay your rent a lot more. Your business might not thrive without your variable expenses, but it at least protects you from going underwater.

4. Plan for one-time expenses

You might need a new copy machine in your office or to replace your laptop if it crashes, and you should definitely be prepared for these kinds of expenses. Running a business that you hope never runs into emergencies is no way to run a successful business.

Once you’ve followed these four steps, you can combine all of them into one cohesive budget. Remember that every penny counts, so save what you can and organize the four things that I listed into monthly reserves. You’ll be ready for anything that comes your way.