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Ever gotten that gut wrenching fear in the pit of your belly when you thought of working out a budget? Then the odds are good you've never cracked a dictionary to find out what this word really means, and worked out how you can use that to your financial advantage.

Here's the good news. Operating your company on a budget does not entail cutting back on the quality of the things you buy or denying your company anything it needs to operate. What it does mean, is that you have to figure out how to make enough income to afford the items your company needs and to keep your expenditures within the limits of your income.

There's more good news! The most valuable asset you have is you and your staff, and your income earning potential. If you want a bigger spending budget, then work out how you and your staff can be more productive to bring in more money.

Another definition you need know is this: a BUDGET is the amount of income needed for the organization to operate, and to attain its goals.

Let's look at the first part of the definition; how much is needed for you and your business to function. Add up all the money you spent in the past year to see how much money went out the door including what you put on credit cards plus interest. Divide the total by 52 weeks, and multiply it by 1.036. The result is your weekly budget. That is the amount of money your business has to bring in just to function plus barely keep up with increases in the cost of doing business. That doesn't include paying accumulating interest on the debt.

More than likely, you have financial goals you also want the business to attain; That's the second part of the definition. Reaching those goals must become part of your budget as well.

Here is an example: a company owner wants to purchase new office furniture 6 months from now that costs $2,000. They divide the cost of the furniture by the 26 weeks they have before the target purchase date and learn they have to set aside $76.92 every week to have the cash for the furniture. This gets added to the budget, meaning the additional amount of income they have to put into the bank every week.

Most importantly, if you, the business owner, want to attain the goal of financial freedom - working because you WANT TO instead of because you HAVE TO -- then the most important part of the budget needs to be the wealth building cash you set aside in an investment plan and never touch.

Work out how much money you would need to have in savings to live without working. Divide that dollar amount by the number of weeks until the time you would like to be financially free. Work out how to make that much more money each week, and you are truly on the right budget track to achieving financial freedom.

Do you absolutely want to be a millionaire in 20 years? Work out a way to increase the company's income enough to set aside $961.54 a week in savings for the next 1,040 weeks and you will be a millionaire! The additional interest earnings on top of that will be a fat bonus that more than keeps up with the rise in the cost of living every year.

In this day and age of computers this task of budgeting is made so much easier by streamlined and automated Money Management Software, such as shown in this video.. This software operates as a companion to your accounting software for very efficient use with minimum manual effort.

Sandra Simmons, President of Money Management Solutions has years of experience helping business owners and individuals manage their income to achieve financial freedom. To find out about the Money Management Software described in this article, watch the FREE 5-minute demo video on her website www.MoneyMgmtSolutions.com