Paying yourself: when and how much

How you pay yourself (salary, dividend, or owner's draw) depends entirely on your entity and local tax law, so lean on a pro. What's universal: pay yourself something once cash allows, keep business and personal money separate, and raise your pay with milestones, not moods.

Founders swing between paying themselves nothing (a fast track to burnout and quitting) and paying themselves erratically from whatever's in the account. The mechanism, salary vs dividend vs owner's draw, is one of the most jurisdiction-sensitive decisions in this whole channel: it depends on your entity type and local tax law, so it is framework-only here and you must get a professional. But three founder-pay principles are universal, and this note gives you those plus the prompt to get the mechanics right for your country.