Andrew Warner (@andrewwarner) has a great piece called How I Spent a Million Bucks and Ended Up With These Two Chairs. It’s not very long, and there’s a handy video at the top where he’ll just tell you what happened so you can be doing something else and just listen if you want.

But pay attention, because Andrew’s telling you something profound but simple: spending money is your enemy. Plain and simple, there it is. You spend too much, you die. And what qualifies as “too much” can be shockingly low.

Even with a small business, it can be a little overwhelming to us as owners how much money is floating around the office. It’s easy to be seduced by your total sales numbers into thinking that your company is “bigger”, and therefore can afford to be more lavish with spending.

Don’t fall for it; that’s the siren song of failure, trying to lure you onto the rocks and drown you in the sea of bankruptcy.

Perhaps this will make it easier: Your business never buys anything.

Seriously, it’s too cheap to buy anything, ever. Instead, every single dollar that you spend on anything comes directly out of your pocket.

Think about it. If you spend $1,500 on a new laptop, where does the money come from? It comes from the net profit you’d made from everything else you do. I mean, today it might come from a credit card, but that credit has to be paid off someday, and it’s going to either be paid out of profits or out of your pocket after you shut down the business. Either way: your pocket.

But if you spend $500 on a used laptop, who keeps the $1,000? You do.

So remember that next time you want to go on a shopping spree for new office furniture. You’re the one paying the bill, not your business.