Keep the Money Straight

Nobody opens a tiny-PDF business because they love spreadsheets. You open it because you wrote something useful and a stranger bought it at 2 AM while you slept, and that part feels like a small miracle every time.

Then there's the rail underneath, the part that never makes the highlight reel. What Gumroad skims off the top. What the tax man carves off the back. What an affiliate split actually leaves in your pocket once everybody else has been paid. Get those three numbers wrong and the shelf can be moving units while you wake up broke.

This is where I keep the money straight so the operation survives the week you get sick. None of it is hard. All of it is boring. Boring is what keeps the lights on.