Since many entrepreneurs have to deal with irregular income, it's important to budget your personal finances around that to make sure that you have savings that you can draw from in the leaner months. You need to know that you can cover the essentials like housing, utilities, insurance, payroll, and food. So add up those critical expenses and put aside enough to cover at least a couple of months. As an entrepreneur, you should keep an emergency fund for personal expenses because there have been many instances of founders going unpaid for months at a time while keeping their business afloat. Entrepreneurs should also shield their businesses from downturns in the business cycle by having emergency funding to keep employees paid, leases, vendors, partners, and other financial obligations for months at a time - especially for those businesses with variable or seasonal income.