导读：继续昨天的学习，初创企业的钱都花在哪儿了？本文列举了两个主要方面：团队开支与营销费用。企业存在的目的是盈利，而利润来自收入，没有收入利润就无从谈起。那么高收入初创企业有何共性？本文给了一个数据。注意，第一年有效的支出模式并不意味着永久有效，因时而变很重要。本文来自 Shopify 博客，阅读时间约为 5 分钟。
原文与译文
Spending patterns among high-earning businesses / 高收入企业的支出模式
Just because business owners managed their budget a certain way in their first year doesn’t mean it was the right way. Indeed, most of our respondents admitted that, in hindsight, they would have spent their money differently in their first year.
企业主在第一年以某种方式管理他们的预算并不意味着这是正确的方式。事实上，我们的大多数受访者承认，事后看来，他们在第一年会以不同的方式花钱。
- hindsight – 事后看来
To provide better guidelines for aspirational entrepreneurs, we decided to look more closely at the data of businesses who reported higher revenue in their first year to see what—if any—budget decisions contributed to financial success. Here’s what we found.
为了给有抱负的企业家提供更好的指导，我们决定更仔细地研究那些报告第一年收入较高的企业的数据，看看哪些预算决定有助于财务成功。以下是我们的发现。
High-earning businesses spend more on team costs / 高收入企业在团队成本上花费更多
Businesses that reported higher revenue in their first year spent significantly more on team costs—almost one third of their total budget.
报告第一年收入较高的企业在团队成本上的支出明显增加 — 几乎占其总预算的三分之一。
The relationship between revenue and team costs may seem like an obvious one—in other words, if you make more money you can afford to pay yourself and hire employees. But the relationship goes both ways: adding members to your team can drive revenue growth.
收入和团队成本之间的关系似乎很明显，换句话说，如果你赚了更多的钱，你就有能力支付自己和雇佣员工。但这种关系是双向的：为你的团队增加成员可以推动收入增长。
And while going at it alone is good business sense at the beginning, it’s worth noting that there’s a ceiling with this approach. When you’re a solopreneur, you have limited resources: they start and end with you. You’re limited to the skills you possess and the skills you’re willing to learn.
虽然在开始时单干是很好的商业意识，但值得注意的是，这种方法有一个上限。当你是一个独行侠时，你的资源是有限的：它们从你开始也从你结束。你被限制在你所拥有的技能和你愿意学习的技能上。
Many business owners reach a milestone in their career where they need to weigh the financial costs of hiring help with the time costs of doing everything by themselves.
许多企业主在其职业生涯中达到一个里程碑，他们需要权衡雇用帮助的财务成本和自己做一切的时间成本。
- weigh … with … – 作比较
It’s important that entrepreneurs know what red flags to look out for that indicate it’s time to hire help. Some red flags include turning down work because you can’t keep up, seeing the quality of your product or service suffering, or seeing the quality of your sleep or mental health suffering. Don’t put yourself in a position where you’re spread so thin that you can’t run your business in a sustainable way.
重要的是，企业家要知道哪些危险信号表明是时候请人帮忙了。一些危险信号包括：因为无法跟上进度而拒绝工作，看到自己的产品或服务质量受到影响，或者看到自己的睡眠质量或精神健康受到影响。不要把自己置于这样一种境地：你的工作太分散了，以至于你无法以可持续的方式经营你的企业。
Businesses who made less in their first year spent more on marketing / 第一年收入较少的企业在营销上花费较多
When we asked business owners, “How much did marketing account for as a percentage of your overall budget?” we found a significant relationship between marketing spend and revenue.
当我们问企业主：”营销占你总体预算的百分比是多少？”我们发现营销支出和收入之间存在着显著的关系。
The less money a business made overall, the more it spent on marketing. And the inverse was true too: the more money a business made overall, the less it spent on marketing.
企业总体上赚的钱越少，它在营销上花的钱就越多。反之亦然：企业总体上赚的钱越多，它在营销上的花费就越少。
If businesses are overspending on marketing without a clear return on investment, it could be an early sign of bigger problems, such as a website that doesn’t convert or worse yet, a weak product-market fit. It’s imperative then that business owners obsessively track, report, and revisit their marketing efforts on a regular basis.
如果企业在营销上花费过多而没有明确的投资回报，这可能是更大问题的早期迹象，例如网站没有转化率，或者更糟糕的是，产品与市场的契合度不高。因此，当务之急是，企业主必须定期跟踪、报告并重新审视他们的营销工作。
- imperative – 当务之急
Still, marketing is more of an art than a science, and getting the budget exactly right at the beginning is tough. Spend too little and you’re not getting your name out, spend too much and you’re not seeing a profitable return.
尽管如此，营销更像是一门艺术，而不是一门科学，在一开始就获得准确的预算是很困难的。花费太少，你就不能把你的名字传播出去，花费太多，你就不能看到有利可图的回报。
Our findings, as well as findings by experts from the US Small Business Administration, suggest that the sweet spot for a marketing budget for an early-stage B2C business is between 7% and 8% of revenue.
我们的研究结果，以及美国小企业管理局专家的研究结果表明，早期 B2C 企业的营销预算的甜蜜点是收入的 7% 至 8%。