I always have a line
in my budgets
for ‘other.’
This ‘other’ is buffer.
It’s mad money.
It allows me the freedom
to spend on things or projects
that might or might not work.
Barbara Corcoran,
Co-Founder of
Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners,
shares
“Each year,
I gave all my managers
5 percent of their operating budget
to use however they wished
with no accountability.
If they didn’t spend
their mad money by year-end,
they had to give it back.
No one ever did,
and they blew it on
all kinds of stupid things
like ad hoc parties and day trips,
costume and movie rentals,
surprise bonuses for good deeds,
gifts, fortune-tellers
and lots of alcohol.
They also spent it
on wacky business ideas
—most of which didn’t work.
But they learned to laugh it off
and, in the process of failing,
tripped over some good business ideas
that did work.”
Do you have a line
in your budget
for mad money?