For founders, freelancers and business owners: what waiting costs you
The average founder of the fastest-growing new firms started at 45, so it's rarely too late. When you're your own boss, your own plans are the easiest to push back.
What founders and freelancers often put off
- MSME delayed payment: the interest a late client owes youBuyers must pay registered micro and small businesses within 45 days, or owe compound interest at 3 times the RBI bank rate. See what yours owes.
- GST late fee calculator: what filing late costs each dayA late GSTR-3B costs ₹50 a day (₹20 for a nil return), plus 18% a year interest on tax paid late. See what late is costing you.
- Income tax return due date and late fee: what filing late costsSalaried people file by 31 July, and business income without an audit by 31 August. Late, it's a ₹1,000 or ₹5,000 fee plus interest. See your cost.
- Start your startup: how long you could try it, and whether it's too lateWork out your runway from your own savings and costs. It's rarely too late: the average founder of the fastest-growing new firms started at 45.
- What waiting to start saving costs youSee what a late start costs your own monthly saving plan, in today's money after tax, on low, middle and high growth paths.
- Free health check-up in India at 30 and overIndia screens everyone 30 and over for blood pressure, diabetes and three common cancers for free. See how long it's been since your last check-up.
- Sleep debt: how many hours of sleep you've missedCount the hours of sleep you've missed against your aim, and the 7 or more hours a night that sleep doctors say adults need.
- Strength training after 30: the sessions you've missedAfter 30, muscle mass drops by about 3% to 8% a decade. WHO suggests strength work 2 days a week. See the sessions you've missed since you meant to start.
- What putting off learning a skill or language costs youCount the practice hours you'd already have if you'd started on time, against your own goal.
- Sort out your life paperwork: a will, nominees and important papersThe paperwork everyone puts off: a will, nominees on your accounts, and knowing where important papers are. Weigh it and take one small step.
- The trip you keep putting off: how many have slipped byCount the trips that didn't happen while you waited, with friends, your partner, your parents or on your own, and pick the next one.
Everyone's basics
Health, money and the people you love, at every age.
- What putting off exercise costs you, in hoursSee the hours of movement you've missed against your own weekly aim, and WHO's 150 minutes a week.
- Screen time calculator: your phone hours in days a yearTurn your daily phone hours into full days a year, and see how many days your own aim would give back.
- How many days you have left with your parentsCount the days together at your current pace, and how many more your plan would add. Gentle maths, from Tim Urban's The Tail End.
- Reconnect with an old friend: how much it weighs on youWeigh how much a friendship you've let drift matters to you, and find one easy first message to send today.
- Talk to someone about how you feel: free help in India (Tele-MANAS 14416)If you've been meaning to talk to someone about how you feel, India's free Tele-MANAS helpline is on 14416, any time. Weigh how much it's been on your mind.
Meet someone like you
Sunita, 41
Runs a design studio in Mumbai. An example, not a real person.
Start with a list like Sunita's
Questions people ask
Will you tell me how to run my business?
No. We show what waiting costs on your own plans, like saving or a check-up. How you run your business is your call.
Where do my answers go?
Nowhere. They stay in the link on your phone, like every answer on this site. Only people you share the link with can see them.
Source
Azoulay, Jones, Kim & Miranda, AER: Insights (2020): US data on the top 1 in 1,000 fastest-growing firms. It shows age isn't a barrier, not that waiting helps.
We show what waiting costs on your own plans. We never tell you what to buy or invest in.