Pay yourself a fixed amount each pay cycle, set like a wage, not whatever's left after everything else is paid. The number itself matters less than the order: wage first, tax and super set aside next, growth or extra distributions only after that, and only from what's actually left once the first two are covered.
Most owners get this backwards without meaning to. In a strong quarter, it's tempting to draw more because the account looks healthy. In a quiet quarter, drawings get cut to whatever's comfortable, or the wage stops being consistent at all. Neither is really a decision, it's the business's cash position making the call instead of the owner. For a business clearing $300,000 or more a year, that inconsistency isn't a survival problem, it's a discipline problem, and it shows up later as an owner who can't say with confidence what the business actually costs to run versus what it's making.
Why the order matters more than the percentage
Set the wage first, at a level that reflects what the role is actually worth to the business, not what's left. Set tax, GST and super aside in a separate account the moment income lands, before it's available to spend on anything, drawings included. Only then does the remaining profit become a real decision: reinvest it in growth, hold it in the business for the next quiet quarter, or take it as an additional distribution. Getting this order right is what separates an owner who's paid properly and a business that's funded properly, from one where both are guessing, and it's exactly the discipline real cashflow management is built to enforce automatically rather than leaving it to memory each pay cycle.
Skipping straight to "how much can I take" without the first two steps in place is how a genuinely profitable business ends up short on tax money in April, not because it wasn't profitable enough, but because the profit was never separated from what was already spent.
A quiet quarter is the real test
Anyone can pay themselves consistently when the business is doing well. The actual test is whether the wage holds steady in a quiet quarter too, funded from the tax and buffer already set aside, rather than being the first thing cut. A wage that only exists when the account looks healthy was never really a wage, it was a distribution wearing a wage's name.
One detail worth getting right: superannuation guarantee, currently 12 percent, applies to a genuine wage, not to ad hoc owner drawings or distributions. Paying yourself properly as a fixed wage, rather than pulling money out irregularly, is also what makes the business's own super obligations to you clean and consistent rather than a year-end guessing exercise.
How much should I be paying myself?
Pay yourself a fixed, consistent wage each pay cycle rather than whatever's left over. The order matters more than the exact number: wage first, tax and super set aside next, additional distributions only from what's genuinely left after both. Getting this order right is what separates a properly paid owner and a properly funded business from one where both are being guessed at quarter to quarter.
See exactly where your cash should be going with a free Cashflow Readiness Score.