A 30, 60, or 90-day cash flow forecast Updated tax filings 2. Pay yourself. As many sole proprietors discovered when applying for a PPP loan, not paying themselves a salary or even paying themselves too modestly, came back to bite them. The PPP is, at its core, a payroll support program. So if you didn't have much of a payroll--that is, you didn't pay yourself well or you primarily hired 1099 contractors, among other reasons--you didn't qualify for as much. This is the reason why some founders landed $1 PPP loans, for instance. While there's no telling now if this program will get trotted out again in a future crisis, it just might. So, do your future self a favor and cut yourself a decent check. "You can dump [it] right back into the business if you need to," says Chelsie Kugler, vice president of business development at CFOshare, an accounting firm based in Denver. But giving yourself a paycheck, and keeping a record of it, should be a priority, she says.