Bootstrapping

We are a three-person company making $400k a year in revenue with about 25% profit. I can put it all into ads and hires, or start paying owners more. Growth has been steady but not dramatic. How do you balance getting paid now with building something larger?

My side business makes about $3,800 a month and takes 25 hours of my evenings and weekends. My salary is more than double that, and I have six months of savings. Is there a rule of thumb for when it is safe to make the jump, or is it more about the growth trend?

I have published 48 articles aimed at small accountants and get about 300 visits a month, mostly from me sharing them. Rankings are on page four or worse. Is this normal at six months, or is my approach to topics wrong? I have budget for one more quarter of effort before I need to try something else.

I never opened a business bank account and paid expenses from my personal one. Now I want to get organized and maybe take a loan. How should I clean up the books, and can this create legal or tax problems for a sole proprietorship?

It earns around $9k a month with maybe 10 hours a week of work, mostly maintenance. I do not want to sell, yet I feel restless. Should I start a second product, grow this one more aggressively, or hire someone and step back?

I am trying to keep monthly software spend under $200. I use free versions for most things but keep hitting limits. Which paid tools turned out to be worth the money for a tiny team, and which were a waste you cut later?