Paying yourself like the business depends on it
If you're the lowest-paid person in your own shop, the math will catch up with you.
Pay yourself a real salary
Decide what the market would pay someone to do your job, and pay yourself that, not 'whatever's left.' Distributions on top of salary are profit; salary is replacing the cost of you doing the work.
Two accounts, minimum
Operating and owner pay. Some owners run four (Profit First style). Even just separating owner pay from operations changes how the business looks at every decision.
If you can't pay yourself, the business has a problem
A business that requires the owner to work for free is not a business, it's a job that pays badly. If you can't take a real salary out, fix the model before adding more work to it.
Take your version of this question further
This is one operator-tested angle on the question. Your shop, your size, your trade, and your team change the answer. Ask your specific version inside Ask a Shop Owner to get a response grounded in how owners like you actually handled it.