A piece of advice I had from a mentor 15+ years ago when I started my business was to pay yourself something regular. Even if it was a tiny amount like $200/wk, just do that rather than forever be pulling out irregular lump sums when you got paid for a job.

I do put it in a separate bank account (a company account), but up to now I take drawings in chunks, maybe every 3 months. To make YNAB easier I am trying to take a chunk once a month, which feels very unusual.

There is also other random income that's not income. In the UK it's common for savings account interest to be paid back into the linked current account. For me that's not income to be spent each month, that's money to be re-invested.

None of this addresses ease of use though - or does no one else (or their partner) find YNAB confusing and difficult?

YNAB can handle irregular income easily, if you're using the YNAB method. Be sure to read https://www.youneedabudget.com/support/article/variable-inco...

It should be uncomplicated once you grok it. I signed up for their free course. It helped.

That's exactly what I do. Money from my book and consulting goes into a business account, owned by my single-member LLC. I make regular transfers from there to my personal account.

This is the first thing you should do. It also makes questions like "what was incoming and outgoing last month?" very easy. (download csv. done.)