We’re big believers in the worth of investing in your business because, when you invest in your business you invest in yourself! Investing in your business is essential to the growth (and success) of your business. However, when we start off we are often overwhelmed with all the possible investment avenues. Software, hardware, throw in a global pandemic and the options are really overwhelming. So, where do you start investing and what makes the most sense? Here are our 5 ways to invest in your business, we hope it helps you do your homework and measure the value of your investment.

These investments should do one or a combination of these things: save you time, money, and/or provide resources. These measurements will help you place value on these investments.

1| EDUCATION

If you didn’t already guess, will the bi-monthly educational blog posts—we are dedicated and highly value education. Knowledge is power and the more knowledge you can gain the better! Especially when it comes to our businesses!

Education is a broad category! Coaching, courses, books—the type of instruction you choose strictly depends on what your business needs are and the goals you’re aiming to achieve. It’s also to keep in mind where you’re lacking confidence and experience!

For instance, we invested in courses about email marketing and content creation because we had goals to better reach our ideal client and we lacked confidence in knowledge about content creation. We knew this investment would provide value to our business and our audience— the investment was a no brainer!

COACHING

Finding a great business coach has really powerful potential to upgrade your business, plus there are coaching programs that have a community built in growing your network. Depending on which type of coaching you seek out, your investment price can fluctuate—ask colleagues for their honest opinions on programs they have invested in and follow your intuition when it comes to who you want to work with. Remember not all coaching styles are the same! You might have to show around to find the right coach or style for you!

COURSES

Courses are one of our favorite ways to invest in your education. You can take a course on ANYTHING which can be really valuable for learning a specific skill or tool. Courses also give you the ability to work at your own pace and learning style.

Courses can be more cost-effective than coaching because they are sold to a larger audience. This gives course creators the ability to offer their knowledge at a lower price point. Bonus: many courses also include Facebook groups that can work like masterminds or mentorship programs. If a group or community is available don’t miss out! 

BOOKS

Our creative director, Andrea, is a giant nerd and bookworm. So this might be a fav! Reading books is another great, easy, and affordable way to expand your education. Here are some of our favs when it comes to brand, business and mindset:

• Find Your Why – Simon Sinek
• Building a Story Brand – Donald Miller
• Dare to Lead – Brene Brown
• Daring Greatly – Brene Brown
• You are a badass – Jen Sincero
• You are a Badass at Making Money – Jen Sincero
• The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell 
• Never split the difference – Chris Voss
• Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team – Alina Wheeler
• The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the distance between business strategy and design – Marty Neumeier

2. PROFESSIONAL DESIGNER

We have a whole blog post on this! You can read it here. But here’s the summary. Your brand and website are the first impressions you make with your audience.

Your brand is the first thing your audience interacts with may it be a social media post, a marketing collateral piece, or your website. Hiring a design professional, ensures your brand and all its counterparts are designed with your goals and ideal client in mind, saving you time, money and helping you elevate your business amongst the competition.

3. PHOTOGRAPHER & COPYWRITERS

Having cohesive on-brand photos for your brand is becoming more and more necessary to set yourself apart from others in your industry. Distinguishing yourself from others in your industry is what sets you apart. Brand photography is an essential piece of your overall brand experience. Whether you’re a service-based business or a product-based business, having strong brand photography is a piece that elevates your brand and positions you in today’s market. Want to learn more? Read our 5 Reasons Why You Need Brand Photography.

Not everyone has the gift of being able to Copywrite, and because of that, we are big believers in hiring copywriters to get your content to the next level! Just like a brand designer takes care of your visual needs, a copywriter writes to convert readers into paying clients. They either directly or indirectly write your copy to build trust and relationships. Copywriters can help write website copy, email sequences, newsletters, brochures, or content (blogs/articles) for your ideal client. 

4. INVEST IN YOUR DREAMS, PUT THEM ON YOUR CALENDAR AND REVIEW THEM OFTEN!

Sounds a little woo-woo, doesn’t it? Stick with us though, when you write down the goals it will help you see the end goal when things get rough and you undeniably run into troubles. Writing down your goals and having them present in your mind, will better help you gauge new opportunities than come your way. They help you stay focused and they help set healthy boundaries to protect your vision and goals. BONUS points because they also enable you to celebrate your progress when you accomplish them.

It’s fun to dream, but too often as entrepreneurs we get stuck in the dream phase. Adopt the idea that goal setting should be on-going! Break your goals and dreams into smaller, actionable steps then, put those on your calendar, and honor these tasks and deadlines.

Why is it that we find it so easy to flake on our goals? As our own boss, it can be simpler to keep promises to others while our own goals and dreams come second. 

Lastly, remember to listen to your gut when it comes to reevaluating your goals. Pay special attention to the ones that energize you. We challenge you to not judge your goals and just get every thought and idea no matter how little or big and scary it might be. 

5. SUBCONTRACTING

As your business grows and expands you start to realize that you will benefit from subcontracting individuals to support your growth! Believe is we’ve tried to do it all, but we ended up juggling far too much, and not being able to handle it all. Everyone has their niche, and we’re happy to help experts in their field help us take care of what we aren’t experts in. 

Accounting and Taxes:

You don’t want to get caught up in poor accounting and tax drama, Uncle Sam will hunt you down and cause you a TON of problems. The main case in point- accounting and tax professionals! Having a trusted and reliable accountant and tax professional can really save you money and heartache in the long term! 

Virtual Assistant:

How many email notifications are haunting your inbox?! Yeah…we’ve been there too! A virtual assistant can be an incredible asset! Some virtual assistants offer help with administrative services which can include calendar management, making/taking certain phone calls, managing email inboxes, and even prepping receipts for bookkeeping purposes.

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WHOOO! We know it was a lot to take in! You don’t have to implement everything in this post by any means or take it on as a stressor, the idea behind this blog post is to give you some guidelines and tips that we’ve implemented in our business. Did you enjoy our 5 ways to invest in your business? Share with someone who you think will benefit.