Remember to Buy Boring Things

I get nervy spending money on things that are “boring"

It’s one of the reasons Rod pays the bills in our business and life!

I’m quite happy to drop my dollars on clothing, craft and art supplies, and gardening things (Hyper-fixation, dopamine chasing much?)

But the important, sensible things? I’ve had to LEARN it’s important

In a nutshell I’m my own worst example of someone who naturally invests in her business - I’ve had to LEARN to do it, and do it with some sort of brazen confidence I don’t naturally have about this sort of spending

I love the end result of course.

Since moving to our new home:

1. We had some custom gates installed at our home which give us more secure entryways for visitors and also help keep our dogs safe
2. We had a plumber come fix an issue with our heating, which means no more damp towels and warm feet in the mornings!

One of the things we’ve learned as home owners is that you need to look after your “big asset” which means investing in improvements, and making sure that your systems/structure is all well maintained

I know it was well worth paying these professionals. They saved US time and energy plus let’s face it - they know how to do stuff we do not!

We apply this same attitude to our business too.?

One of the false messages that go around about small business ownership is how easy it is to grow a business from NOTHING.

It’s not true. I know - I was a single parent with nothing, and it’s hard to move past a certain stage without some investment.?

I’m not talking big fancy new cars, or top of the line computers (unless you are a transport business or you are a designer)

I’m talking about the tools, help and guidance that makes your business grow better.

When I look at the purchases I’ve made, and my most growth-driven clients I can see some common areas we’ve invested:

• The right apps and programmes. If the tool is saving me more than an hour a week, and I’m using it all the time - it’s likely to be worth it. My top picks have been an excellent CRM (Zoho), marketing automation (ActiveCampaign), design tools, booking platforms, XERO, and marketing apps. (So thankful Rod counts us as one of his ZOHO CRM and Active Campaign marketing automation clients!)

• Admin support - taking these tasks off our plate allows us more time on higher value work AND to work more strategically. It’s why I teach on how to create your systems so you can outsource - because we can so easily get stuck on jobs that aren’t in our business’ best interest for us to do.

• Strategy, Coaching and Training. For me personally - this has been transformative. I used to try and figure everything out myself. I am very happy to invest in experts to help speed up the process! And, of course, we are that person for people like you, with our marketing strategy, one to one coaching, group coaching and our CRM/ automation training.

It’s such a broken belief that businesses succeed if we do everything ourselves.

When we get help from apps, support team members and experts, it’s so much easier to grow.

(Like my coaching client last week who told me that in the last month she’s had three one to one clients, and thirty new group clients from the advice and support she’s got from me. That’s a smart investment I reckon ;) )

So… What’s one of these areas you know you really need to dig into sorting this year? Or is there more than one?