Invest in Yourself And Your Business

In over 20 years in business, I’ve consistently invested in myself and my operations.  I know it’s one of my keys to success.

Curious what I’ve invested over $350,000 on in my business?

No, it’s not paid advertising or outsourcing support, even though I’ve invested in both.

Let me tell you how I discovered this “fun fact”.

Several years ago I was at a 3-day conference with a thousand other entrepreneurs and the “guru” on stage was pitching his 12-month, $50,000 offer. He was talking about the value of investing in yourself and then made this statement:

“I’ve spent over $500,000 investing in improving my skills and my mindset, and it’s the most important thing I do for my business.”

My immediate thought was, “There’s no way you’ve spent that much on online courses and coaching.”

Then I started adding up what I’d personally spent.

Yikes!  I stopped when I reached $250,000, and since then, I’ve spent well over another $100,000 (a lot of it with my current coach in the last 4 years).

Without this investment, there is no way I would have achieved the success I have in my business.  It was worth every penny.

That’s why today’s tip is:

Invest in Yourself And Your Business

If you don’t, no one else will, right?

There is so much to learn as an entrepreneur!  You can go round and round trying to learn everything yourself, driving yourself crazy.

Or you can invest in the resources you need to make this business happen.

There are two ways that “investing” happens.

First, there is investing in your mindset and skills development.

You want to build your skills and shortcut your path to make it happen, right?

I’ve been a coach for over 20 years, and there have only been a few periods of a few months at a time that I haven’t had a coach.

There is always something new to learn, and the right resources, be it a conference, an online course, one-on-one coaching, or a group or membership program will show up when they are needed.

The right coach has been where you are.  Felt the pressure and uncertainty you may be feeling.  And pushed through to discover the path to success.  Your coach is your resource for short cutting the trial and error of entrepreneurship, not to mention being your accountability partner and “gentle nudge” when you are dragging your feet.

And quite honestly, if you are a coach already, how can you expect someone to pay you for your coaching services if you don’t value coaching enough to invest in yourself?

The other way you can “invest” is in resources to take some of the weight off your shoulders.

Now I’m all for bootstrapping your business..

..you know, building it up with as little financial investment as possible.

But there is a price you pay to do that..

..in time spent, overwhelm, and in the opportunity cost of the revenue you could have created more quickly.

Take inventory of what you do best.

Are you “techie”?  Then don’t be afraid to learn new software and take on that part of the business yourself.

Hate writing?  Then consider hiring a copywriter to take this task off your plate before you drive yourself nuts.

Your ultimate goal is to spend 80% of your time doing the things you love to do.

We all have tasks we’d rather not do. Even the best of us can’t outsource everything.

But most of the tasks you don’t like doing or aren’t good at can be outsourced, and at a reasonable price in most cases.

Start with hiring a Virtual Assistant to take the day to day administrative stuff off your plate. Just 5 hours a week with a good VA can make a world of difference in your day to day life.

As your business grows and cash flow opens up a bit, invest in more resources for the areas of your business where someone else can do it better than you.

And even if they won’t do it better, imagine what you could do with those hours if you had them to spend on marketing your business and having enrollment conversations?

If you are an ex-accountant who is now a coach, you could certainly do your own books, right?

But what if in the 3 – 5 hours a week it might take you to do it, you could bring on 1 new client at $500 a month, or more? 

That’s $2000 a month or more in new revenue for the few hundred dollars you’d spend to bring on a bookkeeper.

A pretty good trade off to me. 😊

So think right now about where you need support in your business.  And make a plan to get that support in place in the next 30 days.

And please comment below to tell us what you’ll be investing in next!

And, of course, if you need support to build your business in a way that gives you the freedom and flexibility to live your bucket list now…. and take your business with you, let’s talk!  Grab a spot on my calendar at http://ConnectWithSherri.com.

Let’s make it happen!