Invest in your small business

In today’s tough economic climate, it’s easy to work hard to try and make money while resisting the urge to spend. This is a bit of a paradox, if you think about, because other businesses are working hard for us to spend and they are feeling frustrated that we’re not spending… just as we’re feeling frustrated that others aren’t spending.

But the truth is, you need to spend some money in order to make some money. It’s the principle of leverage: You need to put in a little bit of effort (the spending of hard-earned money) in order to get a larger result (making more money).

Recently read: Small business investing
I was reminded of this recently when I read VANetworking’s blog post “You have to Spend Money to Make Money“.

In their blog, they outline 3 areas that business owners need to spend money so that they can make more money:

The first is networking and they advise that you invest in your networking – whether global or local, whether free or paid – to talk up your business and help grow it. This is good advice.

The second tip they offer is to invest in your own education so that you can have a more compelling offer and so you can stay ahead of your competition. This might include teleseminars, webinars, classes at a local college, conferences, and other events that sharpen your gray matter.

Their third tip is to outsource some of your work to a virtual assistant. I think this is s great advice, too, since business owners can spend more time focusing on sales and less time on administrative details.

Some additional small business investment tips
I’d also add a few other tips as well that small business owners might think about investing in:

• Invest in developing new products or services to broaden your revenue base. This might be as simple as repackaging some of your work into new forms. Or, it might mean developing an entirely new product.

• Invest in a way to systematize your processes, such as a CRM system or a project management system or an upgrade to your online scheduling system (or whatever works for your business).

• Invest in marketing your business. Look to add two more marketing channels that you’re not currently using and spend some money on doing them well. This might require that you outsource to an expert or that you get some help. But this upgrade could start to earn you higher revenue.

In today’s marketplace, marketers have done an effective job of confusing us when it comes to what we want and what we need. So my advice is this: In general, you’ll want to invest in places that will help you to become more competitive, perhaps by increasing knowledge or by improving systems or by offering additional products or services. If you can’t tie a specific competitiveness-enhancing benefit from the investment, don’t buy it until you’re flush with cash. (So that fancy new stapler you have your eye on? Maybe skip it right now).

Happy Blogging!

Related posts:

1. Where Entrepreneurs Should Invest their Money First
2. More tips on using universities and colleges to help your business
3. How Much Does A Small Business Owner Really Make?
4. A “workout” regimen for small business owners
5. Nine Tips for a More Successful Business