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How often have you resisted spending money on your business or yourself because you didn’t feel like you could afford it? It’s one of the biggest dilemmas my clients have. And I get it. If you’ve set yourself a profit goal, then you’ll want to defer all investments or spending so that you can make sure that you reach that profit goal.

Having profit goals is great (and I strongly recommend them) but we also need to be flexible in our decision making. The only way we can do this is to make sure that we really understand our numbers.

Before we dive into the HOW we can spend whilst keeping our profit goals in sight, I want to acknowledge that it can be difficult. Spending money seems the opposite to making profit, but when we have a long term visibility of our goals and growth, then we can feel better about how our investments can positively impact our business success.

The secret to still making a profit whilst spending is using powerful decision making and this should be based around three key elements – values, time and money.

Values

Do you have clarity on what your values are, and is this investment in line with them?

James Clear has a list of values that I like to use when I’m working 1:1 with my clients. Take a look at this list and write down your top three values. You may find they’ve changed over time, or you may be unclear on exactly what they are.

Your values will drive the decisions that you make, especially within your business. Let’s look at a few examples.

If your value is power – this relates to getting things done. You may opt for fast launching and quick pivots so spending money on things like Facebook Ads or outsourcing will be an absolute no-brainer for you.

If your value is stability or security – You may opt for slower, sustainable growth and lower cost investments until you have the profit to cover larger investments. Facebook Ads will be on the horizon, but not immediate and outsourcing may be done in smaller increments.

Family – You may not opt to spend money on quarterly business retreats as that much time away from your family may not sit well with you. Instead of deciding not to invest at all in retreats, you may opt for 1 or 2 per year instead.

 

Time

Investing in yourself and your business isn’t just about the immediate outflow of cash. There’s also the time investment to consider (which can have an indirect impact on your profit).

Do you have the time available to see through your investment and how long can you afford to wait to see the payback? For example:

If you’re investing in a course or coaching program, do you have time to watch videos, make the most of live coaching calls or implement the learning? And can you wait to see the results, or would you be better off getting someone to do it for you more quickly?

Numbers and Money

This can be broken into three areas:

  1. Risk vs Reward when spending: This can be hard as it isn’t always obvious. But I want you to think about the outcome of spending the money. For example, if a conference doesn’t directly speak to your current pain points OR attendees aren’t your ideal client then the reward of your spend is low.
  2. Profit: – Will the outcome of the investment enable you to charge more/ get more clients / be more efficient and therefore more profitable? For example, if you outsource your bookkeeping, if it frees up more time for you to focus on gaining more clients, then it’s worth investigating.
  3. Break Even Point: How many extra clients / value of sales do you need to cover this investment? If it’s one, that might not be too hard. If it’s 20 that might be harder. For example, if you invest $5,000 in a business coach, how many new clients will you need to take on to cover this cost?

By tapping into your values, time and money available you’ll be able to ensure that you can spend money, but still achieve your profit goals. If you need help creating a sustainable business that fits your lifestyle, financial and business goals then let’s work together with my Baseline to Bluesky package. You’ll gain clarity on how you can achieve your vision in a way that feels aligned and inspired. Visit my website here for more details.