Money As A Tool: 3 Ways Use It In Business (no matter your budget)

February 24, 2020

Money is a tool, and what we're going to talk about is how to best use that tool.

Money can buy what I own, but it doesn't own me

A lot of what people struggle with is the mindset around money and the fear with letting it go. So we're going to talk a little bit about the right ways to use that money to help grow your business so that you're not just throwing it at things that are unnecessary, right?

Let's use an example of how money can be a good tool, a table.

If you need to cut a table in half, can you use a chisel to do that? Sure. It's going to take forever though. What you want to do is use the right tool for the job. So we want to use money the same way. We want to use it in the right way that does the job we want it to.

Now, I'm not going to lie. Having money feels good, right? It feels safe. It gives you peace of mind. That nest egg that's there when you need it. Of course money feels good, but if you've got $10,000 to $15,000 in the bank growing at 0.5% every year, what is that doing for you?

Is that actually helping your life? Is that actually helping your business? No, not really. It's just helping you feel safe and secure when in reality you could be using that money to remain safe and secure.

Obviously don't empty your bank account when you actually do need a few dollars for a rainy day, but you can use a lot of that money and reinvest it into your business to do the things that you need it, and start making more money.

It takes a little bit of courage to take these risks, but we're entrepreneurs, right? If we're not taking risks, what are we doing? So what are some of the ways we can use that money, use this tool to help grow our business?

1. Courses

What courses have you invested in lately? Let's talk about copy because especially with creatives, we see that copy is just ironically something that is very difficult. And I say ironically because I find copy to be a very creative endeavor, but there's also a science to it, right? You want to be clever, but more than that, you want to be clear.

You want to make sure the customer knows exactly what's about to happen, but you want to do it in a way that doesn't come off as pushy and salesy. There's an art and a science to it, and if you just dread looking at that blank page, if you just cringe at the thought of having to write another product description or edit your about page, then it's time to find something that's going to help you do that more easily, more quickly, and that serves the purposes of your business, right? You don't have to become a copy master and then serve people using your copywriting skills. You don't have to devote that kind of time. What you do have to do is learn the techniques that help you sell your products.

If you're not selling your products with words, then you're not going to make any money.

You can't be in front of people all the time, right? Some people are really good at smiling and talking and selling. I find it very comforting to be in front of people.

But if you're only ever doing it in person at craft fairs, art shows and things like that, then you're the bottleneck of your business and that's where profit stops.

So you want to be online, right? You want to have that online business because you can reach a lot more people and you can make money while you sleep. That's the dream, right? So your words are important. They are just as important as what you say to a customer when you're standing with them face to face. Invest in a copy program that's going to help you, that serves your needs as a business.

Email marketing. It's the season of email marketing right now. You see it everywhere and people really struggle with email strategy:

What to put in newsletters
How to create a welcome and a nurture sequence
How to make people open, click through and buy

If you are having trouble with your email marketing strategy, if it kind of sucks or if you just don't know what to do, I challenge you to go out and look at everything that's being offered right now because there's a lot if you pay attention.

See which strategy has proven results in something that matters to you. A product-based business. Look for somebody who's teaching you how to sell products with your emails, that's going to be really important. Look for somebody who has results, testimonials, and experience.

Especially experience in the handmade industry, the creative industry in which you work. Make sure you're doing your research, and don't be afraid to invest in those things that matter for you.

Don't be afraid to reach out and ask for help. You cannot do it all on your own. You really can't. I've tried. I have superwoman complex and I want to do it all myself, but we can't. We have to ask each other for help and we have to grow together.

What about the long game in your business? Something that people hate to talk about because you want to do what's right here, right now, right? Tell me the way to move. Tell me what I need to do right now. But the reality is: to grow a sustainable business, you have to think about the long game.

So what I challenge you to do here is to invest in a coach. When you're ready find someone to help you walk the right path. Somebody who's been where you want to be, who's walked the road you want to walk. (We have all the metaphors today.)

Find somebody who has the experience, who's got proven results, somebody who’s been around for years. Look for a coach that's going to help you. Now, some of those coaches cost money and that's a good thing because the transformation is in the transaction. It's a really good way of saying that you don't actually take things seriously unless you have something at stake and if you invest money in it, you have your money at stake.

So find something that's going to help you and be worthy of yourself. Feel your business is worthy enough to invest in, have confidence in that.

The DNC Marketing Course has all of that and more

If we're the right fit for you, I challenge you to go and take a look. See what we have to offer you and how we can help.

Now, what else? What else can we talk about? Where can we invest this tool, this money to help us grow our business?

2. Outsourcing

Okay. Let me ask you this. Do you waste your time doing $5 an hour tasks and tell people you're worth $100 an hour? What do you charge for hourly coaching or consulting? What do you value your time at. if you're doing $5 an hour tasks, little things that you can easily outsource and tell somebody else to do. I want you to tell me why.

Why are you doing it this way when that time can be better spent creating in your workshop, developing strategy, doing things that only you can do. You need to outsource the things that don't require your time.

I have faced this many times myself. I feel like I am the best person for the job. That's that superwoman complex.

I feel like only I can do this exactly the way it needs to be done

It's not true. I have found over and over again there is a way I like things to be done and so I offer that to the person that I hired to do it. And then I trust their expertise and when I get the product back, whatever it is, emails or designs or whatever it might be, I give feedback and as that relationship grows, that person learns the way I like things done in the business and they become better and better and they use their expertise to amplify my vision.

So I challenge you to outsource the things that do not require your time so that you can free that time up to do the things that only you can do, like the big vision for your business, like creating your products, developing, connecting with your people, which is all-important in growing your community and growing your business.

Having that only I can do it mindset is going to hold you back. You have to let go because you will realize as I have realized over time that there are experts in the field that are not going to charge you an arm and a leg.

You can go to Fiverr and find somebody who is absolutely excellent at their job and not going to charge an arm and a leg and they're going to give you a beautiful product, but you've got to give them feedback, you've got to train them. You've got to do the thing that a CEO would do. You have to think bigger. Where do you want to be? Start acting like that, right now.

Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.

It goes with your mind as well as your actions. Okay, last thing.

3. Invest in hardware or software that can up your production value

Julio is the production value side of our business because that is beyond me. I prefer to dive right in, see what chaos happens, and then deal with it when it happens. Now, that's a great way to start because sometimes all you can do is rip the bandaid off to get started, but once you get started, you need to start thinking bigger, right?

You need to start thinking:

How is my video quality?
How do I look?
What about the lighting?
What am I saying?
Do I need to start memorizing a script?
Can I read from bullet points
How is my message coming across?

What do your emails look like when you send them out? Are they bland and boring or do they have pops of color and texture? How are your headshots in your product photos? If you're not investing in the right tools for the job, then you're not going to come across to your customers as a professional. They're going to see through the amateur side. You can't always have a duct tape together business.

It's not about the gold chains, it's about the chains that hold you back

Don't allow money to control you. You're better than that.

As an entrepreneur, we're better than that. We can think bigger and we can put the right tool to work to expand our business and expand our happiness.

So tell me, what are you going to be putting that tool to use for? What are you investing in or planning to invest in to help your business grow?

Feel free to drop a comment below. If you want to know more about how we can help you hone your businesses message contact us and book a Free Call