Let me know what you think about the post, and if you visit their blog, what you think about it. The topic of this particular post is of great interest to me: investing in your business.
And so, here is the original post:
100k Blueprint is all about making money online. We develop products, strategies, and aids to this end, and on this blog we talk about both specific opportunities to generate revenue, and ways to improve whatever business model(s) you choose to implement.
One area where people seem pretty polarized is in spending money on their business. There is the ‘spend-happy’ bunch, quick to buy the latest, greatest tool, gadget, etc. These people often spend more than they make, and at the least end up distracted from their main purpose – making money.
On the other hand, there is the ‘tightwad’ contingent – and I say that only partly in jest. These are the folks who would rather slog through something manually than pay a few bucks for software that might reduce the time by 75%. There’s a term for this: “Penny wise and pound foolish” – ok, so it’s a British term. How about “Penny wise and dollar foolish” instead.
But it goes beyond buying tools to automate manual processes – though this is something that almost always pays off, both in time & productivity. Investing wisely in your business can take many forms, depending on the particulars of your business.
Does your business revolve around your websites? If so, then you may want to re-think that lowest-cost shared hosting plan. Saving a few bucks a month can be offset the first time someone bails out on your site because it loaded too slowly, or was down altogether because some other yahoo on the same server ran some funky script that crashed.
I invest in 2 dedicated servers, located at two geographically diverse data centers. My cost is around $200/month. Now this may not be appropriate for many of you, but my entire income depends on my sites being up and responsive. You can find “VPS”, or Virtual Private Server offers for $20-$40/month that will allow you to host unlimited sites, have server-level access and control, and is far safer and more responsive.
That said, saving a few bucks with “Sam’s Discount Server’s” is a huge mistake. There is very little worse that can happen than having your sites go down – unless it’s losing them entirely. I pay a few buck more to lease my servers from a reputable provider.
On a more ‘personal’ level, are you still pecking away on the PC you cobbled together from the last two PC’s two years ago? Have you simply ‘gotten used to’ waiting for programs to load because you’re running with the minimum amount of RAM? How much productivity has been lost simply waiting for your PC to ‘catch up’ to what you’re doing?
If this is your full-time gig, or even a serious part-time endeavor, invest in a capable, fast machine, with at least a 21-inch monitor. You don’t need the latest, fastest “gamer” machine. You’d be amazed at what you can get in the way of a discounted computer with plenty of RAM, etc., for just $350-$500 bucks, often with a decent monitor.
Outsourcing is another area where it can pay huge dividends to invest wisely. For many of us when we first start out, our time is worth “less” than our money. But – hopefully – the time quickly approaches when our time is worth far more. Are you spending an inordinate amount of time writing articles, hunting for backlinks, etc.? If so, you should probably consider finding a few quality freelancers.
And since we’re talking about wise investments, if you haven’t signed up with one of those online backup services such as Mozy or Carbonite, just do it!
If you just don’t have money to spend, then take a percentage of your near-term profits and re-invest. If you simply don’t want to spend, then you probably need to re-think your philosophy and attitudes towards your business.
Investing in your business – wisely – is one of the best ways to improve your efficiency, productivity, and ultimately your profitability.
