How does one know when to make a business investment? In the world of online business, there’s a constant flow of new ideas, new strategies, and new platforms.

And while innovation is inspiring, there are times when it can all be a bit overwhelming.

As a business owner, you know there are times when you’ll need to invest in your business. The question is: How do you know when to invest in your business and when to wait?

Online marketing can be powerful and it can be easy to feel like we need things. The latest course, a new program, or pay for another tool in order to move forward with our business goals.

However, if we aren’t careful, we can easily slip into spending money that doesn’t yield an investment return.

If you’ve ever bought a course that you never completed, signed up for a tool that you never used, or joined a program that didn’t lead to the results you were hoping for, you’re not alone.

It doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with what you invested in. More likely, it just wasn’t what you needed for your business at that time.

Before you make your next investment in your business, there are three questions you should ask yourself. 

1 – What is my top business priority right now?

With the abundance of information online, it’s easy to be swept away by the latest trend.. 

Sometimes we need to go back to the basics and remind ourselves of our priorities. Your business is unique and the needs of your business are unique.  Just because something is working for another business, doesn’t mean it’s right for you right now.

What is your top priority in business right now? 

If you’re in the early stages, perhaps you’re focused on building your audience or signing your first few clients.

If you’re a little bit further down the road, you might be looking at creating your first course or group program.

Whatever your top priority is right now, allow yourself to focus on this and only this. Remember, you can always set up a system to save new ideas and come back to them later.

If it’s easier, saying no to an investment doesn’t have to be forever, you can simply choose to say no for now.

2 – How will this investment serve this priority?

Once you’re clear on your current top priority, you’ll want to take a closer look to see if and how this investment will serve this priority.

For example, if your top priority is creating and launching your first course, an investment in a program to help you create and launch your first course might be a worthwhile investment.

However, if your top priority is signing your first 1:1 clients, an investment in a program on courses wouldn’t make sense at this time.

Even if an investment seems to align with your top priority, I encourage you to go a little deeper. You don’t just want a solution to support your business goals, you want the best solution to meet your business needs.

If you’re looking to create and launch your first course, you could take a course on creating courses. But is that really what you need?

Perhaps you want more individualized support, in which case investing in working with a coach who specializes in courses or in working with a course creator might make more sense.

Maybe you know what you want to teach, but it’s more a case of needing help with setting up the technical pieces. In which case, hiring a virtual assistant or bringing on a team might be more useful.

Perhaps you have a great team to support you, but you’ve never launched before. In this case, it might make sense to look for a program or coach to help you with your course launch.

Whatever your top priority is, give yourself time to explore your options. Make sure you’re making an investment that offers you the best solution to fit your needs.

3 – What (besides money) will this investment cost in order to meet this priority?

Whenever we’re considering investing in a new tool, program, or offer, it’s common for us to want to look at the price. We want to know how much it costs, if we can afford the investment and if we think whatever we’re investing in is worth that price.

What many of us forget to consider, is the investment required of us beyond the financial cost.

For example, if you’re signing up for a new course, you’ll need to invest time in watching the training.  Do you have this time? Are you willing to invest this time? If the answer is no for right now, then it’s probably best to not invest in this course right now.

Even if you’re considering a smaller investment, such as a new scheduling tool for social media posts, you’ll want to consider the time you’ll need to invest in learning this new tool and setting it up to work for you. Will you make time for this?  If so, when? If not, it might be best to skip this new tool for now.

Whatever the investment, it likely requires energy on your part to make it truly serve your business. Before you decide to spend money, make sure you have the time needed to fully benefit from this investment.

It takes a bit of time and self-restraint in order to only make thoughtful investments that serve our business goals but, in the long-run, this approach allows you to confidently spend money in your business knowing that you’re making investments that align with and support what your business needs to thrive.

And if you really need is more time to do the work that matters most, let’s talk. My team and I excel at taking care of the back-end tasks in business. Partnering with us might be exactly what you need to take your business to the next level. Sign up for your free Business Lifeline Call right here.