604: 5 Steps to Mastering the Mindset for Making Business Investments (Mindset & Self-Care)

SEO, Pinterest, or whatever else is all moot. I will meet you back here every Wednesday to discuss various mindset and self care topics so you have the energy and space to tackle the rest.

massively slowed or even completely stalled. I used to be the entrepreneur who didn't invest in her business, or I made very minimal, low cost investments and guess where this got me? Stalled, completely stalled for long periods of time. I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs every week, some of them willing to make worthwhile and sometimes sizable

investments in their businesses, and some not at all. The ones who are not willing to make worthwhile investments seem to stay in this kind of holding pattern until they're either burned out and ready to quit, or they just get to the point where they're ready to invest, they see the importance of it and

they want to level up. I know it can be so hard, especially if you feel like you don't have the money to invest, or you're not in the quote, perfect spot yet, but once you do, it is a game changer for your business. Before we get to the five steps to overcoming a fear of investing in your business, let's quickly touch on what a

few of these investments might look like. A few things that I put together specifically for food bloggers might be a web redesign a site, audit an upgraded theme or upgraded web hosting, a paid mastermind group business or mindset coaching a course or training you might need, such as photography, keyword research, etc, Software plugins, tools that support your business, CPA services, conferences, workshops,

retreats, and outsourcing. All of these examples could potentially be wise business investments, obviously, depending on what the specific goals of your business are. When I look back over the course of my now 14 year old business, I can pinpoint two places on my timeline when I experienced massive explosive growth. One was in 2020 after I joined a

high quality, awesome mastermind group. The other was in 2022, after I invested in business coaching, fully acknowledging here that neither one of these were easy investments to make for me, the dollar amount was considerable for both. So I definitely hesitated looking back though I'm so happy I made these investments because they literally changed the course of

my entire business. It was like this long, boring plateau before then a sudden spike in traction, knowledge, revenue, opportunities and quality relationships after so whether or not you have an idea for something you'd like to invest in, I think this episode will be helpful for you. If you want to see real growth in your business, and I'm talking in the next five years versus the next 20 years you need to invest that

is just the truth. The right investments will help you grow professionally, but also they'll help you grow personally, which I think is so important as well. They'll give you clarity about what to focus on and not focus on. They'll prompt you to grow, refine and find renewed confidence in yourself. And here's something to consider, if you're not willing to invest in your business, can you justify expecting your potential clients or customers to invest in you? Just some good food for thought

there. Okay, let's talk through five steps to overcoming the fear of investing in your business. Number One pinpoint the investment and related concerns. If you don't hesitate to make larger business investments, then you're maybe alien. You're not human. Because, of course, it's scary to invest. Your money is your hard earned money? What if it goes to waste? What if the coach or group or event or tool or service you pay for doesn't actually facilitate business

growth? What if it turns out to be a gigantic mistake? What if the coach, leader, creator of X that you're investing in, turns out to be a selfish, money hungry jerk? These are all valid concerns. Pinpoint which investment or investments need to be made next in your business and the associated concerns for each are you most concerned about getting an ROI or hiring a coach who gets results for their clients, or joining a mastermind

that will help your blog traffic and revenue grow? Whatever they are write them down next to the investment that you are considering or the investment that you just know you need to make. Here are a few examples. Investment, I really want to join a quality mastermind group to grow my traffic and increase revenue. Main concern that neither goal will have happened by the end of the group. Investment, other bloggers I know outsource blogging tasks to free up time to do more of what

they love. I'd love to outsource writing, because I hate it, so I have more time for recipe development and baking. Main concern, it's going to be a stretch financially to do this. What if it doesn't pay off? Investment, I've been in a rut for three years with no significant growth. I think it's time to hire a business coach. Main concern, will a coach really be able to help me grow pull out your own customized concerns and be as specific as possible?

Number two, educate and sleuthe. This is where it really helps to have a trusted network of peers. So maybe that's a mastermind group that you're involved with, or a Slack channel you're part of, or a podcaster you listen to, or a Facebook group with valuable information that you read often, thepeople you go to to ask for advice regarding investments that you'd like to

make need to be quality, reliable, trusted humans. Go to a trusted source, wherever that might be for you, and ask what other people have invested in, in whichever category you're looking to invest in. If you know you need to hire a coach, but you have no idea where to start. Ask trusted peers which coach has worked for them in the past, or if you've been skimping on web hosting, and you just know that a quality web host is your next big investment. Ask people in a blogging Facebook

group what they're doing. People are really honest in those groups, even if it means sending emails to people you don't personally know, do what you need to do to educate yourself.

I have had so many people tell me over the years that they had their eyes on the Eat Blog Talk mastermind groups, that they really wanted to join them, but hesitated after seeing the investment, so they did their own sleuthing, and they figured out who some of the previous members were, and they reached out to them directly, even if they didn't know them, and they

asked about their experience in the group. I love this. A good group has nothing to hide, and a good leader has nothing to hide, they'll actually appreciate that you do this sleuthing before joining the group. Be a sleuth. Do what you need to do, gather that intel about the specific group, coach, tool, service, or whatever, ask as many people as you need to to gather that data that you need. Here's something that might feel really scary, but that goes a

really long way. Reach out to the coach or leader or creator of whatever the tool, etc, that you're looking to invest in, and talk to them yourself. Go straight to the source. You just have to make sure that you feel aligned with the services or coaches or whichever investment you're making, because in your sleuthing, you will just know yes or no, listen to what others say and what their experiences have been, and then you need to follow your gut, which leads to number three, lean into your

intuition. You can gather all sorts of data and positive feedback and information about a course, a coach, a mastermind group, a software and still have an icky feeling about it. Let your intuition be the final say. A few years ago, I had an initial call with a blogger who was interested in learning more

about joining the Eat Blog Talk mastermind group. She seemed like she'd be such a great fit for the group, at least from my perspective, so I followed up with her about a week later to see if she'd given it any more thought, her email response started. I've been agonizing over this decision. I did not even need to read the rest of the email. I mean, I did, but I

knew right away that it wasn't right for her. I replied, and I told her that anyone who agonizes over whether or not to invest in one of my mastermind groups, should not be in the group, at least not now I totally gave her permission to listen to her gut and put the decision on hold, and she did.

If you are agonizing over an investment, it is likely either not a good investment for you to make, or the timing is not right, I can sense almost immediately, when I have calls with potential mastermind members who just know that they are meant to be in the group, their intuition is screaming so

loud that I can hear it. I can totally see this every time. So no matter what that data that you're collecting is telling you, ultimately, you must listen to your gut about whether or not it's the right decision. Number four, assess your budget. Once you get the education you need and you have that intuitive nudge about moving forward with an investment, you need to peek at your budget and make sure

that you can make it work financially. When I hired my business coach for the first year, I knew it was the next best thing for my business. I knew he was the coach for me. I knew that I was going to do whatever I needed to do to make this investment work. I knew everything was going to work out far better than I could have imagined, but I did not have 100% of the money in my account at the time. I still knew that hiring him would massively accelerate my revenue, so I did

something that a lot of people might not do. I put a portion of the coaching on my business credit card. I had total faith that I would pay it off quickly, plus some. And just so you know, I'm not a reckless, careless person. I am a bit of a risk taker, but definitely not reckless and careless. I had checked all the boxes. I had been a longtime listener of his

podcast, so the know, like, trust factor was really high. I listened to tons of testimonials over the years from people who had benefited from his coaching and from his groups, I was, and still am, his target audience. I'd scoured his sales page to read case studies and other testimonials from people who had hired him in the past. I even booked a free session with him to make sure it would be a good fit, and my intuition was right on point, especially after that free session, I knew it would be

a home run. The coaching package I purchased that first year was $12,000 I had $8,000 of that in my account, which left $4,000 that I put on my credit card within just a couple months after hiring him, I paid off the credit card and increased my revenue drastically. I am not saying that everyone should put investments on their credit cards. That is definitely not my message here in this episode. That's just an example of knowing what I needed to do, making it happen and having

total faith and accelerated awesomeness in my business. It was a scary leap, for sure, but it's also one that panned out really nicely for me. After hiring that business coach, my average monthly revenue tripled some months or even 4x or 5x what I was making pre-coaching, whether it's a stretch financially or not, definitely assess your budget before making

any investment. I knew that with my new coach's help or not, that I'd be able to cover that $4,000 that had gone onto my credit card, and that did not feel like a huge deal for me at the time. Maybe you just need to shift things around a bit in your budget to make the investment work. One of the members in my mastermind group this year told me that in order to be able to invest in the group, she stopped hiring out social media, which prompted her to dive into her social media in a whole new way.

When I invested in a different group years earlier, the investment felt really big to me at the time, although looking back, it feels like peanuts now. So I remember going through our family budget to make it work and just tightening things up, there were a few subscriptions we hadn't been using regularly, so I canceled those. We got better about planning groceries each week, which saved us some money. I did what I could within our control to make that investment seem less daunting.

If an investment you want to make checks all the boxes, there's always something you can do to make it work. Sometimes bloggers who want to join my mastermind group reach out and just straight up ask me if they can have a discount, or they ask about a payment plan. If someone goes to those links to get in my group, it usually means that they're in that I'll do anything to make this work stage, and I do what I can to accommodate. It never hurts to ask. At the end of the day you have to feel good

about making the investment. So if it feels like way too big of a stretch or just doesn't settle well in your gut, don't do it. If you have that knowing that you need to make it happen. Then make it happen. Number five, take the leap. Once you've checked all the other boxes, it's time to take the leap, even if. You still feel that fear creeping in, which is totally normal. Know that you've done everything possible to make an informed, aligned decision.

Now it's time to commit your business will not grow without taking risks. You already know this, and you've put the work in by sleuthing, budgeting and trusting your gut. The real magic happens after you commit to the investment and start putting in the work to make it succeed. And trust me, when all the boxes we've talked about are checked and you wholeheartedly take the leap, massive positive changes will happen. A magical

unfolding of events will follow. My mastermind members tell me all the time that because they invested in the group and took the leap, they just showed up better, not just in the group, but in their businesses and for themselves, it nudged them to show up in all aspects of their life in a renewed way. And this pays off for them. Once you make your first business investment, the rest are not quite as scary. It's always that first one that

feels really hard and scary. You'll tick through these points with ease, knowing exactly what to do and having faith in the process. To wrap up, let's recap the five steps to overcoming a fear of investing in your business. Pinpoint the investment and related concerns. Identify the investment you want to make and your specific fears around it, educate and sleuth, gather intel from trusted sources and do your research to ensure it's the

right decision. Lean into your intuition. At the end of the day, trust your gut to guide your decision making process. Assess your budget, ensure the investment makes financial sense, but don't be afraid to get creative if you need to shift things around a bit and take the leap. Once all the boxes are checked, take the leap confidently, knowing you've made

a solid, informed decision. I get it. Investing in your business can feel so scary, but the right investments can ignite explosive growth, both personally and professionally. The real magic happens when you take that leap so trust yourself, trust the process and go for it. Thank you for listening to this episode. I will see you next time, everyone.

Thank you so much for listening to this mindset and self care episode here on eblog talk, if you are a food blogger providing a service for other food bloggers and you want to spread the word about the value that you offer, I would love to offer you a free way to do just this. Send me a 62nd audio clip to be featured in a mindset and self care episode here on eblog Talk in 2024 go to eblogtalk.com forward slash audio clip to learn more. You.