True entrepreneurs understand the idea of investment and are willing to look at the long term goals in their buying decisions. Over the years I chose to invest in many things and people to see growth, change direction and sometimes just for mental health. It’s taxing (no pun intended) to be a sole-owner and that requires great fortitude.
I recently went to Today’s Innovative Women Conference in the sunny state of California where I had the pleasure of meeting Adam Urbanski of marketingmentor.com. Adam was the facilitator of our mastermind group, so I got a little more exposure then I was expecting but to my surprise he was very down to earth. Everybody at our table got a turn to give them our big problem.
Afterwards, I was able to discuss some of my methods in marketing my service company. He said to me that when people do business with people like us (he included me in his world) we need to make sure they see you as an investment, not an expense.
He told me of his CPA and the services they provide him which were of course upscale. The bottom-line for him is that they took care of the pain points and you could tell that he trusted them and their efforts. I hope my clients have that same experience with GMLCPA, and I appreciated the extra time I had discussing his own experience with his CPA.
Last month, the GMLCPA blog was chosen as one of the “Top 25 CPA Blogs to Follow for Investors” by Dividend.com. I thought of that when Adam and I were talking. Investors. Hmm. It all makes sense to me now. I know what an investor is, but normally it’s in the context of real estate or being a Venture Capitalists in my neck of the woods.
Being an investor IS about seeing things, purchases and people as an opportunity to invest. Sometimes you are investing in the future outcome for an increase of one thing or a decrease in another. If you invest in stock the hope is its value will go up. If you invest in a home you hope it its value will go up. If you invest in education you hope that it will enable you to diversify your offerings in the workplace and make more money.
The concept of investing isn’t always about increasing the money; sometimes it’s increasing quality of life, solving a problem or just relieving a task or headache you normally handle or do badly. You are buying peace of mind, which is not a bad thing. Insurance is a product many, many people use to do just that. We don’t usually want to write the check but we realize we have to in order to make sure we are protected if something happens.
So what is an expense? In the accounting world we have a chart of accounts and every account is basically an expense–except for income items and the balance sheet of course–but my point is that it is labeled wrong. Each expense is an investment. Can you resell it? Can you recoup your cash outflow? My answer is yes, yes you can.
Every expense should be considered an investment or you shouldn’t spend it at all.
If you have a website, you pay for hosting, design work, updates and maintenance. If you don’t, it goes down and you lost a very powerful tool to market your business. Without the marketing you lose income. See the opposite effect. No investment equals decrease in revenue.
Rent, telephone, office supplies….. it’s all the same. Without those “expenses” you couldn’t run your business therefore no income.
Professional services like your CPA, Financial Services, and Lawyers are also an investment. All three of the professions, either keep you out of trouble (which means less potential long term losses) or they make you money by increasing your bottom-line. The less you pay in taxes, the more you can keep. The less time you spend punching in your numbers, the more time you have to create more revenue. It’s an investment in your future profit.
Unfortunately, we business owners sometimes don’t see it. We can’t see the potential or we are scared that the additional expense will break us, but it’s a fear that is unfounded. More times than not, I have invested and seen a huge return on my time, energy and, well, my income. Peace of mind is worth a lot to many business owners, but so few know how to give up control long enough to obtain it. That’s another blog entirely.
Bottom-line: Business is about RISK and REWARD.
So, back to the point, I understand more now why we were recognized as one of the “TOP 25 CPA Blog’s for Investors” because I work with investors every day.
Adam’s advice was to only work with investors…those who say to me “I am ready to invest in my future, how can you help me?” So, I will pass on the advice of a very accomplished marketing professional to you.
Work with people who invest in you. Work with those who see you as a team member and ask for help. Work with those who understand that by investing, the reward will pay dividends in the short and long run. A relationship built on investment is entirely different and hopefully you can feel the difference in just the words I am using.
I work with investors. Are you ready to invest more into yourself, your business and your life? Shoot me an email. I am sure I can find a way to alleviate some pain and help you obtain more than you thought possible. I am sure of it. If you want to “Get Started”, let’s do this. Fill out the form and we will get you moving onto something better…..
