“How did she do it?!”

I had started my beauty blog 8 years before as a passion project. Now that I was about to move to London and build my freelance writing business, I needed my blog to generate some serious money to cover my rent and food.

Every other blogger on my radar seemed to be going places. They were offering online courses, selling out masterminds, and turning their little blogs into lucrative businesses that generated consistent $10K+ months. 

What was their secret?!

I became obsessed with finding out. I followed my fave bloggers on Instagram. Read every interview they ever did. Analysed their marketing strategy with a fine-toothed comb.

I quickly saw some commonalities. The women who succeeded didn’t do it alone. They were investing in their business and playing a game I didn’t even know existed…

If I wanted the same results, I had to do the same…

Investing In Your Business: My Story

Up until that point, I had been trying to piece together growth strategies from free webinars, free opt-ins, free articles… Everything you need to know is just a Google search away, right?

Except… a lot of free information is either outdated, incomplete, or out of order. You’re only given some of the steps. Or you’ve given the “what,” but not the “how”. Or you get your information from so many different sources, you don’t know what to do first. You have the right strategies, but they’re out of order and you’re wondering why you’re not getting results.

The women who succeeded in turning their blogs into businesses weren’t winging it. They were investing in their business, in mentors and programmes teaching them how to build a successful business – even when they didn’t have the money for it.

I knew I had to do the same. So, I reluctantly took out my credit card and signed up for a $700 online course on how to monetise my blog with digital products.

$700 may not sound like a lot, but at the time, it was more than my rent. I had to go with the payment plan because I didn’t have that much money lying under the mattress to invest in my business. And even then, I had no idea if I could make enough money every month to pay for the next instalment after rent, food, and taxes were due. 

I was totally freaking out as I made the first payment, but I knew in my heart that if I wanted to be successful, I needed to think and act like a successful person does.

Three months later, I had made my entire investment back – and more. It had taken me 8 years to go from 0 to $1K months. It’d take me only one year to go from that 1K to 3.5K months. That was 4 years ago.

Related: The Truth About Overnight Success

How To Overcome The Fear Of Investing In Your Business

I know you’re freaking out about investing in your business. I was there too – and now I kick myself for not doing it sooner. 

Just think of all the money I left on the table during those 8 years. All those sleepless nights I spent tossing and turning in my bed, wondering when I’d finally be able to live the life I had always dreamed of. 

I could have had it all sooner if I hadn’t been so afraid. The ironic thing is that, when I made the decisions to invest in my business, my fears didn’t come true. My dreams did. 

So, how can you overcome the fear and start investing in your business today?

Related: A Simple, 3-Step Formula To Never Let Fear Hold You Back Again

1. Identify What You Need Help With

When it comes to investing in your business, the biggest fear is making the wrong investment. I totally get that. I’ve just told you my success story – and every word of it is true. AND… I’ve also invested THOUSANDS and got myself heavily in debt for programmes that did NOT work.

Here’s what I learned from the successful investments and the not-so-successful ones:

STEP 1: GET CLEAR ON WHAT YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS

Let’s face it: there are a gazillion things you could invest in for your business. Hiring a new team member. Signing up for a mastermind. Enrolling in an online course on how to get clients on Instagram. A more sophisticated email marketing software.

Before you spend your money, ask yourself: what would move the needle forward in my business the most?

When I invested in that $700 course, I was looking for an automated lead generation system and a framework to build online courses. The course provided both. The automated lead generation system worked so well, I made the investment back within 2 months! (Sadly, it doesn’t work anymore.)

The other programme that changed the game for me was a leadership training. I already had all the right strategies, but I was scared of going live, selling, and showing up as the leader of my business. That programme helped me break through my fears, so I could finally use the strategies effectively and get results.

On the other hand, when I hired coaches because I thought I needed a coach (does anyone take you seriously these days if you don’t have a coach?) or I wanted someone else’s exact success framework, it never worked. Turns out, everyone’s path to success is different and no one knows better than you what’s right for you.

Don’t let anyone else tell you what you need and don’t try to be a copycat. Your business is unique. Get clear on what YOUR business needs right now and invest in that.

STEP 2: GET RECOMMENDATIONS BEFORE INVESTING IN YOUR BUSINESS

The investments I regret the most were the ones made out of scarcity or fear of missing out. You know what I’m talking about.

• “Only 3 hours left to get this amazing discount!”
• “I’ll close the doors to this mastermind in 3 days and I don’t know if I’ll ever open them again.”
• “I don’t know if I can do this on my own. She has made it, so her system must work.”
• “Everyone I know has taken this programme. I need to take it too.”
• “I can’t believe that Instagram course is only $29.00! It could be the missing piece to my success. I must get it now.”

This is why I’m not a fan of urgent deadlines or big discounts. They get you to buy, but rarely for the right reasons. Even when they’re good (and they often aren’t), if that’s not what your business needs at the moment, you’re throwing money down the toilet.

The best investments I made came through recommendations. I personally knew people who had gone through the two programmes I shared above and saw first hand the amazing results they got. Even though I was afraid of spending that much money, I knew they worked and that, if I followed the steps, I’d get the same results.

STEP 3: MAKE SURE IT HAS A GOOD GUARANTEE

I totally get why coaching programmes are not refundable. The coach can’t get her time and advice back if you don’t get results – and no coach can get results for you. Once you’re off the call, it’s your responsibility to put what you’ve discussed in practice.

Having said that, I see a worrying trend online. Coaches are charging very high prices for programmes that offer barely any 1:1 coaching and no accountability. In other words, you’re paying a lot of money for only a few minutes of coaching a month (if you can make it on the call early) and, if you fall behind, no one is checking in on you.

I do believe coaching is a two way street. The client has 100% responsibility for their success. If they don’t do the work, they won’t get results. But the coach has 100% responsibility for the service they provide – and accountability and check-ins are a huge part of that service. The higher the price point, the more 1:1 support you should provide.

This is why I don’t offer refunds when you join The Leadership Advantage. I offer something better: if you don’t reach your goal within 90 days, I’ll keep working with you for free until you do. I can do this because I’m confident that, with the high level of accountability I’ve embedded in the programme, you’ll see results. And if it takes a little longer for you (life sometimes does get in the way), then I still want you to get your full money’s worth.

Before you hand over your hard-earned cash, make sure what you’re investing in has a good guarantee. Either you get your money back (if it’s a course of a software) or you pay based on results.

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2. Treat Investing In Your Business As You’d Treat Other Investments

How much money did you invest in your college education? And you wouldn’t hesitate to take out a loan to buy your dream house, right? So why do you hesitate when it comes to investing in your business, hiring a coach, joining a mastermind, or even just signing up for Squarespace, so you can have your website up?

Building your business is as important (if not more!) an investment as your education or your house. You need to treat it in the same way.

Even if you don’t have money lying under your mattress (I’ll tell you a secret: no one has the money they need to start a business lying under their mattress), there are still options for you. You can apply for a government grant or a bank loan. You can put it on your credit card. You can ask your relatives to lend you the money. You can sell something.

Before you say, “I can’t do that!”, ask yourself, “Would I do any of that to pay for college or buy a house?”If the answer is yes, you owe it to yourself to do the same for your business.

3. Focus On Your Vision, Not Your Fear

You get what you focus on.

Fear is paralysing. When you focus on all the things that could go wrong or whether you’ll make the investment back, you’re stuck in anxiety and worry. You can’t make any decisions from that place. No decision = staying stuck where you are.

What if you focused on your vision for your business and life instead?

Why do you want to build this business? Is it to make money? To make a difference in the world? To have more free time to spend with your family? To be able to work from anywhere?

How would your life improve if that vision came true? What ripple effect would it have on your family, your friends, and anyone you meet?

Whenever fear rears up its ugly head, reconnect with your vision. Then ask yourself, “what would the person who has already achieved that did to get there?” Hint: it’s usually the thing you’re scared the most of doing.

The truth is, if you could reach your goals being the same person you are now, you’d have reached them already. If you haven’t, you need to do something out of your comfort zone and act like the leader who is willing to do whatever it takes to create her vision.

So, if you weren’t afraid of anything, what would you do to reach your goals? Don’t waste time letting fear talk you out of it. Act like the leader you are and take that action now.

4. Trust Yourself

The number one question I get all the time is: “If I invest in this, will I get results?”

Now, it’s true there are plenty of crappy programmes out there that are NOT designed to support you in reaching your goals – that’s why you do your research, ask for recommendations, and look for a good guarantee.

BUT… success comes from responsibility.

Even the best coaches and mentors can only give you the tools and resources you need. It’s up to you to ditch all the excuses that keep you stuck in fear mode and use them to get the results you want.

You determine the results you got, based on how far you’re willing to go, how much time you’re spending on it, how proactive you are reaching out for support and asking questions…

If you’ve done your research and you’re still asking yourself, “Will I get results?”, what you’re actually saying is, “I don’t trust myself to get results. I’ve never succeeded before so why would I succeed this time?”

This is your chance to build that trust in yourself. If you want to reach your big goals, you need to become the leader who trusts herself to take the action that you know will move the needle forward even when you’re scared.

Fear and analysis paralysis feed the belief that you can’t trust yourself, that you can’t make good decisions and succeed. The only way to break through that and prove to yourself that you can trust yourself is to make that investment and then do everything it takes to see results from that it.

Wrapping It Up

I know I wouldn’t have the business and life I have today if I hadn’t invested in my business and got the help I needed, from coaches and mentors, to break through my sabotaging patterns and fast-track results. The same is possible for you too. Trust in your vision and go for it. Get clear on what you need first and ask for recommendations and a good guarantee, so you know the investment is worth it. And then go for it. You’ll make back the investment tenfold.

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