This month Goodness Marketing celebrates 6 years of helping small businesses with big hearts do marketing that feels good, does good, and gets good results.

As I look back over the ups and downs, the lessons learned and the experience gained, I feel very, very grateful. One of the big lessons I’ve learned is how to invest in my business.

Back in 2017 I was bootstrapping every single thing. I left my job without a financial cushion, so the focus was on bringing money in asap and avoiding unnecessary costs. I could afford to take days and days to design my own logo (which I still use), as I didn’t have many clients and so had the time.

That was fine then, but over the years I’ve learned that sometimes you have to spend money to make money. If I could do it all over again I expect I’d start investing in my business sooner (hindsight, eh).

Anyway, in celebration of 6 years of Goodness Marketing, here are 6 of the 6 best things I’ve spent money on in my business.

Community

When I started Goodness Marketing I felt entirely alone. I didn’t know many people who had their own businesses, and I didn’t realise there were thriving communities where solopreneurs helped each other.

Now I know of many communities for small businesses, and these two are my favourites:

• Passion and Purpose Club - I joined for the photos but got SO much more from this wonderful community established by Karen Staniland-Platt

• Found and Flourish - inspiring female founders, with monthly coffee roulette dates to get to know each other.

I should also give a special shout-out to Freshwalks. Even though I don’t make it to a lot of walks these days, it is one of the most refreshing ways to network and find community in business.

And a final note on this topic: if you can’t find the community for you, consider starting your own. This is what Katya and I did in various guises over the past few years. First we hosted some coffee mornings for local freelancers and small biz owners in Stockport, then held some events for the community we called SK Creative, and then we started hosting our retreats. The driving force for these has always been that we wanted to create events and networking opportunities that we craved, and soon found out we weren’t the only ones hankering after these sorts of things.

Something for you to think about: Which communities are you already a part of? Can you connect more deeply to others in those communities? Or can you set yourself a goal to find new communities who share your values and interests, or can grow your circle of connections?

Business coaching

When you’re inside the jar you can’t see the label - and when you’re inside your business it’s very hard to get a clear and objective view of what’s going on in your business. That’s where a coach can make all the difference.

Over the years I’ve sessions with a few coaches, and most recently I’ve worked with Ray Dodd who has really helped me delve into my money stories and how those impact on my business. I am part of Ray’s group programme Plenty (aff link) and it is a source of total joy and regular lightbulb moments in my life. Can’t imagine my business without it now.

Something for you to think about: In which areas of your business could you do with an outsider’s perspective? Are there areas of weakness or potential blind spots?

Specialist support

I’ve lost days to trying to sort out things with my website, payment processor or email marketing platform. But now I know that just because I “should” be able to do my own website, or just because I can possibly figure something out with the help of many YouTube videos, doesn’t mean I have to.

I know my limitations a bit better now, and can recognise when I feel myself getting sucked into the DIY spiral which will take a lot of time (and often leads to a sub-standard outcome).

When this happens, I try to figure out which specialist expert I can bring in to help me save time and give me a better result. If I have an issue with a website tech gremlin, I look for a Squarespace expert. If I want to make complicated email magic happen, I ask an email marketing expert. I’ve had a VA help me with podcast research before, and I chose a VA who is also a podcast expert.

Something for you to think about: How long do you spend trying to fix technical things or other challenges in your business that would take a specialist minutes to fix? Who are the experts you can call in?

Financial experts

I’m giving my accountant her own section, because this is invaluable to me.

Fun fact: I had accounting as a school subject until I was 18 (this was an option in South Africa), and I was quite good at it. We had all the ledger books and whatnot and I knew what to fill in where.

Fast forward 25 years and now we have Xero and apps for everything and I’m completely lost with bookkeeping and taxes. Or rather, I would have been lost if it weren’t for a very skilled and patient accountant.

My next investment will be to have a regular bookkeeper helping me stay on top of receipts so that my long-suffering accountant doesn’t have to deal with all my chaos just before the self-assessment deadline. I’m also looking forward to having a more up-to-date, reliable and clear view of my business finances at any point of the year.

Something for you to think about: Can an accountant or bookkeeper make your financial planning more robust? Is investing in a bookkeeper and/or accountant something that will likely pay for itself in reduced stress?

Learning

One of the joys of self-employment for me is that you can choose your own professional development. No more boring courses on something my employer thinks is important (or whatever is available for free, as it was with my previous employers).

Some of the best workshops/courses I’ve done in the last few years were Sell That Thing by Ray Dodd (this has now been retired I think, but this is pretty close I think, and free) and Helen Perry’s Lists Club email marketing course.

I also joined Ruth Poundwhite’s Soulful Selling Society, which is a lovely way of constantly bringing my thinking back to selling in a way that is aligned with me.

I’m also an avid podcast listener and a big reader (have you seen this blog post about the best books for small business owners?)

Something for you to think about: Which areas of learning would you like to prioritise in your business? Can you research some books/podcasts/videos/courses that you can look at in this area?

Canva

I use Canva most days to create graphics and video for social media, courses, blog posts, and all sorts of other marketing things. I’ve had the Pro account for years now and I’m very happy to shell out for something that makes my life easier, saves me time, and continues to get better.

Something for you to think about: How important is it to you to have great media in your marketing? What do you currently spend (in money or time) getting great images created? Can Canva be a solution?

Non-business things

There are 3 things I pay for with my own money that also have an undeniable positive impact on my business.

1. Gym membership, which clears my head and gives me a boost of energy and motivation.

2. Cleaner. I struggle to function when things are very messy/dirty. I also resented spending so much of my free time cleaning, and found that it became something that took up far too much head space. I realise I’m in a privileged position to pay someone to clean my house, but for me it has made a huge difference.

3. Office revamp. When I started Goodness Marketing in 2017 I worked from the kitchen table. That was fine, but moving into an office (my son’s old nursery) and turning that into a proper workspace levelled up my business massively. Now I work in a gorgeous pink room that’s been designed with work in mind, and I love it.

As I go into the 7th year of Goodness Marketing, I am thinking of how I manage its finances. In the coming year I plan to spend more on 3 areas in my business:

• Specialist support to help me up my email marketing game.

• Bookkeeping help to go from chaos to clarity.

• Community - going deeper in the ones I have and exploring new communities too.

I’d love to hear what you plan to spend money on in your small business, or if any of my learnings have resonated with you. Find me on social media and tell me!

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