When you're creating a business from scratch, money is tight. You don’t want to splash out on anything that isn’t going to make you money. But spending money on things which you might consider as luxuries are sometimes really worth it. They can make your life easier and help your business to grow.
The three resources below have been an absolute game changer for me. By game changer, I mean they've significantly affected my revenue. Looking back over my business journey to date, these are the three best business investments that have really made a difference.
1. Xero
Xero is a powerful accounting system used by businesses to track financial records. Able to shave precious hours off bookkeeping, tax and GST tasks, it is all about streamlining your workflow.
I signed up for Xero well before I was ready. I wasn’t sure if I was making the right decision because the price tag seemed out of reach for my small business. I quickly outgrew the smallest plan and had to move onto the medium plan. To be honest, I was probably one of the smallest businesses on this plan as my business began as a side project while I was employed full-time.
Now that I am full time in my business, I'm definitely using Xero to its full capacity. But I'm really glad that I signed up when my business started, because I now have all my historic data available at the click of a mouse.
The greatest thing about Xero is that I have a full picture of all my current and historic data, dating right back to when I first started my business. That is great for reflection on my business journey, reporting on progress, and my finances run like a well-oiled machine. Xero also replaces shuffling paper from one place to the next as I simply take a picture of the receipt and email it into my Xero Inbox.
The other great thing about Xero is the time it saves me. Everything is so organised, I've hired a bookkeeper now to do my reconciling but before that it wasn't a time consuming role. And when it comes to year end, there isn't much I need to do, my accountant just gets straight in there and does her thing!
While I was hesitant to commit to Xero at the beginning of my business journey, I am so glad that I did, because I am reaping the benefits now.
2. Hiring a house cleaner
You might be thinking ‘What?! A house cleaner isn't a business expense!” Technically, it's not. While I can't claim the cost through my business, it most certainly is a good investment. I can earn so much more by working on my business during that time, than what I am paying my cleaner.
Not only has it saved me time and money, but it has also saved me a huge amount of stress. There's nothing more distracting that a house that is crying out to be cleaned when you work from home. So the answer is to outsource it – I'm a firm believer if someone can do it better than you and you can make money in that time, then do it!
For the first little while, the cost of a cleaner was a stretch financially, just like Xero. And I have gone through phases during my business years where I haven't had a cleaner. But I have found that I am far less productive during those times. Life is way easier when I make the investment, it's money well spent. And my family aren’t complaining about the mess (most of the time).
3. Google Workspace
Google Workspace is Google’s suite of tools for small businesses. It includes email, cloud storage, collaborative document creation, forms, slides and communication tools. One of the best features is that you can create an email address that includes your domain name for a more professional look – like hello@yourdomainname.com.
I invested in Google Workspace from the beginning as I didn't want to be one of those businesses operating with a gmail.com or hotmail.com email address. Having a custom domain email is important for professionalism and branding, even if you're just getting started. It's about $5 a month (or thereabouts depending on the current currency conversion) so it's a no brainer. It also comes with 30GB of free data storage.
I use it with my team and with my coaching clients. There's always a buzz at the other end of a call when someone uses the collaborative features for the first time and they can see me editing directly in the doc in front of them. If you have a team, it's a far better investment that Dropbox as you'll quickly run out of storage over there and it can get expensive really fast.
I can’t imagine not having Google Workspace in my business. I make that money back in 10 minutes!
In fact, Forrester released some numbers that showed that Google Workspace can deliver a 304% return on investment over a 3 year period, by:
- increasing the efficiency of employee collaboration
- allowing users to work anywhere on any device
- reducing on site servers and telephony services
You can sign up for Google Workspace here. You can also get 10% off your first year if you reach out to me – I will give you a coupon code to claim your discount. I only recommend products that I've used and reaped the benefits of myself, this is such a small investment and one that will pay off for your business.
While I don’t necessarily agree with the motto ‘you’ve got to spend money to make money’, I do believe that you need to make smart decisions in order to put your business in the best light. Having the right tools and resources on hand will also save you time and stress in the long run. While sometimes the costs might feel like a bit of a stretch – like Xero did for me in the beginning – you will be much better set up in the long run.
