5 ways to invest in your solopreneur business

Income – Now it totally makes sense to think about money first, if you don’t have more money coming out than whats going out, including the time and energy spent on your business, then you have what I can be described as a loss leading business. More solopreneurs than care to admit, run these. They might have cash flow, they might even make a profit, but they don’t pay themselves properly and there is a long term cost of operating out of this model. But if you do have excess cash in your business (or in your personal finances) you might want to think about investing, doesn’t even have to be a large amount, small deposits over time have a compound effect. I use the investing app plum…and I set myself a target of taking a certain amount of money out of the business especially to put into my small but growing investment portfoilo…don’t wait until you have thousands of pounds of excess, do it with the income from that affiliate kick back you got, or that client that came out of nowhere. 

Action Point – Check out Plum (other investing apps are available) 

Impact – When we do good in the world, that often comes back to us, especially over time. Building an audience of people that you serve is a greeat way of investing in the future of your business (if done right). I blogged for 12 years about being a plus size runner, I shared my experience, my advice and tips for 3 years before starting to monetise it. Less than 10% of my audience ever bought from me, but the size and engagement of the audience opened doors for press and sponsorship, and that business became my first multi 6 figure online business. 

Action Point – Grow your audience, do some good in the world…oh and collect email address’ of those who are willing to get closer to you and your work, that will pay off in the future no end.  People get onto my email list through doing my FREE business audit which helps them work out what kind of business they are running, I then send useful business growth resources and let people into my world

Influence – You have knowledge, and lived experience unmatched to anyone else. If your paying clients are the only people to ever see this, then the world is missing out. Some people call this though leadership, others call this authority. Blogging, pitching to the media to be seen as an expert, developing your skills as a writer and speaker, writing a book…all of these things take time but again, remember the compound effect of this when done over an extended period of time.

Action Point – Buy my latest book How NOT to be Broke, it shares practical ideas for making more money in your solopreneur business so that you can invest in your future, but it also shares my journey of 30 years as a solopreneur, and the power of using my words to influence millions of people worldwide. 

Insight – What do you know that is valuable? Are you articulating your knowledge, and letting folks have to guess at it? Most of what we learn we never apply, and yet so many of us are obsessed with learning… I call this procrastalearning. Putting off the doing by thinking you need to know it all before you can share value. 

Action Point – What do you know works to build wealth and momentum, but you are not doing it…do it. Sounds simple but implementation of learning is where the progress happens. If you genuinely don’t know enough, set aside an hour a day to learn + apply the learning…don’t wait until the end of your learning experience to take action. If you are feeling brave head over to Instagram and share what action you have taken

Integrity – People buy from people, and your values and your ethics will stand you apart from others doing what you do. Know what your mission is in your business and in your life, and create rock solid boundaries around them. Over time this will give you an incredible reputation, and your ideal clients, and your cheerleaders and collaborators will be making referrals and raving about you over and over again…invest in your people by serving them with integrity

Action Point – Revisit your WHY but also your HOW, how do you want to do business, and then communicate that both in words and in actions. This one is harder than you might think, and it takes practice, so don’t beat yourself up if you get it wrong. And remember not everyone is going to agree with your values and ethics and that is OK too. Want to understand my values watch my viral video from before the pandemic called “Different Way”

Ready to invest?

As solopreneurs we have a real task at hand to juggle our time and energy between what is going on in the here and now of our business, and whats coming down the line. This is why so many people feel like they are firefighting, in feast and famine when it comes to sales and filling their pipeline, and this is why so many business owners burn out or feel resentment towards their venture.

And before I sign off, there is one further type of investment I want you to consider.

Integration – sometimes you have a lot of things in place in your business, you have doing this for a long time and yet nothing fits together, in your head or in your systems. Sometimes you just need someone else to have a look at it, to help you figure out some shit, without judgement or the shame of “I should know all this, be doing all of this, have all of this sorted by now”

Thats where working with a coach like me comes in.

I can help you increase your…

• Income
• Impact
• Influence
• Insight
• Integrity

Thats what I have been doing for decades with my clients, and the truth is you can do a lot of this yourself, and you probably are.

Where my strengths lie though is helping you to see the bigger picture in terms of how it all fits together…how you create and resource your plan for the long term, and how you juggle the pressures of now, and your desires for the future.

That’s my jam.

As the Solopreneurs Champion, I will cheerleader, inspire, and motivate you to take imperfect steps across all of your metrics of success.

As the Business Legacy Strategist in your team…I will hold you accountable to the BIG stuff that really matters.

Now go invest!!!!

PS..some links are affiliate links which means I get a small kickback if you buy, I always invest kickback money into long term growth, and I help my clients understand how to do this too.