Investing in Your Business and Career: Coming to Terms with Your Issues

In my blog last week, Get Savvy: 10 Tips to Help You be Successful in Business, I talked about the things that I feel have helped me make my business successful. I asked for feedback and a few people responded that they thought that #3, “Investing in Your Business”, was critical for their success. 

I thought it would be helpful to explore this and tell you more about my story.

Once I accepted the fact that I didn’t have all the answers and that I needed to find the right people to help me move my business forward, I still hesitated. I didn’t want to spend the money. I was frightened and I thought that I needed to make the money first before I spent it.

If you agree with this, I can tell you honestly that this ends up being a merry go round that will not move you forward. There comes a time when you need to make the decision to have a real business not just a hobby. Real business owners invest and re-invest in their business. There comes a time when you realize that if you want the career you know you deserve, you need to invest in yourself to help you move forward.

Taking the risk and using credit to pay for the services I needed was really scary to me. I was brought up to pay off credit cards and not carry balances; not to extend myself beyond what I could comfortably cover each month. So I was stuck. I knew that I needed some guidance but I wouldn’t take the risk or invest in myself to get that help.

But there was much more going on.

• I had to address my issues about money. What did I learn from my parents about money that might be holding me back? Do you know what your money issues are?
• I had to face my own insecurities about the ability to make the money in the future to pay my bills. If you are unwilling to invest in your career and business, what does that say about your faith in your ability to be successful?
• I had to come to terms with my own relationship to success. Was I more comfortable playing small? What is your comfort zone?

I can tell you now that I have faced these issues head on and continue to work on them. I have invested big time in my business and it has made a huge difference. For one thing, I have learned valuable information that I would not have otherwise had at my disposal. I’ve also found that it’s much easier to ask my potential clients to invest my services because I’ve done it myself and have reaped the benefits.

If you really want a successful business and career, then step up and do what you need to do to get there. Step up and face your issues, invest in yourself and recognize that it could be you, and no one else that is holding you back from what you want.