248: Are You Spending or Investing in Business Growth?
How do you know when something is a cost you can cut or an investment you protect? This is one of the most common and misunderstood business dilemmas. If you struggle with decisions that involve pausing a subscription, delaying a hiring, or cutting out coaching because it feels expensive, then you could benefit from practical tools and perspective shifts that help you make smart, more confident spending decisions.
In this episode of She Thinks Big, you’ll learn a clear, five-question checklist that you can use to evaluate your business expenses. I’ll also share my process for assessing your top recurring expenses and experimenting with gray-area (i.e., maybe) decisions so you can lead with strategy, not fear.
What’s Covered in This Episode on Investing in Business Growth
2:37 – Why “Can I afford it?” is the wrong question to consider
5:33 – Question checklist (with examples) to determine if something is a cost or investment
9:51 – How investments often return more than the sticker shock suggests
11:32 – Four examples of how common expenses fall into cost or investment categories
13:18 – Putting the question checklist to the test right now
14:26 – A question to ask yourself if you’re on the fence about a spending decision
16:28 – Simple three-step test for spending decisions
19:09 – Three small actions you can do this week
Mentioned In Are You Spending or Investing in Business Growth?
She Thinks Big by Andrea Liebross
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International Coaching Federation (ICF)
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Quotes from the Episode
"Stop asking, 'Can I afford it?' Instead, ask yourself, 'Will it pay me back in time or clarity or dollars?'" - Andrea Liebross
"If you're keeping it because it's familiar, not because it's effective, that's a red flag." - Andrea Liebross
“Faster decisions often equal saved opportunity cost. Whatever you're thinking about, is it going to help you make faster, better decisions and avoid costly delays?” - Andrea Liebross
“What's the real cost in pausing? Often, the restart is more expensive than simply continuing. So if you suspect that you're going to come back, make that arithmetic explicit.” - Andrea Liebross
Links to other episodes
164: Top 3 Cash Flow Pain Points to Get Past & Get What You Want Out of Your Business with Nicole Cooley
130: 5 Steps to Being a More Cash Confident CEO with Melissa Houston
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