BIRD WILLIAMS: You’re listening to Bird Means Business Episode 55. 

Hi there and welcome to the Bird Means Business podcast. Y'all, we talk a lot about leveling up. But, what does it really look like to level up? Why should we invest in our businesses, and how does that look? We're going to talk all about it in today's episode. But before we jump in, if you don't already subscribe to my weekly emails, you want to go to birdwilliams.com/join. Y’all, this is where you are going to be in the know, and where I kind of really dive deeper into business tips and insights. So, you don't want to miss out. Again, that's birdwilliams.com/join.

All right, let's get into it. In this episode, we're going to really explore why we should invest in our businesses, and I'm going to give you some examples of ways that I've invested in my business this year. So for starters, why should we even invest in our businesses? I'll give you three reasons, although there are so many. Number one, investing in your business is how you're going to grow

your business. Now, if you're only using your knowledge and resources, like what you already know and what you already have, you're limiting your business's potential. Going to the next level takes an investment of time and money and energy. Y'all it's time to stretch, okay? You've probably heard the saying, you got to spend money to make money. Well, this isn't just about money so I'm going to take it one step further and say, you got to spend time to make time. Investing in your business isn't just about the money you spend, but the time you spend as well. How many of y'all feel like these days in a lot of ways, time is more valuable than money?

I know I feel that way. I'm running multiple businesses. I have two and a half kids, one’s growing inside me right now. I feel this way, like man I can make more money, but I can't make more time. But guess what? The “I don't have time excuse”, isn't gonna get me very far, right? I'm gonna have to make time and so are you, my friend. So, the time you make now will mean everything in your business six months from now. It's going to mean so much that you invest the time right now so that you have more time in the future because time will never just magically appear. You have to make it and doing that hard work now, making the time, will have you living easier later. Your future self will thank you, okay? 

Now the second reason you should invest in your business is that it becomes more real when you have skin in the game. And you're more likely to be all in because it costs you something to make this investment. And it doesn't just become more real to you. It becomes more real to others, too. Your clients and your potential clients will begin to see you're upgrading. You're being more intentional about building a strong, solid business that will be here for the long haul. So you're communicating trust and longevity when you invest in your business. 

All right now, reason number three. You'll get to do more of what you love to do. I love this one so much. You get to do more of why you started your business in the first place when you invest in your business. A lot of the investments you make in your business will open up space for you to focus on your core competencies. This is what you're uniquely gifted to do, and what you really love doing in your business. This is gonna alleviate so much stress, and so much frustration, and, ultimately, burnout. You want to invest in your business because you'll be able to focus on the areas you love most. There are so many reasons you should invest in your business, but I'll just start with those three. 

Now let's talk about how this looked in my business in 2020, with the hopes that it will help inspire some ideas for you as well. Here are the four ways I invested in my business this year. Number one, hiring. If you've been tuning into the Bird Means Business for a while, you've heard me say this time and time again. In order to grow your business, you will have to grow your team. Say it with me, wherever you are. If you're washing dishes, if you're driving, whatever you're doing. Say it with me, “In order to grow my business, I will have to grow my team.” You cannot be doing all the things forever. This will stunt your growth. And for most companies, payroll is ultimately the biggest expense. So as you're thinking about growing your business into what it can ultimately become, just know that payroll is an area where you're going to need to invest. Now hiring can be so scary for small business owners, and I get it, I've been there, multiple times. Because you're holding on so tightly to your money and to your process, you want to control everything. I'm telling you from experience, this will not serve you or your business. This is how you will end up burnt out and frustrated over being stagnant in your business. 

I recently had a conversation with my hairstylist, Aida, who is just brilliant. I love her so much. And I'm really excited to have her on the show actually in 2021, we talked about it in this same conversation.  She's not just my hairstylist. She's more of a mentor and really a sage. She's always just spitting so much wisdom, having been in the hair business for so long. Anyway, I was telling her how I was preparing to hire a digital marketing assistant, and how I had vetted a few people. But, the young lady that I really liked most and who really stood out was also the most expensive, and her hourly rate was way over what I budgeted for. And you want to know what Aida told me? She said every time she made the decision to invest in her business, even when it felt a little scary, her return was tenfold. And she was like, “You have to pay for good talent.” And you know what? I knew she was right. I was so happy to have that conversation. It's what sealed the deal, and made me decide to move forward with that new hire. I actually had a kickoff call with my new digital marketing assistant a few days ago, and I was super excited. I created this agenda for our kickoff call. And at the top of the list, I first wanted to share with her just my heart and intentions. And then next we talked about goals. And I made it so clear to her that her role here was mostly to alleviate work that I can delegate to her so that I can focus on the areas of the business that need me most, which is where I'm best, and where I really enjoy the work I do most. So I was basically saying bye to stress, and hello to greater productivity because I was able to outsource some of the areas of my business that I don't love so much. That just ties back into why it's important to invest in your business. And I want to say too that this isn't the first hire I made in my business this year. I've made several hires. Some worked out better than others. But hiring is a process that really takes time, even as a leader, to really understand how to manage that process. And so don't be afraid to hire. You might be thinking, “Well, it's just me and I can kind of really do everything by myself right now.” That's okay. But there's gonna come to a point in your business where you can't do it anymore, where you're getting booked out. Or where you're going to find that you're doing so much and spending so much time in the business that isn't really productive or fruitful. Or you should be outsourcing that so that you can focus on those areas that's going to create more of a return on investment in the business. That's when you know you need to hire. Okay? 

The first thing was hiring, and the second way I invested in my business was through a total immersion weekend. So you've heard me talk about this one in Episode 41. And if you haven't yet, make sure you go back to listen to that episode because I give all the information about how I structured it, why I did it, what it meant for my business, and so on. A total immersion weekend isn't like a business retreat, although that would actually make a great investment too, investing in yourself as the business owner, in your team, in a retreat type of setting. Would be really nice. Obviously, that's a little tricky right now as we're in the middle of quarantine. But we can note that for the future, right? But a total immersion weekend is not that. It's more like concentrated time to focus on fixing the broken areas of your business. That could be getting organized, or addressing bottlenecks in your workflows, rethinking monetization strategies. I mean, whatever it is, this is where you really fix those hard areas. It was exactly what I needed to have this moment. And this was early in the year when I had a total immersion weekend. I booked a hotel. I sat down and I really worked through so many of the problem areas in my business and it brought just so much clarity. And ever since I did that episode, Episode 41, so many of you have reached out to express how good it was to really bring that same clarity and just like a big sigh of relief to your business. So, a total immersion weekend is a great investment in your business. 

There's this quote I love so much from Jedediah Jenkins’ book, “To Shake the Sleeping Self”. It's one of my favorite books. And this is what the quote says: “Too much movement, and you can't see my inner changes until it's too late.” He was referring to biking. He had this crazy biking journey from Oregon to Patagonia. So he was really referring to being on a bike, but those words just leapt off the page for me. As entrepreneurs, our lives are moving at a mile a minute. I mean there's just so much happening in our businesses, in our personal lives, in our communities, in our world. And it's so easy to go nonstop, unaware of the minor changes that we're making, which could really be damaging to our overall goals.

So we need to normalize a pause, a reassessment, taking a bird's eye view of our situation, and making the necessary adjustments. Otherwise, we're gonna find ourselves spinning out of control to a crash landing. A total immersion weekend is a great moment for the pause and the adjustment we need. So again for all the details on what a total immersion weekend looks like, go back and listen to Episode 41, and then make sure you book your total immersion weekend ASAP. You will be so, so glad you did. I did it, I believe it was February or March. It was early in the year. And like I said, it really set the tone for the whole year. It was very pivotal in my business. 

All right. So the third way I invested in my business was through two online courses. And I won't name the courses. But both of these courses cost $2,000. And I remember thinking like, “Whew, that is a lot of money.” But man oh man, have they just been huge factors in really helping me structure and frame my business. I just got into this world of online marketing and digital marketing and digital products. My first business was a brick-and-mortar gym, a physical location. And we thought about marketing a little bit differently. But these online courses really helped me better understand what it's like to have an online business and give digital products. Even though it was new territory and something that I didn't really know a whole lot about, I could tell that it was going to be a game-changer for my business, and it totally was, totally worth the investment. So online courses or any kind of coaching or consulting. I don't say that because I'm a business strategist. But truly, you don't want to just navigate the journey alone and you don't have to. And I can almost guarantee that you will look back and wish you would have just done it sooner. I would encourage you to look into those as well. 

And now the final way that I invested in my business this year. It was through new technologies. Yo, technology is one of those areas in the business that can be a little scary. It can be a little intimidating. You don't really know how it works. You feel like you're going to watch a million videos or spend all this time figuring something out. It goes back to what I said in the beginning. You have to spend time to make time. Yeah, it might take a whole bunch of time to set up a system in your business to automate things. It might be a little frustrating or feel a little overwhelming. But guess what? It's going to save you so much time. It's going to be totally worth it. When it comes to technology in your business, if you find that you're doing something repeatedly, that's something you can probably automate. 

There are so many ways to systemize things in your business and you've heard me say it a million times but I'm gonna say it again. Your systems will save you. Your systems will save you from the very beginning. I was really uber-focused on systems from the beginning of Bird Williams because again, I had so much going on I had to rely on systems. I couldn't keep doing the same thing over and over again. I have a system that works in the back of my business that automates things, that makes it a lot easier for me. So really thinking about the different technologies that you could use in your business to do the same way. And that goes for brick and mortar businesses, online-based businesses, service based, and product based. There are so many ways to systemize things and automate them. And it will be a lifesaver, believe me. And I want to say, kind of with hiring when it comes to technology, you might try something out and it might not work as well as you thought. Or it might work for a season and then not work for your business anymore. Guess what? That's completely normal. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't have ever gotten the technology. It just means that your business maybe outgrew it and now it's time to upgrade. Remember we talked so much about adaptability in business. So you don't have to look at, “Oh man, this technology doesn't work anymore. My business is a failure.” It's like no, new levels. Let's go. It's time to dive in deep to a new technology that's going to help serve my business and my clients and me a lot better. And my team, your team will be grateful for that as well. 

So those are the four ways I invested in my business this year through hiring, through my total immersion weekend, through online courses, and through technology. And I cannot tell you how important this was for my business, all of these different things. And I wouldn't be making a whole podcast episode out of it if I didn't feel that way. I want you to understand, especially if you're new to this, you might be thinking I haven't even launched the business yet. I already want you to get into the mindset of, “I need to be willing to make an investment. I need to be willing to think about my business, long term.” And if you're already in business you well know how important it is to invest in your business. Or you might be listening to some of the things I'm saying like, “Man, I should have done that a year ago.” I know from experience that I wish I would have hired sooner. I wish I would have leaned into technology sooner. I wish I would have taken online courses sooner so that I could really level up and be the best. Not only for my clients and my team but also for myself. Taking away that stress allowed me to focus on the areas of my business that I love most. 

All right. Well, this was fun. I'm really loving looking back on what 2020 has been in my business, how rapidly Bird Williams has grown and evolved. We rebranded in the middle of the year. I mean there's just been so many moving parts, and it's just all so good and I feel so good about the future of Bird Williams. And so, as you know, I'm trying to share as transparently as I can, as I'm going along my journey to help you as you go along yours as well. 

It is such an honor to be a part of your journey. So, thank you so much for sharing this space with me, for letting me into that very valuable time like we've talked about that you have. It means a whole lot. Look, if you have any questions, I want to talk to you. I want to hear about where you are in your journey and how I can help guide you. So, shoot me an email, it's Hello@birdwilliams.com. Or just shoot me a DM on Instagram. I would love to connect with you. I'm @heybirdwilliams. 

Alrighty. Make sure that you subscribe on Apple Podcasts and follow us on Spotify. And be sure to tell every entrepreneur you know about this episode so that they can really think about unique ways to invest in their business and take their business to the next level as well. All right, talk to y'all next week.