Episode 37: The CEO’s Guide to Making Strategic Investments That Actually Pay Off

  📍 Welcome to CreativeMind Smart Money, the podcast where creativity and business smarts collide. I’m your host, Samantha Eck, bookkeeper, business coach, and your go to guide for building the creative business of your dreams. Whether it’s mastering your money, streamlining your systems, or growing your business, I’m here to share insights that empower you to thrive.

Plus, I’ll be bringing in industry experts to dive into all aspects of entrepreneurship, so you can turn your passion into profit without losing your creative spark. Let’s get started.

 You’re listening to the Creative Minds Smart Money Podcast, and I’m so excited for today’s episode because it is very near and dear to my heart and very inspired by one of my clients. One of my clients recently did what I am calling an investment reflection. So she looked back at all of her investments in 2024 and really analyze them in a way that just makes sense, not only to me as a bookkeeper, but to me as like a fractional CFO, in the sense that we want to really understand our spending habits, really understand our business so that we can make better, more intentional decisions moving forward.

When we do an investment reflection, We want to look back at either last year or last month’s investments to see what was valuable, what was a waste, and how to make more intentional choices moving forward. Because as always, not every business investment is a winner. And if you’ve ever spent money on something that wasn’t worth it, You’re not alone.

Let’s get into why reviewing your investments is so crucial. One of the biggest reasons is that just because we can invest in something doesn’t mean that we should. Just because you have the money to invest in a service, a course, a product doesn’t mean that you should actually invest in it. A lot of times what happens when we have extra money is we see it as some sort of, I hate to use this word, but it’s burning a hole in our pocket.

So when we see that we have this extra money we think, Okay, you know what? I can spend it so that I can just make This one thing better or I can do this so that I can hopefully further my clients next month. But again, I want to remind you that just because we can’t invest in something doesn’t mean that we should.

We want to avoid emotional spending. Investments shouldn’t be made out of fear, out of lack of self trust, or pressure from others. Because I guarantee you that most of our investments are. I highly believe it’s around 70 to 80 percent of our investments that are made on emotional decisions because we are feeling a certain way, whether we’re feeling scared of not being able to provide for our family in a scarcity mindset, whether we just don’t trust ourselves enough to be able to handle a certain situation, or whether we fall susceptible to advertising and see something as a kind of pressure from someone else because we want to be able to purchase something.

A lot of the times I think that we end up feeling some sort of peer pressure because we see everyone else going for it. So we think, okay, well, maybe I should also invest in that. But I want to encourage you if you’re going to do some sort of spending to not do it emotionally and sit with it. Of course, we’re going to go over that a little bit later about how we can make sure that we move forward with intention especially when we make purchases.

Now, Reflecting on past investments helps us make better decisions in the future. So that might sound counterintuitive, but when we look at our past investments, it’s just going to help us understand what we were thinking when we made that purchase. So, for example, I purchased a quiz course. a while back.

I never used it. I’ll be 100 percent honest. But the way it was marketed was that, Oh, quizzes are the best way to get people on your email list. Like if you do a quiz, you’re going to just have hundreds of people on your email list. And while having hundreds of people on my email list sounds ideal, I also am very intentional about who I want on my email list because I want them to actually interact and engage with the content that I’m putting on my email list.

So, I invested in this program for quizzes because I thought, okay, well, having hundreds of people will be better. And I didn’t touch it at all when I purchased it. And I think it was back in September of 2024 at this point. But now I’m looking back at it and saying, why did I purchase that? Like, what enticed me to purchase this program on quizzes?

Because all I did was edit some of my. Options and make them a little bit better and my email is just doing fine. So I’m like, why did I have to feel like I needed to get in on this whole quiz thing in order to make sure that I got people on my email list? But looking at that has made me realize that instead of purchasing this quiz, Course, I should have maybe sat with it for a while and really made a better decision.

Usually I do sit with things but sometimes again I fall susceptible to some sort of advertising or I have an emotional spending moment and I’m like, ooh That I could, I could really use that, like that, that sounds really good. Now, of course, we want to review our investments, but we want to break our investments down into ideally three categories.

So we want to look at what was worth it. These are the investments that truly moved your business forward. As an example, I’m getting a brand shoot done on February 25th. Of course, this episode’s releasing in March, but next week I’m getting a brand shoot done. I know that that brand shoot is going to be a hundred percent valuable.

It’s going to be over 100 plus photos that I’m going to be able to use in my marketing all year long, and potentially for years to come. We want to ask ourselves when we look back at those investments and we’re thinking about them, did this bring long term value? So when I’m thinking already of that brand shoot, I know it’s going to bring me long term value.

I know it’s going to pay off because I’m going to only going to be able to use those photos in my marketing, but I’m going to be able to use them on my Podcasts, I’m going to be able to use them in my website. I’m just going to be able to use them in so many different aspects that I know it’s going to bring me long term value and really serve my business in a way that’s meaningful.

The second thing category that we want to look at is our neutral category. So these are neutral investments that had some benefit, but they really weren’t that game changing. I’m going to call it the meh, it was okay category. So when we’re looking back at that, we want to ask ourselves, would I do this again?

Or could I have gotten this value some other way? So I think a good example of that could be, let’s say that you paid for a strategy call with a coach and it didn’t work out. It gave you some value. Maybe they gave you some value, but at the same time, you didn’t feel like it really paid off. Like, that coach wasn’t the best fit for you.

You found another good fit with a coach. So, you’re saying, I probably wouldn’t have done that if I had met this other coach first. Or, I thought I needed this coach, but I realized that their method was just not for me. Again, you want to ask yourself, would I do this again, or could I have gotten the same value another way?

So you want to think of how You can utilize that data to understand it and of course you can be proactive about it, too And not just reflect on these but ask these questions in a sense every time you make a purchase So if you’re analyzing to think if it’s gonna be worth something ask yourself Will this bring long term value if you’re analyzing to see if this purchase is gonna be kind of neutral Would you purchase it again?

Like if you’re gonna purchase it right now, would you buy it again? Or could you get the same value that you’re looking at in this course or this purchase or this investment in a different way? And then of course our third category is going to be the things that we feel like we wasted our money on or our regrets.

So things that didn’t really serve us. We want to ask ourselves, did I buy this from fear, pressure, or Lack of self trust. So one of the things that I purchased again last year, and I know it, is the quiz course and like I was saying, it is a little bit of a regret for me because I didn’t get any value from it.

So now I’m asking myself, why did I buy it? When I think about it, I bought it because I thought I needed it. Because I didn’t trust that what I had for my email setup was already good enough. So it was a lack of me trusting what I already had, and that was a regret. Again, you can be proactive in that and think about it.

Am I buying this because I feel a certain way? Am I buying this because I’m scared that if I don’t? implement this, I’m not going to make sales. Am I buying this because I feel pressured from the advertising? Am I buying this because I don’t trust myself enough to be able to do whatever it is that this course is offering or this purchase is offering?

Thinking about those things is really going to help you. So, Before we kind of wrap up this episode and really get into the nitty gritty, there are three takeaways that I want you to gain from this episode and move forward with intentional spending. The first one is to invest in what deepens what’s already working instead of chasing the next shiny thing.

There’s so many different softwares out there that come out every day, every month, every week, and people jump ship to something new. Now, I’ll give an example. For example, HoneyBook. HoneyBook just raised their prices. I stepped away from them because I just, I couldn’t stomach having their price raised and me not use it, utilizing a lot of their services.

So I went somewhere else. Now, if you’re someone who loves HoneyBook, but maybe, let’s say, I don’t know, Gloober book comes up next week and they look new and shiny and exciting and you’re like, Ooh, let’s go for that. That is an investment where you want to ask yourself, is this the next shiny thing that I’m chasing?

Or is it going to like, disappear? Deepen. So again, invest in what deepens what’s already working. So for example, in my business, I use the project management software ClickUp. So if I was going to invest in something that would deepen what’s already working for me, it would be to get a systems protocol in and help me even utilize ClickUp even more in my business and make it more magical than it already is to me.

The second takeaway that I want you to take away for this is prioritizing done for you or long term impacts over quick fixes. So I don’t want you to go in and look at products that are band aids that are only going to fix a problem temporarily. You need to invest in and prioritize services that are either done for you or long term impacts.

So, for example, let’s say Let’s use bookkeeping as an example because I’m very intimate, obviously, with this. So let’s say you invest in a 27 course that has you put all your expenses on a spreadsheet. It’s a band aid, right? Because if you’re not fully utilizing and understanding your numbers and using those for growth, you’re not understanding your business.

So if you’re just punching a bunch of numbers into a spreadsheet, you’re not really growing from it. Now, exception. There are smaller businesses that just need to put their numbers on a spreadsheet, but if you’re a business that’s making, I would say, at least five figures or four figures to five figures, you need someone in there who’s helping you understand your numbers, which is why I, I’m saying, you know, you want to prioritize the dumb for you, the long term impact again, a brand shoot is going to be a long term impact. So prioritize that over a quick fix instead of getting AI photos. There’s a good example. Instead of getting AI photos, prioritize that brand shoot that will show your personality and show people who you are. So that’s your 2nd takeaway. And then your 3rd takeaway is don’t mistake support for strategy.

Sometimes we really need to sit with our own thoughts before spending money on guidance. You know, just because someone has a support, you want to really just fit, sit and think about it before you spend your money because your money in your business as a small business owner is so valuable. And I don’t know how to make that any clearer.

It’s so valuable. As a bookkeeper, I know that, trust me, because I know how big of an investment my services are. But your money is so valuable that you want to really just don’t mistake support for strategy. Think about it before you spend your money. Now, let’s look at some final steps and create an intentional investment plan for this year.

So first of all, I want to encourage you to do an investment reflection of your own, whether that means looking at your investments from last year or looking at them from the past month, just really understanding them. First of all, I want you to set a clear criteria for what makes an investment better.

Worth it moving forward. What makes something worth it to you? And really one of the biggest things should be that it moves the needle forward. If it’s not going to move the needle forward, it’s out. Don’t even spend your money on it. Get it out of there. The second thing is define why you’re investing before you spend.

So really understand why you want to invest in this. For example, if you want to invest in brand, again, let’s use the branding shoot. You want to invest in a branding shoot because you know, it’s gonna show off your personality. You know, it’s gonna attract the right people to you because they’re gonna see how fun and interesting you are.

Then, You’re that’s your why because they’re going to see how fun and interesting you are. And then the third thing is you want to make a wish list and sit with it for a while before committing. So what I do in ClickUp is I have what I call an ideas form and I got this from a lady who Helped me do a CEO day course And it was one of the most valuable courses I got last year because my CEO days have been so impactful for me but Essentially, what I do is I write down the purchase that I want to make, what category it’s in, the website, the amount, everything like that.

And I put a deadline of when I want to purchase it by. And I’ll go back and look at that list on a weekly basis and say, do I still want to purchase this? Do I still want to purchase this? Do I still want to purchase this? And if the answer is no, because maybe I have grown, maybe I have figured out a different way to do it.

I just maybe saved myself five, 600. So making that wishlist and truly sitting with it. It’s so important and I think you’ve heard about it a lot, but a lot of people say to let us purchase it for 24 hours before you purchase something. It’s so true. Let it sit. Let it just ruminate. And if you go back to it and you’re like, Oh, I don’t know why I wanted to purchase that.

You just saved yourself money. I know it’s so hard to do it in a day in age where everything is available at the touch of your fingers and you can just purchase it. But I really want to encourage you to just reflect. And truly understand why you’re making those investments. Because of course, every dollar you spend should bring peace, not regret.

📍 So, I also want you to remember that intentionality in your business finances means freedom, not restriction. When you’re intentional with your money, it will just bring you so much more. I talk about that a lot with my bookkeeping clients because I want you to be intentional with your spending so that you can grow your business to places you never would have imagined. And the only way you can do that is by being intentional with every dollar that comes into your bank account. especially your business bank account. If you found this episode helpful, please, please, please share it with a friend, leave a review, leave me a comment, send me a message, however you want to do it. And of course, come back next week for another episode. I hope you have an amazing rest of your week. We’ll see you next week. Farewell, fellow travelers.