Whether your business size is as large as a corporation or as small as a solopreneur operation, there are costs to doing business that can be either "good costs" or "bad costs." It's kind of like good cholesterol that you want to increase and bad cholesterol that you want to decrease. Either way, you must have cholesterol, right?
What usually happens for the small solopreneur business is that ALL the costs get lumped under …the "bad" column. So I want to help you begin to shift your view of what costs you want to have in your business. And then of course there is the other side, the "bad" costs…and I'm going to help you look at that a bit differently as well.
Let's begin with the good… What would be good costs to have in your business?
Client appreciation
When your clients begin to work with you, you may want to send them a "thank you" gift that helps them in their work with you. For instance, I like to send my high level clients a subscription to a magazine that inspires, educates and motivates them to greater success in their business. And, I show them how to use the contents of the magazine to save them time and money!
Business Assistance
This "support" doesn't mean that you have to hire a personal assistant, virtual assistant or executive assistant - unless you want one. And if you want to keep your sanity and grow your business, you want an assistant! There are also low cost resources to support you. Check out Fiverr.com for resources like graphics, research, and short-term help that cost you $5 to get done! Or Elance.com, is a great resource for transcriptions, graphics and other low cost support.
Coach/Mentor
Helping you to shortcut the time, effort and money to learn and implement faster while creating success in your life and business is a "good" cost to incur. Imagine investing $100 to get $1000. Would it be worth it to you? Of course! You want to be clear how much you want to achieve so that it will return this investment to you!
These costs are truly "investments" in your business. Now I am not a tax advisor and recommend that you check with your own accountant, but many of these can be tax deductible! That makes these costs really good for you and your business.
On the other hand, there are not so good costs. Not so good costs include, what we affectionately call "bright shiny objects." These "objects" can be small dollar investments -- $47, $97, etc. And while there could be some desire for these to be "good" costs, the difference is in your "investment" of time and energy to have these investments "return" to your business. Which doesn't always happen because for some, the low cost doesn't always motivate you to take action.
Other costs that aren't so good for your business include the "unseen." No, that's not the name of a movie; it's hopefully a wake up call to monitor those monthly costs for running your business.
Let me give you a personal example. I use an article distribution service that I pay for monthly. If I don't submit an average number of articles a month, this cost becomes a "bad" cost for me…every month.
You may think that any costs in your business where you're not seeing a return can be considered a "bad" cost. However, I want you to look at these costs as a real opportunity to be the "boss" in your business. So what does that mean.
That means you will review your costs, monthly, and whatever is not helping you to reach more clients, grow your business and make more money gets "cut." That's what successful entrepreneur's and corporations do and that's what you're going to do to be more profitable. If you are unable or unwilling to "cut" them, then you MUST design a plan to recoup those costs in the next month.
"Good and bad" costs really are important to the growth of every business. How you make them "work" for you is the "key." And it is "how" you view your costs which gives you access to that "key."
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Chris Makell, creator the "6-Figure Small Business Incubator guides entrepreneurs to be in the truth of their business so that they experience "real" freedom, with ease. Get your complimentary list of time saving tools at http://www.chrismakell.com/resources-2/top-10-resources/
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