Ways to Invest in Your Business That Go Beyond Dollars and Cents

• (Photo : Nattanan Kanchanaprat from Pixabay)

There is the old adage 'it takes money to make money' and in many ways that is true, but it is important to know that investing in your business means much more than simply putting money into it. As you peel back the layers of your small business you will quickly come to realize that you need to be much more intentional with how and where you spend your money. Aesthetics is great, but what will that investment get you? 

If all you can deduce is that it will get you a pretty façade, skip it, but if after doing some market research you come to realize that investing in aesthetics will improve your branding efforts and result in high numbers of new client acquisitions, then you should do it. That is just one example of a common thought process that you should be volleying as a business owner. Keeping in mind that example, below are a few other considerations for people willing to make investments into their businesses but unsure of where to start of what to commit to.

Invest in Your Operations 

The daily tasks that your business needs to accomplish to run smoothly might seem like once they are determined they can go onto auto pilot and still be effective. While in some cases that may be true, in others such a fleet management, it is anything but. Specifically, because there are things withing the logistics industry that are always changing, it is crucial that you invest in processes and systems that can help monitor the data needed to remain safe, compliant, and efficient day-to-day. Specifically, within the needs to managing your fleet, it is important to know that there is a responsibility placed on your drivers. 

It is, of course, up to you to educate, train, and communicate with them, but the truth is that once your vehicles are on the road, the driver really is where the buck stops. For things like weight restrictions for semi's and trailers, these are things that vary so it is important to be sure your road team understands the payload capacity of the vehicle they are driving. If they do not know the maximum amount of weight they may unintentionally overload their truck, thus impacting the safety and efficiency of the suspension and braking systems within their trucks. The investment here will help you learn to calculate towing capacity as well as general information about payloads.

Invest in Your Software

Doing things the old-fashioned way might not be hurting your business, but it certainly is not helping. If you hope to be able to scale, grow, and evolve, you must invest in software and technology. There are different types of learning management systems that you can decide between, based on your unique needs. This is one of the most overlooked aspects of investment for business owners though because the word technology implies expensive and that can be a tough pill to swallow. Instead of looking at the purchase price exclusively, look instead at everything that you are going to get in return for making that investment. 

First you should identify the areas that need the most support and go from there. If your customer service is running smoothly but you have noticed huge hiccups in your employee productivity, then use that data to steer your decision making towards software aimed at improving employee productivity to start. To gather this data, lean on your managers and employees. Have open and casual conversation about their needs and if they feel there are areas where technology could improve the quality of their work as well as their job satisfaction. While you will ultimately be the person making the final decision, doing so based on feedback from the people that it directly affects is not only a smart investment strategy but a proven way to boost morale and increase trust within the workplace.