How Do You Decide WHAT to Invest In? with Beryl Young

09/03/20 • 41 min

Engineering Calmer Agencies & Consulting Firms: Calm is the New KPI

When you're deciding what to invest in, examining the opportunity cost of your potential investments is a crucial part of the decision making process.

Every option includes a cost associated with it because any opportunity requires an investment of time, money, or resources—or all of the above!

And if we invest them in one initiative?

Then they're not available for other opportunities.

We all have a process we go through when we're thinking through new investments in our business. Whether you're conscious of your process or not... it's there.

In the last episode, you heard from Michelle Mazur about how she thinks about investments—that 3-6 month minimum investment. Today, we’re continuing the conversation about making investments in your business with Beryl Young.

Beryl is the founder & CEO of Momtography and Teentography, about how she decides what to invest in for her business. As a former elementary school teacher, Beryl's true calling is in education. Through a range of curriculum and programs for ANY type of skill level or camera, Momtography and Teentography is on a mission to show families how to unlock their creative potential and find a bit of joy in each and every day.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Beryl decides what to invest in—or not—for her business
The opportunity cost of the investments Beryl’s made over the years
The 3 main buckets where Beryl invested her resources and the outcome of each

Learn more about Beryl Young:

Learn more about Susan:

Scalespark Dollars + Decisions Roundtable
Twitter @ScaleSpark
LinkedIn @thesusanboles

When you're deciding what to invest in, examining the opportunity cost of your potential investments is a crucial part of the decision making process.

Every option includes a cost associated with it because any opportunity requires an investment of time, money, or resources—or all of the above!

And if we invest them in one initiative?

Then they're not available for other opportunities.

We all have a process we go through when we're thinking through new investments in our business. Whether you're conscious of your process or not... it's there.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How Beryl decides what to invest in—or not—for her business
The opportunity cost of the investments Beryl’s made over the years
The 3 main buckets where Beryl invested her resources and the outcome of each

Learn more about Beryl Young:

Learn more about Susan:

Scalespark Dollars + Decisions Roundtable
Twitter @ScaleSpark
LinkedIn @thesusanboles

Previous Episode

How to Approach Investments in Your Business with Michelle Mazur

Deciding whether or not to make an investment in your business — whether it's hiring a consultant, enrolling in a course, getting a new piece of software — is always a bit of a gamble.

You're trying to manage your risk, manage your cash flow, predict the future, evaluate the opportunity cost, and a million other parts and pieces.

All to answer the question, "Will it be worth it"? Because when it comes to return on investment, that's the question we're really trying to answer.

Many entrepreneurs ask whether the investment will make enough money to cover the expenses. But that's just scratching the surface. The return on investment question goes much deeper than that and involves many factors.

For the next month, we'll be talking about return on investment, how to think about it, how to evaluate it when it's murky, and, ultimately, how to use that to make better decisions about investment in your business.

To kick us off, today I'm talking to Michelle Mazur, the founder of Communication Rebel. Michelle helps business owners shake things up (but having trouble talking about it) through their messaging. In this episode, Michelle shares some of the significant investments she's made in her business that had a long payoff, her approach for evaluating investments in her business, and her view on the intangible, long-term benefits of those investments.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The framework for making investment decisions
What categories of things to consider and evaluate against
How to consider the intangible benefits that are often hard to measure
When big investments don't always pay off

Learn more about Michelle Mazur:

Learn more about Susan:

Scalespark Dollars + Decisions Roundtable
Twitter @ScaleSpark
LinkedIn @thesusanboles

Next Episode

When Your Values & Opportunities Collide with Nancy Jane Smith & Bonnie Gillespie

How do you decide what to invest in?

How do you examine the opportunity costs of that investment?

How do you make sure you're giving your investments every chance to succeed?

That's what we've been talking about in the Is It "Worth It"? Series. In the last part of this series, I spoke with Michelle Mazur about how to approach investments in your business and with Beryl Young about deciding WHAT to invest in.

In this episode, I want to talk about when an investment seems like a pretty straightforward payoff—but taking advantage of that opportunity might conflict with your values.

The question I’m asking, in addition to the others above, is: how do you balance the financial health of your business against your values?

Of course, those values SHOULD be an important consideration of any investment you’re making. But we all still need to make money in order for our businesses to survive.

In this episode, I’m talking with two guests, Nancy Jane Smith and Bonnie Gillespie, about their thought processes behind making some big business decisions.

Nancy is a Licensed Professional Counselor with thirteen years in private practice and has spent 20+ years working as a counselor and coach for people with high-functioning anxiety. She's written three books on living happier and is the host of the Live Happier podcast.

Bonnie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. As a weekly columnist, she began demystifying the casting process for actors in 1999. Her most popular book is Self-Management for Actors, the curriculum upon which her teaching is based. As a producer and Emmy-honored casting director, Bonnie specializes in indie darlings. Whether casting, coaching, or exploring the woo as The Astrologer's Daughter, she is passionate about leaving this world better than she found it.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

What if the ROI could be great, but it conflicts with your values?
Why Nancy decided to fully pull her business activities out of Facebook and Instagram—and why they were at odds with her personal values
What Nancy’s noticed in her business since leaving social media and how she’s grown her email list without the help of Instagram
How Bonnie uses her Facebook account strictly for business (and how she’s set it up that way)
The strategy behind Bonnie’s Facebook ads and why she prefers Instagram and Facebook to other social media or professional platforms

Learn more about Nancy Jane Smith:

Learn more about Bonnie Gillespie:

Learn more about Susan: