Yahoo Finance I Spent $500 Trying To Earn Additional Income: 2 Reasons It Didn’t Work
Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus is credited with the quote, “You must spend money to make money.” While he certainly did not know that his quote would still be popular thousands of years later, it’s one of the most common among business owners today.
But spending money to make money isn’t always successful and can, in fact, cause many businesses to fail. As business coach, marketing strategist and copy advisor, Suzanne Reilley shared, it doesn’t always have to end in heartache. Here are a few reasons her spending $500 to increase her earnings didn’t work — and what she learned along the way.
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Not Enough Research on Her Audience
“If I had to advise any new or established business owner looking to invest $500 in their business wisely, I recommend any course, advisor or tool that can help them clarify their ideal client,” said Reilley.
When she first started, she wasn’t sure what she was looking for, so she decided to pursue leads via cold marketing and hired a copywriter to help her draft some long social media posts. She didn’t get any sales and ended up extremely disappointed.
While she had a goal, the copywriter warned her that despite his best work, this was risky and would likely not result in a great return on investment. Still, she insisted, and it backfired. It’s great to be laser-focused on a goal for your business, but not at the expense of wasting money that could be better spent elsewhere.
Learn More: How To Earn $750 a Week in Passive Income
Some Last-Minute Business Efforts Aren’t Worth It
“I learned that one-off, last-ditch business efforts can be stressful and are rarely effective,” Reilley admitted.
Last-minute outsourcing without a clear vision can be stressful, especially if you don’t have time to review your or someone else’s work. “Sure, there are crunch times, but digital marketing and online business growth is much more a marathon than a sprint.”
If you need last-minute help, try platforms like Fiverr or ask your colleagues for recommendations.
Hard Work Pays Off
Instead of dwelling on her $500 investment not going how she wanted, she took this time to learn more about her craft and apply it to her future. She continued learning about brand strategy, copywriting, the user journey and how most people want to get to know you a little better before buying — although out-of-the-blue sales do happen! By learning more about her audience, she could create more in-depth strategies.
She also learned how to craft single emails and landing pages, “but also how each of those messages work together to create a larger, seamless, ongoing conversation.” By learning how to make the words flow naturally, you can build long-standing relationships with clients who trust you and often come back for your services when starting a new project.
If you are going to invest $500 in yourself, Reilley recommends researching what you want most and folding this information into clear, engaging, customer-focused messaging.
You can bounce back after a mistake — just don’t give up.
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