by Brian McKay
When people give you business advice, they’ll probably tell you that saving money is your biggest priority. That’s true a lot of the time and you shouldn’t spend any money that you don’t need to. But some people take this advice a bit too far and then they don’t spend money on the things that they really should be and that damages their business. These are the areas of your business that you need to spend more money on.
Design
Graphic design is a service that all businesses pay for to some extent. You need somebody to design your logo and branding etc. but a lot of people underestimate just how important that is. There are a lot of different ways that you can engage your customers visually but you can only do that if you invest a lot of money in design. Good branding is a vital part of your marketing campaign, it’s not just a logo to stick on your sign. If you don’t spend decent money on design, your company will come across as amateur and unprofessional and that’s never good.
IT Support
Technology is such an important part of all businesses and it can be a great tool to help you with productivity and improving the customer experience. But there are downsides to technology that need to be managed. First off, there is always a risk of cyber attacks which can be devastating to your business. Then you’ve got to consider any errors which can shut your business down, because you’re losing money until you can get things back up and running again. That’s why it’s important that you’re paying for top quality IT support rather than just trying to handle it yourself or hiring a single IT technician. If you’re outsourcing to a proper team, they’ll be able to help you manage any problems and protect yourself online. They’ll also be able to help you upgrade your software as and when you need it, which massively improves productivity. IT support doesn’t come cheap so make sure that you’re putting enough money aside to spend on it.
Legal Advice
If you’re waiting until you’re in legal trouble before you hire a lawyer, you’re doing it wrong. Running a business is a complicated thing and there are all sorts of tricky laws that you need to understand and comply with. Unless you’re a legal expert, you’re not going to know what you’re doing and you might not realize your mistake until it’s too late. It seems like it’s an unnecessary expense to pay for a lawyer right from the outset but if you don’t get that legal advice, you’re going to slip up somewhere.
Accounting
There are some great pieces of accounting software out there that can help you out but a lot of people overestimate how much they can do. If you don’t have a clue what you’re doing, buying accounting software isn’t going to solve all of your problems. You need to invest some money in an accountant who can handle the financial side of the business for you. There’s no room for error here so don’t try to get by without professional advice.
It seems counterproductive to start increasing your spending but in some areas, it’s absolutely necessary.