How To Invest Without Worrying
I spent hundreds of pounds today. I’m not worried about this in the slightest. It’s a business purchase and it’ll hopefully make a lot more in the long run than the amount I’ve spent.
Now, you might be a risk-averse person. So am I. If the idea of spending money is a scary one to you, you’re not alone.
Here’s where a little mental switch is what’s needed. If you’re worried about purchasing items to improve yourself or your business in anyway, use this article as a test to see whether you can justify it.
Switch From Consumer To Producer
The switch from a consumption-based mindset to a production-based mindset is the biggest and most important shift you can make in business.
If you see a terrible product and you think, “It’s time to go and moan about that on Twitter” or “How am I going to live now my fidget spinner is broken?” then you’re in a consumption-based model of thinking.
There’s nothing wrong with that and we all do it. But when you think as a consumer, everything is a cost. There’s a cost to buying a bad product (wasting your money) and there’s a cost to buy some luxury that’ll bleed you money down the line (like a car, house or kitten.)
When the prospect is only ever that you’ll lose money, it’s easy to become despondent or overly frugal.
The flipside though is if you get a bad product and you think, “Gee… even I could do a better job than this.”
Immediately, the whole experience changes according to your outlook. A broken product becomes a research spend. Money you spend today is a down-payment on the money you’ll get back. Suddenly, the prospect of losing that £500 doesn’t really matter because in any case, you’re going to make the money back and you’ll gain something from it.
Multiple Streams Of Revenue From One Experience
Today’s purchase was to a private membership forum. It included all kinds of guides, a directory of contacts and a set of private sites only open to members. It cost a lot – especially seeing as it’s not a niche I’m already working in.
But here’s my thought process for any eventuality.
Firstly; most places/products/services come with a money back guarantee. It’s very rare that if the products you buy are total duds you can’t get your money back. But that’s boring and hardly an article’s worth of material, so let’s talk about other avenues I considered:
If A Product You Buy Is A Dud
If you buy a dud product, then you should immediately switch from thinking like an outraged customer to a problem-solver in general. Rather than be the old fat guy at the customer service desk frothing at the mouth and spitting over the poor sixteen year old minimum-wage checkout-girl, instead say, “Right… where can I go with this?”
Here are some ideas:
- Product creation. This is simple; make a better version of the same product
- Online comparisons: Whether you write a niche blog that says, “Product A vs. Product B” or you find a better deal and send it to other potential customers via Facebook Ads, you can be an affiliate for the competition
- Info-Products; “How to fix the problem that Product X couldn’t solve.” You know that there’s a target market for people who need a problem fixed, because you’re in it.
- (Context Dependent) Simply offer your services to the company. Say, “Hey… your product is broken here’s how to fix it.”
Most of those will make your investment back. Remember, it’s not a cost in this mindset… it’s an investment for market research.
If The Product Is Good
If the product is good, you can maybe disregard the above ideas. After all, you’d hardly want to compete with people who helped solved your problem, would you?
Let’s assume that’s the case. You’ve spent $1000 on some product that has improved your life. That’s great, but how are you going to earn that investment back. Some ideas:
- Become an affiliate/partner/reseller. You’ve got the story, you’ve got the knowledge and you can take some photos and honestly document your progress using the product. Why wouldn’t you be their natural salesman?
- Create a service around the product. If you buy a nice car, you can make money from Uber. If you buy a power hose, then you can wash people’s cars or driveways or whatever. $10 a time will pay it off quickly.
- Write a book about solving your problem… and recommend the product. Preferably through an affiliate link.
- Create an adjacent product that works with the product. If you buy a great razor, sell shaving cream
- Create a better product anyway, loyalty be damned
All of these things are potential ways to get a return on the money you spent on the product in the first place, and they’ll generally work whether you’re spending money on a big expensive car or some cheap junk food.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking to buy something and it’s a bit daunting, then run through some of the above options and see how you could make your investment back. The above lists aren’t exhaustive, but they’ll give you an idea.
By far the most important thing though is to switch from thinking of yourself as a consumer of a product to a producer who is researching a market in order to provide it a solution.
If you really wanted to erase your doubt, check out this article on expected value too:
Expected Value: Risk Taking For The Cautious
That’s all for now.