Do you ever feel shame, anger, or resentment around business investments you’ve made in the past – to the point where it’s months or even years later – but, you’re still obsessing over it and just can’t let it go?
Maybe there’s a program you’re thinking of investing in, but when you imagine doing so, you start worrying about whether or not you’ll actually see a return on your investment?
If you answered yes to either question, I want you to know that I used to have the EXACT SAME feelings around making investments in my business and like you – it was really holding me back from getting the results I wanted.
I felt overwhelmed, unhappy, and really trapped by my own beliefs stuck in a cycle of shame, blame, and resentment.
Well, today I’m sharing a personal story of the very first “big” business investment I made and how things didn’t exactly go as planned. These are details I’ve never talked about before, but that ultimately led me to a powerful transformation.
That transformation led me to a few crucial insights that could be the exact thing that you need to break through your own plateau and I’m sharing all of them with you today.
Let’s get started!
My name is Caitlin Bacher, CEO of Scale With Success®, and I’m on a mission to help course creators all over the world grow their business in a way that is profitable and scalable. I’m sharing revealing insights about what it really takes to scale an online course business to millions of dollars per year. Join me here to discover the tough decisions I’ve had to make, the biggest failures I’ve had to bounce back from, and the learnings that emerged every step of the way. I’m so grateful that I have the chance to tell you everything right here on Scale With Success®: The Podcast. Let’s get started.
Since starting my business, I’ve invested millions of dollars into growing it.
I started out as a freelancer doing social media management for small businesses. After that I offered 1:1 consulting around social media marketing and after that I began selling courses around social media marketing.
After I made millions selling courses about social media marketing via my own Profitable Sales Engine™ – I started getting more and more requests for help from other course creators who wanted to build their own Profitable Sales Engine™…and eventually, I started selling products and programs around helping course creators do it themselves.
Along my journey from freelance social media manager to CEO of a multi-million dollar online course business, MILLIONS of dollars were invested by me into coaches, courses, employees, advertising, software, contractors, agencies, and more.
I feel it’s important to share that with you because, again, I believe in teaching what I know and investing in my business is one thing I know A LOT about.
When I first began growing my business, I felt a lot of shame and guilt around investing in my business. Until then, I’d always been an employee – and the mindset of an employee is NOT to spend the vast majority of your paycheck into professional growth and development. To make matters worse, none of my friends or family were business owners.
So, the whole concept of spending money to make money was just completely foreign to me.
Someone DMd me on Instagram the other day and asked me if I thought it was possible to grow a million dollar business without any type of coaching or support – and I said no.
I’m sure there are outlier cases of that happening, especially if you have friends or family that are successful business owners in a similar industry as you that can offer coaching and support for free – but, for the average course creator such as myself – it wouldn’t have been possible.
I knew I had to invest in courses and coaching, but doing it felt scary and as I said before, a little embarrassing to do.
Why do I need so much help?
Who do I think I am to invest in my business?
What would other people say if they knew I was investing this much?
I mean I could go on and on with all the anxious thoughts I used to have about investing.
I think part of me believed that one day, I wouldn’t need to invest in my business – that somehow I’d reach this pinnacle of success where investing in my business was no longer needed.
Well, that could not be further from the truth – which takes me to the first powerful insight.
1. A business requires continuous investment in order to grow.
I remember the first time I joined a mastermind. I was like, well, this mastermidn lasts for a year – so I’ll do the 12 months and then all my problems will be solved!
I was two months in when I began to realize JUST HOW MUCH I didn’t know. To be honest – this felt a bit frustrating! I mean, hello, I just made the biggest business investment of my life – doesn’t that mean I’m entitled to immediate results? Shouldn’t I become a millionaire overnight? I’m working hard, so how come I’m not rolling in money?
Saying that out loud makes me cringe, but yep, that was me.
The mastermind was sort of split into two cliques – and I wasn’t really sure which one I belonged in – so I was kinda testing them both out.
There was one group who spent most of their time complaining and dramatizing their experience. They were super easy to talk to and would pretty much welcome ANYONE who loved to complain.
But, then there was another group…
This group of people hadn’t yet achieved their goals, but they also seemed VERY interested in doing the work to achieve them. It’s almost like they didn’t expect overnight success – WHAT? I thought that’s what making big, splashy investments in my business was all about.
But, hanging out with this group made me see that overnight success wasn’t actually a thing – and in fact trying, failing, making mistakes, testing, and then getting a tiny win to start WAS THE THING.
As the months passed, most of the complainers from that mastermind sort of faded away – not by choice. I think the host of the mastermind started telling them to quit complaining because it was ruining the experience for others, so they ended up creating their own separate group where they could complain to their heart’s content.
I am eternally grateful that I never gave up and I didn’t get sucked into joining the complainer group…because if I did there is NO WAY I would be where I am today.
I don’t mean to say that the complainers were bad people, but if they spent as much time growing their own business as they did complaining – they’d probably have nothing to complain about! I truly do hope they joined other programs, changed their outlook, and went onto getting the results they were hoping for…which leads me to my second powerful insight.
2. Your success is up to you.
If you are approaching a business investment with the mindset of “I hope this works for me”, you’re doing it wrong and here’s why…
Asking someone “will this work for me?” or joining a program and saying “I hope this works for me,” is putting the failure or success of your business in someone else’s hands. So, it’s NO WONDER that investing in your business feels so scary.
If I looked at investing in my business in that way – it would feel scary to me, too!! Scary, but also kinda comfortable. I mean, if you put your failure or success in the hands of someone else – then you’ve always got someone else to blame.
I mean let’s be real! Signing up for a program with the attitude of “this course better be good enough to fix my entire life” means that if your entire life isn’t fixed – YOU are not to blame…the course is, which is super convenient if you don’t want to take accountability but COMPLETELY WRONG if you’re actually looking to grow.
Here’s what I know to be true. There is no successful CEO on the planet who views investing as, “I hope this works for me!”. Zero. They don’t put their success in the hands of anyone else ever…because they operate from the belief that they take 100% accountability for their results.
What would it feel like for you to approach every investment you made with the belief you were committed to getting results – no matter what…
I mean really think about it, how would you describe a fellow course creator you just met in a program and you say, “Well, I really hope this course works for me,” and they look you straight in the face and say, “I’m committed to getting a return on my investment no matter what.”
TOTALLY DIFFERENT ENERGY.
I’m committed to getting a return on my investment even if this coach sucks.
I’m committed to getting a return on my investment even if the content blows.
I’m committed to getting a return on my investment even if I’m confused and need to ask questions.
I’m committed to getting a return on my investment even if someone else is complaining.
I’m committed to getting a return on my investment even if it takes me three times as long as everyone else to do so.
I mean…damn.
I can tell you right now who I’d bet money on reaching their goals!!
3. Success begets success.
The level of personal accountability that you embody now is exactly what those on your team will emulate.
Do you want someone on your team that shows up on Day 1 and says, “I hope this job works for me! But, I might give up if I have questions, things get hard, or I get pushed outside my comfort zone. Also, if my boss makes a mistake, I’m probably going to start a private message thread with some other co-workers and just complain non-stop”?
OR
Do you want someone on your team to show up on Day 1 and say, “I am here to achieve company goals no matter what – even when it’s hard, even when I’m confused, even when I make mistakes, even when I see others reach their goals faster than me. I will not give up and if you ever notice I’m falling into a victim mindset and complaining – I welcome you bringing that to my attention so I can immediately course correct because I’m here to win.”
Be the example. Be the team member you want to have. Be the client you want to serve.
That is how you become unstoppable – not by being perfect, but by being accountable.
To recap here are three powerful insights to getting a return on EVERY investment you make:
1. A business requires continuous investment in order to grow.
2. Your success is up to you.
3. Success begets success.
I appreciate you being here and tune in next week for another episode of Scale With Success® – The Podcast.
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