Not Buying A House

When you're ready to buy that first house you've always wanted, the best possible thing you can do is not buy that house! Applying this to your company, when you are ready to make that big investment in a new asset or offering, the best thing to do may be to not do it yet.

You can live in a house like this, and pay it off fast.

The Paradox Explained
This is not to say that you don't deserve a house, it's just that most people don't invest their money in a way that's more beneficial for them. Buying a beautiful one-family house is nice, but it locks you into a long-term mortgage, and though it builds equity, it's a very slow way to do so.

If you want to buy that family home, the best thing to do is buy something *else*. Something that generates money. Don't buy a one-family home, buy a three-family house. A three-family house will build equity, but it will also create up to three new sources of income! When you put your money into a money-generating investment, your loans are paid off more quickly, and once you completely own the investment, it continues making money! Once that house is paid off, you can go buy your one-family house, and you'll still have the three-family pouring money into your pocket.

Applying The Thought
You must think this way when it comes to every aspect of your business. When strategically planning which new goods or services you will roll out first, you must look for the ones that are going to be no-brainer revenue generators. It may take you longer to roll out the products you want, but it establishes the solid base from which every business aspires to have.

The best initial investments are the ones that generate money, and require the least amount of effort. For a non-profit, this could mean setting up an online way for people to donate money. For a corporation, this could mean establishing a robust phone system that offers resolutions to frequently asked questions, freeing up your employees to not answer the phone, and do other things. Remember, saving time is often just as good as earning money! And, a robust phone system can upsell your clients while they wait on hold by promoting new products, specials, and other good marketing.

When You Don't Have Such An Investment
If you don't see that you don't have a money-generating investment possibility, look harder. Many companies choose to install "convenient" investments like wireless internal networks (even though they have hardwired ones that are working fine), and totally ignore problems their staff are having. To those managers, the only possible investment on the table was the wireless network.

When opportunities arise, they're reminders that you should be actively meeting with you employees to see how things can be done better. Ask them what they spend the majority of their time doing. Ask them what could be done to make their day easier. It's quite possible that the people asking for the wireless network simply didn't know how to plug their computer into the wall properly (don't laugh, it happens more often that you think). Maybe training would be a better investment, or better yet, hiring a full-time trainer (it can cost $1000 a day and more to send one employee to a training seminar, but as little as $250 a day to have a full-time trainer who can teach up to ten people at a time!)

Think outside the box, and think about how you can put those money-generating investments first, in order to make the most of your time and money.