My Top 10 Best Investments

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Never miss an episode and subscribe and listen at dawnmcgruer.com. Welcome to episode 53 of Dawn of a New Era, the podcast with a difference, where we bring marketing, motivation and mindset all together, because these are the three core foundations I believe that any entrepreneur, business owner or leader needs to be successful. Now, in today's episode, I'm going to cover my top 10 best ever investments.

And the reason for this is that I get asked lots and lots and lots of times, where do I spend my money? And this is sort of to do with money that we have in the business, money that obviously I take out of the business, and what I'm actually kind of doing with that money, and where I believe that we should be sort of spending money in the coming year. Now, it's been a tough one, and I think lots of people have changed their outlook on their business, their outlook on their life, and I think the pandemic has kind of pushed us into being more focused into what we want to do, because life is so important. And, you know, to be honest, I've been guilty of this.

I have focused on so much of, you know, kind of getting to the end goal that maybe I have not embraced the journey as much as I could have done. And it's so important that when we're pushing every day, you know, that we have to be mindful and present. And, you know, it sounds a bit woo-woo, but I'm certainly not, you know, woo-woo myself or wouldn't class myself as it. But I have definitely got more in touch with myself and how I feel over the pandemic.

So when I think about what I have invested in and things that have been so impactful, so important to my life and to my business and to ultimately my success, then I want to share with you what those are, because I think it's really important. When I was starting my business at 21, one of the biggest things I just wanted, I craved. was a mentor, somebody who could just guide me on the right path, someone who I could sense-check things with, somebody who was just going to show me, you know, how to avoid some of the pitfalls and challenges that I actually fell into. I mean, I look back on business, and in the past 20 years, I look at where I've spent some money and invested, and, you know, some could say they were epic fails.

And, you know, in some degree they were, but they were a massive learning curve. And, you know, I've invested in things that I've maybe thought at the time, oh, you know, really, did that work out? But if I hadn't have done it, I wouldn't have known. So I always think about it as, you know, the past is gone.

You know, today is the day. And what I get so excited about is that if I feel a bit down and a bit depressed, I always think about 24-hour increments and think, you know, I'm never going to feel the same tomorrow. And I can always do little things, tweaks, to try and improve the feeling. Now, I sometimes can't change, you know, what's happened, and to be honest, in the past year, on top of the pandemic, I have had some horrific things happen.

And many people would look at me and think, God, you know, Dawn, you've done so much in the past 12 to 18 months. But I probably have ploughed so much of my effort into my businesses during that time as a bit of a distraction. And something that I've become super aware of is that work is where I feel centered, where I have control and, to a degree, a little bit of certainty. So I do tend to turn to work a lot more than I should do because it's been a very difficult time in the past 12 months when, you know, you're working from home, you've no travel breaks or anything like that to step out of the business.

So I've had to try and think of more creative ways to, you know, to try and change my focus and to get that separation because I am never at my best thinking or my most creative when I am just full into something. Now, I love distracting myself with lots of Lots of different things because I don't like to put too much onus on one thing. Now, at the moment, I'm launching a massive new program in September, and it's a lot of work. But the thing is, is if I put all of my focus, all of my attention onto it, it would become kind of almost overwhelming.

Now, this kind of brings me back into where I put my investments. You know, how do I spend my money? Well, one of the things that has been central to me is if I think back to when I was 21, what did I need? Well, I needed to learn, and I had a steep learning curve of starting a business, you know, doing things like accounts and all those lovely things that, you know, we have to do, but we don't necessarily want to do.

So what I did, first of all, was I started to delegate. I mean, I could not build a team at 21 when I'm starting out. It's just, you know, it's not feasible. When people talk about this, it just makes me, you know, crazy because it's like you can't invest in a team if you don't have the money.

And, you know, when you're starting out, let's be fair, I went through feast and famine. You know, I started my business and I'd get a contract and I'd be trying to get the next one in. And until I got my business going, I didn't have the money to invest in a team. It was me doing all of the hard work, and I had to then invest in my own skills and training.

So yes, I delegated things that I could do. So I would try and have money for things that I knew I absolutely couldn't do, okay? So things like, you know, accounts, they were not ever going to be my forte. I'm not good with that side of things, and it was something I procrastinated over.

So when I got to the point where I did have a bit of cash, the first thing I did was I got outsourcing all of my accounts, all my bookkeeping, things like that. So I did it in trickle stages. So do not ever feel disheartened that if you are in your business, regardless of what age or stage you are, when people talk about the team and building it, it's all a load of rubbish unless you have Have the money to put behind it, you know. At the end of the day, you have to be central to your business.

And yes, there is a growth period where you have to kind of think about bit by bit delegation, and then you ultimately can build a team if you need one. You don't necessarily need fancy offices, and you could work from home and have an amazing multi-million business empire. You know, it's all about how you design your business, and don't fall into the trap where people are, you know, having all this vanity about teams and offices. I've seen some of the most successful businesses run out of people's home offices, right?

It's all about revenue coming in, yeah, but it's more important about the profit, right? So you have to think about building a team, but also thinking about trickle delegation, right? Trickle delegation is just micro-outsourcing bit by bit until you get to that point. If you never want staff, don't have staff.

Just use amazing suppliers and subcontractors and freelancers who are specialists in their field, because not always do you have the capability to train. I did not when I was working, traveling, training, speaking. I didn't have time to invest in, you know, in training, because you've got to think this is someone else's career. They're not just there to work for you.

They want to progress. They want professional development, and you have to be prepared to invest in that. So don't have a team if you don't feel that you can be the leader to serve them properly, to work in your business and to be part of it, but also to progress their own career. You know, they all have their own motivations.

Now, the second thing what I did is when I first started out is I thought, what are going to be the most powerful tools to invest in terms of me? So I'd done some micro-delegation, and I thought, right, what is going to get me out there? What is going to get my message out to as many people as possible and just get that visibility? Now, bearing in mind, like— Like 20 years ago, social media was just starting out.

So was the world of digital. So it wasn't huge. But I knew if I could get on stage and I could speak to large audiences, I would have video content, I would be reaching a large level of people, and I would ultimately get more and more speaking gigs. So I invested in a speaking training course and a coach, and I worked with Andy Harrington.

Some of you may know him. And I went to Dubai and I did the seven-day elite intensive. I worked with him over a year. I spoke on his stage.

I did all of these amazing things. It was absolutely terrifying, but terrific all at the same time, because I didn't like putting myself out there. I was terrified of speaking in front of people and being judged. You know, it's one thing getting on a stage and talking about your own thing, but when you're actually going through training and someone's assessing and talking and giving feedback, it is really gut-wrenching.

And I was not someone

who loved speaking publicly and, you know, to think that I got to the point where I won Best Female Speaker in 2018, that is massive. And it's something that I will be so proud of all of my life, right? Because I went through a lot of pain to get to that point. And now, when I get on stage, I absolutely love it.

Don't get me wrong. Before I go on stage, I always get a little bit of tingling, a little bit of nerves, and a bit of adrenaline flowing, but that serves me really well because that's a zone that I operate in, and it pushes me on. So when I get on stage, I know it's really impactful, and there's no better feeling than when you come off stage and people come and talk to you and say, you know, you really inspired me, or you touched me when you talked about this, and being able to share your story that way. Now, if that does terrify you, then just think about, you know, doing lives, doing video, getting yourself out in a way that feels comfortable to you, because it's not for everyone, you know, otherwise we'd all be professional speakers, right?

So don't fall into something that you feel you have to do it. Do what you know that you can feel comfortable and is going to be powerful and impactful for you. Now, I also invested in coaches and mentors. I've joined masterminds and things like that.

I invested in the things that I knew that were going to have a real tangible benefit. And I honestly, when I show up for something, I show up. And, you know, we've probably all been there where, you know, you've kind of been enticed onto sort of an online course or a program or something like that. I will sit and think about this and think, if I'm going to sign up, What is the point unless I'm actually going to be pushing forward?

So many people have said to me that I've worked with either one-to-one or on programs that, Dawn, you know, I cannot believe how much you've just put into the program. But the thing is, is I've come out and I've felt, you know, totally inspired and invigorated because when you commit to something, it's really powerful in terms of what it does internally. And, you know, if you're going to invest in a program, you have to be in it. And this is something that I say on my own programs: do not ever come on one of my programs if you don't want results, because it's not a win-win for anyone.

You have to think, right, do I have the time? Do I really want this? And when you invest in something and you've got some skin in the game, you show up in a way that you have never showed up before because you want it and you need it. And this is something that I think we all need to refocus on.

If there is something that's holding you back, you need to stop and think, how are you going to get past this? You cannot continue every single day with something that is blocking you and challenging you. I have done a lot of internal work with myself, how I feel about things, you know, even the public speaking. There was obviously something there that I wasn't as comfortable with public speaking that I had to get over with.

And it's like anything, once you do something and you become more confident with it, you begin to enjoy it. You know, so I went from absolute, you know, terrified to coming off and just feeling tremendous. So think about what you're investing in. As I say, team, trickle investment into things like delegating duties.

Build a team if you want one, build offices if you want one, you know, and get premises if you need them. But second thing was obviously investing in you, skills that will serve you, things that you can actually earn money through. So what is it that you believe is going to get your product, your service out there, and what is going to make the difference? There's always a game changer.

So many people come to me because they say, Dawn, I need to learn ads. You know, ads are my absolute speciality, right? So, you know, we are getting huge, huge returns. I think, like, back to when I first started ads and where we are now.

I mean, you know, it's game-changing stuff. Like, our ads don't cost us money; they just drive revenue. People come to me because they want to be able to shop in social media and not actually just, you know, be there with all the fluff and the posting, but actually turn connections into clients. So when people think about Dawn, they think digital marketing, and, you know, it could be that people will come and do, you know, a course or they learn social media.

But it's fundamentally all about online marketing, and it encompasses business strategy, and that's exactly what I've done for the past 20 years with the agency and the academy. So I know what works for my business, and basically I've used the investment in these skills to take my message out there, but also to train and teach other people, you know, and I've turned this sort of passion into my profit. And I love online marketing. You know, if you don't know my background, I was a programmer, and I soon realised that wasn't the exact fit for me.

I was a little bit more creative. I wanted to be out there doing things, and, you know, I'm half extrovert, half introvert, you know, and I would say I'm a kind of mix. Sometimes I want to be out there, sometimes I don't, and I don't want to be on social media every single day. I find it absolutely exhausting, and people think that's crazy because I work in digital.

But there is a way, there is a system and a process that works, and if I can show up for 10 minutes a day in my genius zone, feeling authentic, and I can turn my connections into clients doing that process, of course I'm going to do it. You know, I don't want to be laboursome in the way that I market online. I want to be really powerfully present. I want to be persuasive, and I want to have impact with people, and I want to build deeper connections.

And this is something that has really inspired the new... The new program that I'm launching in September, and something that I feel a lot of people will resonate with because I want to put the fun back in business. I am a little bit done with people saying, You've got to do this, you've got to do this, you've got to do this, and you hear it and you see it, and, you know, there's all of this sort of online coaches and gurus out there. But do you know what?

Let's just take it back to basics and look at what fundamentally is good business, what earns money, what gives you the freedom and flexibility that you want as an entrepreneur or a business owner or a leader, and this is really what it's about. So my next investment is about me, and one of the things that I've really struggled with is self-care because I'm really into business. I love it. I could work in business all day, and it's doing things that I want to do, you know, rather than things that I think I need to be doing.

And I've had to take time out, and I've just completed a six-week program, getting rid of all my lockdown weight and getting myself reinvigorated, basically. So I invested in a personal trainer. I did a six-week program. They did my food plan.

I went three times a week. I also did some additional exercise at home on my treadmill, and I feel brand new. You know, I lost 15 pounds. I mean, who knew I could put that much weight on during lockdown?

But I did. But now I just feel so differently, but not just physically in terms of fitness, not just because I can fit back into my clothes, but mentally I am switched on. I cannot tell you the difference. Who would think that, you know, exercise can have such an impact?

And it's just that whole process of getting out the house or getting on my treadmill and just feeling that I am investing back in me, and it is so powerful. Now my next one, it kind of follows on from this. This is all about apps that I use. Sleeping for me was something that I always used to kind of go to bed and run things through my mind, and I'd find that I was still awake at like three, four in the morning.

I don't really need a lot of sleep, but I kind of get up at seven. I'm not like your four o'clock, five o'clock a.m. person.

Never will be. Just not for me. And, you know, if it suits other people, then absolutely go for it. You've got to do what's right for you.

But my apps that I use is I use an app called Calm, and I love it because I have it when I'm out walking, I have it on when I'm sleeping, and sleep stories. It's the only thing that makes me go to sleep. I get so involved in the story, not that I've ever heard the ending, but I love it, and I feel really, really kind of just chilled when I wake up in the morning. And I never really wanted to take things like sleeping tablets and that.

I want to do it naturally. I want to always find the root, the cause, the issue, and solve it in a way that means that I'm not putting something into my body. So find some apps that help you. I use it when I'm out walking, and I listen to all sorts of different things.

You can do mindfulness, you can do meditation, but it's whatever works for you. I also take my Peloton app out, and I do walks, power walks with it, and I love it. I just, you know, I feel like I've got someone with me spurring me on, and it's great. So again, you know, when I'm on my running machine, I do power walking opposed to running.

I have my iPad on there, and I have this routine where I just kind of watch the news in the morning, I do my 45 minutes on it, and I love it. And this brings me on to my next investment. Well, I went out and bought a hot tub during lockdown. It was just one of these lazy spa ones, first of all, and then my partner broke it.

So we've just invested in a big grown-up one, a solid one. It's huge. It's got hydro spas, and it sounds really lavish, but do you know what? During lockdown, it was a saviour for me and my partner.

We'd finish work and we'd get in the hot tub, and just having that relaxation, that time where we actually just sit and talk to each other for like 20 minutes is so game-changing, right? I cannot tell you the difference that I feel. I mean, what we do now is we get up at seven, he goes on his Peloton, I go on my treadmill, and we do 45 minutes, and then we get changed, we go in the hot tub, and then we have breakfast. We never had breakfast before in our lives, right?

So we've changed this whole routine. But the togetherness that I feel from it, and just having that time before starting work has been incredible.

And it's something that I'm going to continue on and on. Now, we've talked about, as I say, delegating teams, premises, investing in skills that are powerful for you, looking at investing in self-care, things like exercise. We've looked at apps, but what other things help me? Well, obviously doing things like my hot tub.

But a really important one has been, and this started during lockdown, is about adventure and really putting the fun back into my life, my day, my business. Now, I have adventure in two categories: one at home and one at work. And this is the one we often neglect. I mean, most of you will be thinking about things like holidays and planning and going out and seeing friends and doing all those lovely things.

But in work, you need adventure too. So what were the things that I love doing at work? Well, I loved meeting people, networking, speaking on stage, meeting for lunch, going to masterminds. I loved all of those elements.

So I want to put them all back in. So each week, I need adventure in my work life, and this is something that I would urge you to do. Put some fun time in work, because who said business has to be boring? It doesn't.

I've always really loved business because I used to think, it's crazy that I get paid to show up in a room, talk about something I absolutely love, and help other people, right? So this is what I love doing. So for me, it doesn't feel like work. Work is when I have to do things I don't like doing.

That's kind of how I feel the difference. So when I look at my week, I look at all of the items, and I can tell by my energy and how I feel when I look at my diary, like, am I loving this? And I think, oh, exciting, I'm doing a three-day course or I'm speaking at this event. And then if I look at something else, I think, oh, I've got to do this.

I just straight away remove it, okay? So look at adventure, get planning. Now, the next one follows on from this. This is all about routine, and I just kind of fell into this rut where people were just sticking things in my diary.

Or my team had access, and it was just like, oh my goodness. And, you know, stuff was popping up that I didn't even know was coming in. So I just was waking up and, like, looking at my calendar, and it was so full that I was like, oh wow, Dawn, aren't you busy? But I don't want to be a busy fool.

I want to have Dawn time, and I want to have time to do what I want to do. And I need flexibility. I need freedom. I know that I could not work for anybody because I just like to do what I want to do in the way I want to do it, right?

So I started time blocking in my calendar. So I use Google Calendar, have it on my phone, and I can see everything. Everything's color coded. I put in care-free time, time where I don't have anything.

I have time where it's my personal time to do appointments, you know, if I needed to go to the hairdressers or the dentist and things like that. But I don't just want to be, you know, spending time out of my business doing jobs and errands. I want care-free time, you know, time that I may even just not do anything for. Like I might just go, I've got three hours this afternoon.

What am I going to do? You know, and that excitement, invigoration just gets me into my creative zone. Sometimes I'll just walk down to the village. I'll go for a coffee, even on my own, and just sit with my own thoughts.

And I'll just bring a pen and paper, a little pad. I'll draw things out, and I come back and I just feel free. I just feel like I've got space and I've got time, and I come up with some of my best ideas in my care-free time. But my care-free time could have nothing to do with business.

You know, if I just want to go and have a nap, I mean, why not? You know, I think we are now so work-focused with the fact that we're digitally connected that we feel that we have to be on, you know, 24 hours. You don't, you know. If you want to work three hours in your work, brilliant.

Celebrate it. Just think how blooming well savvy you are to be able to do that, you know? So for me, everything this year, from September onwards, my program is about working smarter, not harder, right? It is about fun.

It's about invigorating your business. Switching things up and using all of the things that have worked for me in my business with my clients, and I cannot tell you how excited I am. We have amazing masterclasses, things that I just wish, I wish I'd had, right? Even like 10 years ago, I wish I'd had something like this where, you know, someone is actually there to talk to, someone is there to go, No, this is an absolutely ridiculous idea, or, Do you know what, Dawn?

Maybe if you switch this up a bit, you know? I needed that focus, and I don't think there's much out there that does that. Now, next one: automation and ads. Now, I told you how much ads make a difference.

So the difference for me is when someone said, you know, I don't have enough customers. My business is not profitable. It's not sustainable, or I need more clients, right? Simple.

Ads are the easiest, quickest way of doing it, and it's surefire. It's certainty. I have never had ads that don't work. Never in my life.

I love ads because you can switch them on and you start getting leads straight away. And, you know, the thing is, is once you've learned the system of ads and the process, it's like a template. You do one and you just change it up. And once you've done like two, three ads, it's like you know how to use them.

Social media ads have never been cheaper. We are getting amazing responses from them, even with things like the iOS changes, right? But it's because we're working on it, you know, not just for ourselves, but, you know, yes, we practice what we teach, but we're doing it for clients each and every day in the agency. We're teaching it in the academy, and every single one of us, all of us, are Chartered Institute of Marketing accredited trainers and examiners.

But we're all, you know, consultants too. You know, this is why we've got finger on the pulse. We know exactly what tools work and what strategies are working right now in business today. And automation.

I've now pretty much kind of stepped out of day-to-day running of the academy and the agency. I'm still totally integrally involved in delivering content and training and doing all the bits that I absolutely love. But in terms of the processes, I'm not there because my team are there to support me. But the biggest part has been putting in automation and making sure that everything from sort of onboarding customers through to, you know, marketing and sending out digests and things like that, that it's all automated, you know.

And this is so important, and it's something that I would absolutely encourage you to invest in, you know, from getting a free guide out to having an email series that follows it up. So lead generation is one thing, but you have to have the nurture in place. And by nurture, I mean having means of contact that you are not responsible for to keep, you know, touching base, developing the relationship with this potential client, you know, and these are the— These are the things that can happen while you are sitting, having a coffee, and this is not, you know, being disengaged in your business. This is being totally engaged because the more time you free up, the more processes are happening, the more efficient it is for you, but also the experience is more improved for the potential customer.

Okay. Now, last but not least, people always say, you know, where would I put my money? Well, these last two points out of my ten investment strategies, one is property. I started a property business with my partner, oh, probably just before lockdown, and we managed to buy our first property before we went into lockdown.

So we've only got two, so, you know, we're not quite on the property empire yet. But, you know, we invested in a house of multiple occupancy, HMO. So we bought a six-bed, six en suite, and we rent that out to professionals. And, you know, that's really, really good money that you're getting in.

You know, you're getting six people paying rent, and, you know, we get a good return. Now, that business, in probably two years' time, will take us to the point where both me and my partner have all of our joint bills paid. Now, isn't that marvelous to think that, wow, you know, those properties will be funding all of our bills, and then all of the other money that comes in that we have from other businesses, then we can use to grow our property, invest in more things. But— Where else would I put my money?

Well, last but not least, my final one, number 10, is probably the most important. What I started doing this year was doing a financial plan, and you're going to think this sounds crazy, but mapping out all of my income till the day I die. How uplifting. But let's assume, you know, average age of death is like 100.

We mapped out, me and my financial planner, everything that I had in terms of income and pensions and policies and all of these things, looking at protecting me now and also for the future. And as much as it was like, you know, a cathartic experience to kind of get that control, it really did give me a plan of action. It felt like I was actually planning for my retirement. And I've got stages whereby at 45, 50, 55, those are the three dates that I have targets to aim for.

So as I said, like, I'm 42 now. At 45, my property business will totally fund all of our bills. I don't have a mortgage. I was mortgage-free at 33.

And I'm now looking at, well, okay, if I'm putting my money into things like property, where else would I put my money? Well, pension is one of them. And pension is a biggie because obviously, you know, that is protected by your trust. It also gives you benefits for

That corporation tax, but it also means that I can see exactly how much I will get when I retire. And the thing is, is you can take your pension out before you retire. You can release some of it in advance. You can do all sorts of different things, but you need to be thinking about your provision.

But also, do you really want to retire at like 65 or 68 or whatever it's going to be? You know, do you want to have like stages in your life where you just do things slightly differently? And this is how I've looked at it. My financial plan takes me through everything from like the next couple of years, where my money will be going, what I'm investing in.

Honestly, this is something I would urge you to do, and it's something that I have brought into my Power Circle program. The reason for this is that when you are a business owner or a corporate leader or an entrepreneur, whatever you want to term yourself as, is that you need to make sure that you have a business that either you're going to sell, a business that's going to fund you, or, you know, whatever your lifestyle is going to be, you need to make sure that you have that money to enjoy life. And it doesn't mean that you just work all your time until you retire to enjoy it. You can do different stages.

So this is a big part of it. The journey for me is about making sure that the business is growing and scaling in a way that's comfortable to the owner. Also, how to market yourself really powerfully and show up in a way that's authentic, but then also having fun while you're doing this and looking after yourself and making sure that you're bringing these three things together: marketing, motivation, and mindset. The most powerful resources that we have are ourselves, you know, and if we are performing well, then our businesses will perform well.

So there's my top 10. I'm going to run through them just so you've got a list. Invest in yourself, speaking and coaching. I invest in property.

I invested in PT and my treadmill. Investing in your team or outsourcing. And looking at things like apps that you can utilize to help yourself in whatever it is. You know, I use Calm or whatever for sleeping.

Getting a calendar and some time blocking in place. Automation and ads, making sure that you've got leads coming into the business. Believe you me, if you've got leads that are turning into customers each and every day, it's very hard not to have a sustainable and extremely profitable business. So once you solve that one, that means that you are onwards and upwards onto doing other things, and your day changes.

You become someone who is optimizing your business rather than just trying to actually make the business work. Adventure and holidays, and having adventure in business as well as in your personal life. Getting something that you really want into your living space. So for me, I bought a hot tub.

I invested in that. You know, you can invest in whatever you want. If you want to redo a room, you want to change your workspace, whatever it is, but do something that makes you feel good. And then last but not least, a financial plan.

So I hope this was useful, and I hope it was an insight into what I spend my money on, but things that have been the most positive impact in my life and also for my success. So I shall see you on next week's episode, and don't forget to subscribe to Dawn of a New Era, and you can keep in touch with me also on social media. LinkedIn is probably the best one. Come and connect with me.

Search Dawn McGruer. There's only one, so I'll come up number one, and I shall see you then. I'd love to hear from you. Take care.

Thank you for listening to Dawn of a New Era podcast, and for your free checklist to find out how to boost your business for growth, profit, and success, and join our community, go to dawnmcgruer.com.