As small home-based business owners, most of us are used to operating on a shoe-string budget. After all, we are in business to make money (among other things) and we do want to make a profit–part of making a profit in a small operation means keeping expenses under control. Still, we do have to spend some money on research and development if we are going to keep moving our business in the direction of growth.
I know that most of us are not huge corporations with a nice, fat, separate budget line item for marketing and one for research and development–but that doesn’t mean that we can’t put some expense money in the direction of development. After all, how else will we continue to expand, improve our products and services, or find new ways to solve problems and deliver our product?
There is truth to the old adage that you have to spend money to make money, but what does spending money on development mean? It depends on your industry or business, but it can mean spending money to improve a product or the packaging, it can mean expanding a product line or adding an additional service to your existing ones. Development means evolution, growth, expansion, improvement–all of these things are fabulous for any home-based business (or any business at all, for that matter) and are well worth the expense it takes to make this expansions and improvements.
As small business entrepreneurs, however, we can get gun-shy about taking expense risks and making changes in our product line or service delivery. This can be the death or stagnation of a business, however. Make sure that you are not just sticking with the status quo in order to keep expenses down–development is a key ingredient to growing a successful business operation!
Also: Doing Business Without Making Excuses
You Are the Money-Taking Charge of Your Business Income