Investing In Yourself - Counterintuitive Realization #3

When I first started freelancing, I was very frugal.

PB&Js, simple clothes, and sharing a studio apartment made me feel good about myself. Like I was making the sacrifices I needed to in order for this to work.

To some degree, this was true. I learned to design a sustainable lifestyle, and fought hard against the comparison that could have tanked my endeavors.

Until this started to bleed over into my business.

I became way too frugal. I refused to spend money on anything. It took me months of designing graphics on free softwares before I finally upgraded to Photoshop and Illustrator. I worked from the couch and the kitchen counter for about a year before I finally got a desk. I never took clients out to dinner, because I could easily pocket that money.

It was only after I spent the money on these things that I realized how they could help me make more money.

I was so concerned with saving $70 here, and $40 there, that maybe I pocketed a few hundred extra dollars per month. But I wasn’t doing the things that had potential to make me a few thousand extra dollars per month.

Looking back, it was this kind of short term thinking that stunted my initial growth and sabotaged my client relationships.

It was counterintuitive to me at first, but I encourage you to spend the money that can help you make more money.

Good luck out there!