HN Haus Podcast

Best Investments We've Made To Grow

• Hannah Nieves • Episode 76

Share episode

In this episode, we’re covering business investments: the good, the bad, and everything in between. It can feel overwhelming to know where to focus your energy and money as a founder, but through years of experience, we’ve discovered an approach that ensures we’re doing our due diligence and asking the right questions before investing. Join us as we look at some of the best investments we’ve made and the mindset shift that’s transformed the way we make financial decisions. 


IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:

(1:32) The investment that will grow your brand the fastest 

(3:04) What to do before outsourcing tasks 

(4:49) Different tech that supports scaling 

(6:19) The ROI on events, masterminds, and retreats 

(9:29) Lessons learned from ‘bad’ investments 

(12:19) Trusting your intuition as a business owner 


RESOURCES

- Learn more about HN Haus services: hnhaus.com 

- Clickup 

- Honeybook 


CONNECT WITH HANNAH:

Follow the Founder: @hannahmnieves 

Follow HN Haus: @hnhaus 

Join our Email Community for monthly resources, tips and exclusive content!

Speaker 0:

All right, hello everyone, welcome back to the H1House podcast. I'm your host, hannah Nieves, and today we're talking about business investments. This is one of the number one questions I get. As a business owner, you know being in the business, launching several businesses, and we've made a lot of investments. So this is going to be a little bit of a spicy conversation because we're going to be talking about some of the good, some of the bad, how we make business investments and decisions and things to look out for as well. So I just want to start off with that.

Speaker 0:

I know that there's a lot of people online that teach you that you can start and scale a million dollar business with nothing. That can't be farther from the truth. When it comes to building a business, whether it's just a side hustle to replace some money on the side, you know, working a corporate career or you're building a seven figure plus business you need investments to get started, and that can be time, that can be financial, that can be, you know, your sweat equity, but there is an investment that has to be made. So over the course of the last two years, we have made so many investments and people are so curious to know how we've done it, but the support that we've got along the way. So I want to start off with talking about the best investments that we've made as a company over the last few years. So, number one, mentorship and community networking has been one of the fastest ways that, as a brand, we have been able to grow quickly. And why I say that is because I would much rather make the investment with someone who has made 10 mistakes before me versus me having to wait another year making those same 10 mistakes. So, whether it's, you know, investing in a one to one advisor, consultant, or investing in some type of membership, mastermind, community network, your network is your net worth and it's something that is so, so powerful.

Speaker 0:

I see a lot of founders who live on their own island when they're growing their business because they're so focused on sales and, you know, marketing and a lot of the shiny objects that they forget that they need to network with other people. So investing in community masterminds, memberships, events and things like that have been really, really helpful in moving the needle, because entrepreneurship is really lonely and I always say this industry does a really good job of glorifying the lifestyle of entrepreneurship into this beautiful, instagramable, sexy thing, right with the flashy cars and the flashy houses, but at the end of the day, this is a lifestyle and there's a reason why not a lot of people go into this business, into starting their own businesses, because it takes so much work. So mentorship, community networking, hands down one of the best investments. The second are team hires, and this is one thing as well. Now, obviously, don't get this mixed up with over hiring, and you know outsourcing every single thing in your business. I'm a firm believer that you need to know every aspect of the company first before you go ahead and hand it off to someone. So team hires have been really incredible with helping us expand as a brand but also allowing me to get more space back in my schedule, and this is something too.

Speaker 0:

I was just on a mastermind call last night with other you know seven and multiple seven figure founders, and you'd be surprised how many women still struggle with letting go of control of their business. It's hard, but if you want to grow, at some point you're going to have to let go. You're going to have to let go and surrender control, and I always have the firm belief that I'm not hiring people to be task takers. I'm not hiring people to just do a task for me just because I'm paying them. I am hiring experts who are around me, who are smarter than me, who are going to move the business forward closer to the vision. So your team is everything, and this doesn't mean that you need to have a massive team to be successful, but it does mean that you need to build a strong culture around your team and that will play off in the long run. So much better than just hiring for tasks at the end of the day. So your team is everything. It's the backbone to your business and it's gonna be the freedom that allows you to be able to step away from your business and actually operate it as a business, because a lot of founders and we talked about this in one of our recent episodes where a lot of founders are chained to their businesses because they haven't set up these systems.

Speaker 0:

The third thing I'm gonna talk about is tech, and this is one thing that obviously has been growing and evolving over the last few years of business as a whole. But when we think about technology and how it enables brands and founders and entrepreneurs to grow and scale, it's really, really powerful. Now we're not saying that you need to completely automate your entire business, but you do need systems and technology that can help you take you there faster. So for us, this looks like utilizing different platforms in the business, like ClickUp, or whether it's HoneyBook, and leveraging their AI tools that are built in right. It's leveraging the technology that's around you that will help you streamline and automate your business even faster. And I love Rob Deer Deck. I was just listening to a podcast episode from him this morning and he talks all about lifestyle design, and when you start to move your goals from being actual either monetary or physical goals to focusing your effort on the time that you have and the way that you spend your time, you realize that you need to be really efficient with where you're putting your time and energy, and technology can allow you to streamline those efforts. So, whether it's leveraging AI tools, whether it's leveraging GPT to help you when you're in a creative rut or whatever it is, or just enabling your team to work more efficiently, it's leveraging these tools that will allow you and your team to just be more efficient and productive.

Speaker 0:

And the last thing I wanna talk about, when it comes to really good investments that we have made over the last few years are attending events, going to retreats, getting yourself out there. We have been networking with so many incredible founders the last few years and this has resulted in getting on podcasts right, attending different events. We have recently attended an event last year on Necker Island and that was from someone who came on my podcast a year before who I just stayed connected with. And, going back to what I said before, your network is everything. So if you take the time to actually go to events and not just go to events with a self-serving goal of I need to make leads or I need to make sales from this event but actually make authentic relationships from that event, it's going to pay back 10-fold in the business, but you personally too. So your network is everything and really allocated like budget from your marketing.

Speaker 0:

Spend every year to attend events, even if it means you getting on a plane and going there. We've had people come to our founders centers, come to our events, who have flown in, flown in. We had someone in our last event fly in from Dallas, texas, to our event at our studio. It was a four hour event. So even if it means just getting on a plane ticket and you don't know anyone at this event it will pay off. So those are the good investments, but we've also made some bad ones, too, that I want to talk about.

Speaker 0:

So, when it comes to investments as a whole, I first off just want to say that there's no technically bad investment in business, because you always learn something. I've made a lot of investments in service offerings, in tools, in attending different events, even investing in different masterminds, where it didn't pan out the way that I expected, and that's okay. I see a lot of entrepreneurs who quickly do the blame game on why this didn't work out or why that didn't work out and listen. Obviously, that's within reason as well, but what I've found is that every single investment that we have made, whether good or bad, has always taught me a lesson about myself, the way that I made that decision to make that investment.

Speaker 0:

But the number one thing, or the commonality that I've noticed with investments that didn't pan out the way that I expected, was A that the person, the community, the investment itself didn't align with me from a values perspective. And what do I mean by that? Is that I rushed to make the decision to make the investment without fully auditing and thinking. Do I actually align from a values perspective with the person that I'm making that investment with, and that's a really important thing. Just because someone has the skill set or someone has the experience, or whatever it may be, if you don't gel with them from a values perspective, if you operate with the highest integrity and you go and invest in someone that does not value integrity and business, there's gonna be a big misalignment.

Speaker 0:

So those are in terms of some investments that I've made over the last few years, whether it's jumping and investing in a funnel build out which we didn't really need at the time but we invested a lot of money in it and it completely flopped right. Or it was rushing to invest in ads right, and not giving it the full thought, and, of course, it didn't pan out the way that we expected. Or it was making a bad hiring decision, which I've made. I've talked about this when we were in year one of the business. Yeah, a year, year and a half in, I had to make four full-time team member hires within a two-month span and as a brand new business owner who had just left corporate America, you're talking about multiple six figures a year in salaries, right of making these hires and what do you know? Of course I made some bad investments. I made some bad hires and it wasn't anything on their end. It was on my end because I rushed the process. I did not do my due diligence in that process and I don't look at it as a bad investment. It taught me learning lessons and skills. Now I teach my team when we hire new people.

Speaker 0:

So big thing when it comes to, you know, say bad investments is really number one. Asking the right questions. That's a big thing, you know. I think a lot of people, like I mentioned before, do the blame game with why this service didn't pan out or why this mastermind didn't pan out and, yes, there could be a misalignment with the expectations that are communicated from the other party. However, as a purchaser, it is up to you to ask the right questions, right? So for me, what I have learned when I didn't ask the right questions is because I was rushing in and I was solely doing it based off of, you know, whether it's accolades or experience that I thought they had, or a skill set.

Speaker 0:

So, ask the right questions, ask for referrals, and that's okay. You can ask for referrals. I love them. People ask me, you know. Hey, can I connect with some people who've worked with you before? Absolutely, I have nothing to hide. So I always say ask for you know recommendations or you know, check out their website, their social proof, like do your due diligence. I have seen clients of mine, while working together, get scammed from you know services that they invested in where people flaked or it wasn't the right investment, and do your due diligence there. And then also, make sure you have clear contracts and whether you're the one distributing the contract or you are receiving it, make sure you read it. There's so many times where we just, like, are so excited we don't even read through the contract and we don't even know what we're signing on. So, make sure you do your due diligence.

Speaker 0:

So, as far as, like, how we make decisions, now I think there's a big thing where I want to say it's 50 50 with strategy and also intuition as well, and this is one thing that I know some people might not agree with. But when it comes to making investment decisions, yes, do I look at the numbers and look at the financials and make sure that I'm not going to put the business into a financial hole? Absolutely, that is first and foremost, but then also intuitively. Sometimes you need to make a jump before you're ready and I have learned that with so many things, whether it's getting in the right rooms, attending, you know, different events. One of the events that I went to, that was an international retreat, was upwards of $30,000. And when you think about it you know from a logistical standpoint I could have all the reasons why I should say no to going right. $30,000, that could go towards, you know, investing in another team member to do XYZ, that could go towards another service, but that investment paid off tenfold just by going to it.

Speaker 0:

So I think also, as a founders, we have to listen to our intuition. We also have to trust our gut as well. That's a big one. I think the biggest thing that I've learned from being a founder and starting now for companies which is pretty wild is that you have to trust yourself. And this is one thing that I told my husband the other day, which was I know that I can create an infinite amount of resources, no matter what I'm doing, and I've come a long way to say that. But I firmly believe that, and that's not just for me, that's for all of the clients out there. But that's not strategy that's dictating that. That is the belief in myself that I can create anything. I can create resources, I can create money, I can create jobs for people, I can create impact for people, and it starts with you.

Speaker 0:

So when you're thinking about these investments, of course, get the support you need. Find, you know, the mentorship that can help advise you. Get your financial team in order to that can also prepare you on making these types of investments. But remember, at the end of the day, you are the person running the company. They are not.

Speaker 0:

So, at the end of the day, all these decisions need to come from you as a founder, and that comes from just being really and strongly intuitive with yourself, with your belief and where you're going as a brand, and with that, there's going to be no investments that are going to be necessarily bad. You're always going to grow from them. So I hope this helps when it comes to making investments in your business and you know, if you're listening to this, you have questions on this. You know, shoot me a DM at each and house. I'm happy to voice memo you back. We have so many different ways of supporting founders when it comes to all these things, whether it's an investment in us, or it's me making a referral to a person or community that you might need support with. So reach out to us and I'll see you in the next episode.