Talking to your partner about investing in your business

Transcript

I was speaking to a potential new client the other day and she asked me the question, “How do you have the difficult conversation with your partner about making big investments into your business?” I know this is a tricky one, so I decided to record a podcast episode all about it. Let’s begin.

Hello and welcome to the Clare Wood Podcast where myself and incredible guests share about money mindset, financial successes, and how to manage your money in a fun and practical way to create wealth and abundance in both your business and your life. I’m your host, Clare Wood. I’m a business coach and a money mentor. I strongly believe that money has the power to positively change the world. I can’t wait to help you transform your mindset around money, create a love of numbers, and build the business of your dreams so you can live a life of financial freedom, giving, and global impact.

This is a particularly controversial topic, but I don’t want to shy away from it because I know these are very real conversations that, as business owners, we may need to have with our partners. Before we dive into the episode, I want to preface this by saying, I am not a relationship expert, nor am I an investment advisor. So please take this information as general in nature only, and of course, consider your own specific circumstances. So what is investing in your business/ Investing in your business may be hiring a business coach, doing a course, upgrading your branding, investing in a new website, hiring an office space, hiring a team member, or a whole other range of things that you might want to spend money on inside your business.

What are business investments and when do you need to speak to your partner about them

So do you need to talk to your partner about these investments? Well, of course, that really depends on your relationship and your particular financial circumstances. For me personally, I always liked to have these conversations with my husband, particularly over a certain threshold in money. At the particular point I’m at in business at the time of recording, if the investment is more than a couple of thousand dollars, I would definitely have the conversation with my husband around it. But at different points in time, that amount might look different and for me, having the conversation, isn’t getting permission per se. It’s more getting his buy-in because if I’m spending a significant amount of money, that’s money that might be coming out of other things that our family could be spending that money on.

Do you and your partner have an agreement around when you would talk to each other about investments? I think, first of all, that’s a really great starting point, is to some clarity around what threshold you both think is appropriate to have a conversation. Perhaps up to a certain point for you guys, it might be okay, just say, “Yeah, sure. You don’t need to talk to me about small investment decisions,” but again, it will be different for everyone. Regardless, I think it’s important to broach the topic from a place of getting your partner’s buy-in, rather than seeking their permission. If you choose, as a couple, not to go ahead with a certain investment decision it’s done from a place of both of you being in alignment that you’re choosing to spend the funds in a different way at a point in time, rather than your partner saying, “No, you’re not allowed to do that”.

Tips for having difficult conversations about money, with your partner

So how do you actually have these difficult conversations? Before you have this conversation with your partner, I think it’s really important that you are 100% sure that this is what your business needs and what you want to do. Make sure you’ve done your research, checked their testimonials, and seen some of the transformations that can happen through making this particular investment. Once you are clear that this is something that you really do want to do, then you can take it to your partner and open up the conversation. For me personally, I like to plant a few seeds before I have the direct conversation. So that might look like, “I feel really called to invest in another money mindset course at some stage soon,” or, “I’ve been following this business leader. You should see some of the amazing things that her clients are saying about working with her.”

Then when you come to a point of actually having the opportunity to make that investment, for example, lift open the doors to their course, or their launching the next round of their mastermind, or there’s an opportunity to have the rebrand done because that particular person you want to work with has availability, then if it feels good, you can take the conversation with your partner to the next level. I usually open the conversation up in a pretty casual way, “Hey, there’s an opportunity to do X, Y, Z. I’d love to have a chat with you about it.” In that conversation, I highlight the benefits and talk about why I feel aligned to invest in a particular thing at the time. I also share some of the results that people have achieved from doing this kind of investment in the past. It’s really important that you consider your partner’s decision-making process when you are having conversations like this.

I am very much a quick decision maker. I don’t need a lot of thinking time. I look at the facts. I check in with my gut if it feels good, and I just follow that. But I know that my husband needs quite a bit of time to process decisions before he makes one. So for me, after I initially raised the topic, I know that I need to give him some space to process before revisiting it again. Very much take into consideration what your partner is like. How do they make decisions? Do they need lots of facts. Are they visual decision-makers? Do you need to show them something for them to understand a bit clearer? What exactly it is that you’re talking to them about? Really think about them and their decision making process and how you can best support them to come on that journey.

If, for you, this conversation takes place over multiple conversations, when you do raise it again, you can try something which is called a trial close, which ironically, is a sales strategy that was taught to me by my husband. So what is a trial close? A trial close is where you test the waters before you seek to get a specific answer. So as you guys may know, my husband has a recruitment business and rather than him say, “Well, are you going to take the role,” or, “Are you going to hire that person?” he asks a series of questions to understand if they need more information before they are ready to commit to an answer one way or another. So for example, he might say, “Is there anything that you’re concerned about,” or “If they were to offer you the role at this amount of money, would you accept?”

So I used this technique back on him. So for example, if we were talking about a particular investment decision, I might say, “Is there anything coming up for you or are there any reasons why you think that we shouldn’t invest in this at this particular point in time?” That allows you to hear any fears or concerns that come up for them, and then you can talk about those in more detail and understand whether there’s any more information they might need to feel more comfortable about making a decision. When it is time to commit to a decision, simply lay it out. For example, “I really would love to do this course, and it feels like the right decision to move forward to me. Are you supportive of this decision at this point in time?”

Now, I do admit I am very blessed that my husband is an entrepreneur as well and he understands the value of investing and he is very supportive of my decisions. So for me, when I really want to do something, it’s nearly always a yes, but what if your partner isn’t supportive? Perhaps, they don’t really understand the entrepreneurial world, or they don’t understand why you are spending so much money on courses, coaches or other things inside your business. Now, of course, navigating through your relationship is totally your business, but here are a few things that I do want you to consider if your partner isn’t supportive of your decisions.

What to do if your partner isn’t supportive of your decisions

Firstly, going back to the thing we spoke about before, really take into account how do they make decisions? Have you given them sufficient time to process the decision? Following on from that, have you given them all the information they need to make a considered decision? For example, have you shared all of the benefits and outcomes that are available if you do make this investment? If they are a particularly rational decision maker, it might be really helpful to talk about the potential ROI, to share some examples of transformations that have happened in the past when people have gone down that path. Something that is really important to consider is that there are no guarantees when it comes to investing in your business and no matter how amazing the course or coach, you will have to do the work to get the transformation. So perhaps, you might also need to give your partner information around how you will carve out the time required to do the work to get the transformation.

One of the most powerful phrases that I share a lot on this podcast is that if you keep doing the same thing, you’ll always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. This might be something helpful to take to your partner as well if you are looking for a significant up level, that you really do need to do things a little differently to get a different outcome. So to sum up today, if having a conversation with your partner around investing in your business is something that you do inside your business, it’s really important to consider your partner’s needs as much as your own in the process. Think about how they make decisions. Make sure that you’ve got all the information available to them to help get their buy-in. Make sure that you highlight the benefits and potential outcomes of the investment. And last, but not least, remember to have these conversations in a loving way that’s compassionate to the fact that they might have really different ideals around the value of investing.

I hope today’s episode has been helpful for you and I look forward to chatting to you guys again next week. Thanks so much for listening. If you loved this episode, please share it with your audience and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @Clare_Wood_Coach. And also, make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Have an abundant week and I look forward to talking to you again next week.