How a $2,500 Investment Made Me Twice as Productive

Sometimes, spending money can pay off in the end. 

Working efficiently is really important to me. Since I am a freelancer, my income is directly tied to how much I produce rather than to the hours I spend working. But, when I first started out as a freelance writer, I didn't really take the time to think about how important it was to have the right setup to allow me to get more done in less time.

A few years ago, that changed. I decided to invest in getting the right equipment so I could enhance my productivity. I spent quite a lot of money on my credit cards to do that, but it was worth it in the end since the changes I made enabled me to significantly increase the amount of work I could do -- and thus the amount of money I was able to earn. 

Making an investment in productivity was well worth the cash 

When I started growing my freelance writing business, I found that I was getting overwhelmed with being able to keep track of all of the different assignments I had, especially since they came from different people and places. There were also lots of different web links and templates I had to keep track of, which I ended up spending a lot of time searching for. 

My computer also wasn't very fast, and it would sometimes shut down without warning, which led to me losing work. The keyboard even had some sticky keys, which meant I was spending a lot of time hunting for typos when two letters showed up instead of one or when a letter was missed entirely.

Since I was wasting a lot of time redoing work, checking and rechecking calendars, and trying to hunt down the documents I needed, I was having a hard time working as quickly as I should have. I was reluctant to invest a lot of money in fixing the problem though -- but finally I decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

Buying a new computer and getting some helpful software tools setup ended up costing me around $2,500. And some of the software options I decided to use had either monthly or annual subscription costs, which meant I was committing to spending money on an ongoing basis. While this was a big chunk of change for me, I reasoned that if I was able to increase my workload, it would pay for itself.

I ended up amazed at the results. Having the right tools in place didn't just make me a little more productive -- it doubled my productivity. The money I had spent was recovered very quickly and I'm still using many of the solutions I implemented to this day so it was a good investment. 

Know when to scrimp and when to save 

If you're running your own business or even just doing some freelance work on the side, it's important to be smart about when and how you invest in your success. While you don't want to spend a ton of money if you don't think you'll be able to increase your profits by doing so, you also don't want to sabotage your ability to grow by being reluctant to invest in yourself. 

Ultimately, you should take the time to consider whether spending money on better tools or equipment could solve problems that are holding you back. If so, if you're serious about making your business work, it may be well worth the expense.