Everything I've Invested in My Business This Year (And What It's Actually Made Me)
Hello, hello!
If you've been around here for a while, you know investing back into my business is kind of my thing. I don't overthink it, I don't wait until I "feel ready," and honestly, at this point, the price tag rarely scares me off. But I know that's not everyone's relationship with money and risk, so today I want to pull back the curtain and show you exactly where my dollars have gone in 2026 — the wins, the misses, and the numbers at the end that tie it all together.
Where It All Started
My very first business investment was a $6,000 ads agency program. I had to split it across two credit cards, including taking out a brand-new card just to cover the last thousand. I sat on that decision for three months before I finally pulled the trigger, and I told myself: if I just make this back by the end of the year, I'll be happy.
I made $17,000 that year. In less than a year, in my first year in business.
That investment has paid me back roughly 100X at this point. So when people ask me if investing in yourself and your business is "worth it," that's my answer.
How I Think About Investing Now
These days, if something feels like it'll genuinely move my business forward and I have the capacity to actually use it, I go for it — price tag be damned (within reason, I'm not out here dropping six figures... yet). I still use credit cards when I don't have the cash sitting there, and I know that's not the popular advice, but it's worked for me time and time again. I'd rather bet on myself than wait for "someday."
In my first few years, almost everything I invested went toward education and coaching. Now, my investments have shifted — a lot more goes toward buying back my time. (If you haven't read Dan Martell's Buy Back Your Time, add it to your list. I read it before I was even ready to apply it, and it completely shifted how I saw what was possible.)
Here's exactly where the money went this year, broken into four buckets.
1. Team & Done-For-You Support
My virtual assistant now works with me 40 hours a month — a big jump from the 20 hours a month I started with years ago. She's in my inbox daily, builds my funnels, sets up automations, creates and schedules my content, and helped move our entire course over when we switched platforms. Honestly, most of what keeps this business running smoothly happens through her.
I also brought on three ad managers this year — one going into 2026, a second right at the start of the year, and a third in April — to support our done-for-you ads clients. The goal is 3–4 clients each so nobody's overwhelmed and every client gets great service.
My Hometown co-coach, Melissa, helps me deliver inside the membership, which now has 86 members plus everyone in the group program. Having two of us means nobody's ever waiting on an answer.
I also tested a few one-off hires this year: a sales page designer and a DM engagement strategist. The DM support didn't give me the outcome I wanted mostly because I didn't have the bandwidth to strategize with her the way I needed to, so we ended that after three months. No regrets. I'd rather test and learn than wonder "what if."
2. Coaching
I'm in two masterminds right now. One is an in-person business-and-life hybrid I've been part of for years $7,000 for six months, and it's been transformative every single round, even as the price has gone up. This is actually where I first got the idea to build programs around ads instead of just staying a service provider. My other mastermind is my online business sales mastermind, now in year two, which was $4,000 to re-sign.
On top of that, I don't hesitate to buy mini courses and trainings when something catches my eye — ManyChat, Instagram strategy, a handful of AI courses, the YAP Challenge. I don't track ROI on these individually. I just know that every dollar I put toward learning is growing my brain in some way, and I've got years left in this business to see that pay off.
All in, coaching and training this year has been well over $15,000 — and that's not counting a $1,000 in-person retreat with my business coach in LA.
3. Marketing
Two buckets here. First, $600 in custom carousel templates that... I barely use. Turns out simple photos of me with text on top perform better on my Instagram. Good lesson, not a wasted one.
Second — ads. When I first pulled these numbers, I'd spent $49,000 on ads this year. When I actually checked Ads Manager while recording this, that number had climbed to over $60,000 as I've been scaling my membership funnel. Big bucket, but it's the engine behind everything else.
4. Coming Soon: A Whole New Brand
For the first time ever, I hired a professional website copywriter $9,000 to rewrite my entire site, including my program's sales page and brand-new sales pages for our done-for-you offers. I've genuinely neglected my website for years while focusing on social media, and it's time that changed.
On top of that, I'm investing $12,000 in a full brand refresh — new visuals, new website. $21,000 total for a new brand and website. It's a big number, but it's something so foundational to this business that I've put off for way too long.
What This Has Looked Like in My Marriage
Early on, almost every investment decision went through my husband first — especially that first $6,000 leap. We looked at reviews together, compared options together, and I'll never forget him saying, "If you think this is the right thing for you, we will just make it happen."
These days, with the business making significantly more than it used to, we don't run every investment through each other the way we did when it was all shared household money. Now I mostly share what I'm investing in just because the numbers still feel wild to me sometimes. ("Babe, I'm getting a new website and it's costing $22,000. That's crazy.")
The Actual Numbers
Here's what all of this has added up to so far in 2026:
Revenue: $301,500
Expenses: $190,000
Profit (before taxes): $111,000
Profit margin: 63%
Revenue split: 34% done-for-you agency work, 66% programs and courses
My three biggest expense categories: contractors, advertising and marketing, and education and training — in that order.
Taxes have been our biggest bottleneck this year (aren't they always?), which is actually what led us to invest in a tax-savings course my husband's taking on, plus our monthly bookkeeping and accounting support. I have a feeling more serious tax support is coming soon too.
The Bottom Line
I don't invest in my business because it's easy or because I always know exactly what the return will be. I invest because I trust myself to make it back and because every single time I have, it's paid off in ways I couldn't have predicted going in.
If you're sitting on an investment decision right now, wondering if it's the "right" one — I get it. I've been there more times than I can count. But some of my best decisions came from betting on myself before I felt ready.
If you're ready to invest in learning and running your own local ads, that's exactly what my membership is built for. Want us to run your ads for you? That's a great fit if you're doing (or close to) seven figures. Or if you just want your ads launched fast, we've got an intensive offer that gets it done in seven days or less.
Links to everything are on my Instagram and my website. Talk soon!
