How to grow your small business: Don't be afraid to spend money early (2026)

Are you a small business owner or freelancer who thinks you can't afford to invest in your business right now? You might be wrong! Spending money on your business is one of the key ingredients to growth, and even small amounts can get you further than you think. Here are four reasons why you should stop being afraid to spend money and put those funds to work for you, just like I've done.

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1. Spending money early can save you time, and time is your most valuable resource when you try to grow your small business

If someone had suggested in 2022 that I should pay a freelancer to complete tasks for me, I would have said no immediately. My mindset back then was that keeping business expenses as low as possible was the smart move, because lower costs meant more money for me. But I've since changed my ways completely, and here's why.

Time is money, especially when you're self-employed. Investing in tools, services, or people that save you hours every week means you free up time to focus on the work that actually grows your income. And here's something many people overlook: if you're running a business, your expenses may be tax-deductible. That means spending money on your business might not affect your bottom line as much as you think. Check with an accountant or tax advisor in your country to find out more.

Psst: Check out my blog post on goal setting for creatives! I've found a way that really works for me, and I hope it can work for you too!

This picture was generated using my favourite A.I – Ideogram. A very affordable alternative to Midjourney, and you can try it for free!

2. Hire experts to help you with tasks that you don't know how to do or don't have time for

If one daunting task takes you four hours to complete because you find it hard, boring, or a combination of both, and someone else can complete the same task in an hour or two, why not pay them to complete it for you? Hopefully, you can make more money in those four hours if you focused on work, which brings in more money than it would cost to pay someone to do a specific task.

In 2023, I temporarily hired someone to help me with my Pinterest account. I wanted to utilize Pinterest to gain more traffic and put my content in front of more people, but I found it hard to even make one pin and upload it once a week. The ideal on Pinterest is to post daily, and I just didn't have the interest or energy to do that consistently.

So I posted a job on Upwork, got a lot of replies, and found a fantastic Pinterest manager in a low-cost country. Thanks to her, I'm slowly but steadily got the links to my blog posts and products on Creative Fabrica out there to be found by the right people. I put in around 50-100 dollars a month on this. I didn't have much extra cash at all, but figured it was a good investment at the time.

This picture was generated using my favourite A.I – Ideogram

3. Invest in good equipment, services or tools that will make your work easier

You don't need a super fancy camera or the fastest computer on the market. But spending money on online services that help you grow or automate parts of your business is a great investment, even from the very beginning. Today, in 2026, you have AI tools I didn't have access too when I first published this blog post years ago.

In general, I think having an investment mindset is a great skill to practice early as a business owner.

My three best low-cost investments right now are:

Creative Fabrica at just $59 a year, which gives me commercial-use access to thousands of fonts, templates, mockups, digital paper, clipart and so much more. This subscription gives me pretty much everything I need for anything I want to design.

Ideogram at $20 a month, which I use to create beautiful images for my blog posts, generate Pinterest pins from scratch, and even make clipart that I sell for passive income. I've had great success using it for Pinterest pins because it is so good at generating text and beautiful graphics. Before I started using Ideogram I never got many clicks from Pinterest. Now I'm closing in on 500 clicks a month to my blog from those pins alone!

Holo AI is my newest discovery (with a VPN active, this page might not load) and honestly one of the most exciting tools I've come across in a while. It works like having your own AI marketing agency, helping you create content and grow your online presence without having to do everything yourself. If you're a solo creator or small business owner who wants to show up more consistently without burning out, it's absolutely worth checking out. After I found Holo, I mainly use this one for Pinterest and other social media graphics.

4. Don't be afraid of investing in yourself by taking courses and learning new skills

This is honestly one of my favorite ways to grow a small business, and it doesn't have to cost a lot. Taking courses and learning from people I admire has been incredibly valuable for me over the years. Some of the courses I've taken have even led me in completely new directions: I've worked as a freelance journalist, translator, and social media manager after completing online courses in those fields!

Books are another investment I believe in deeply. Below are a few I'd recommend for any small business owner:

📖 $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi is one of the most practical marketing books I've ever read. It's not about finding more customers, it's about creating an offer so good that people feel almost silly saying no. If you sell anything online, this book will change how you think about pricing and packaging what you offer.

📖 Atomic Habits by James Clear was genuinely life-changing for me as a neurodivergent person who has always struggled with building habits and getting things done consistently. It's about making tiny, 1% improvements that add up over time rather than big overwhelming changes. It's essential reading for any solo business owner trying to build systems that actually stick.

I've reviewed more of my favorite business books over in my post 11 Best Business Books for Women if you want more reading inspiration!

You might also like 6 Great low-cost programs for small business owners and 9 Free Resources for Small Online Business Owners, which are both worth a look.

My biggest mindset shift

The biggest mindset shift for me wasn't learning a new strategy. It was giving myself permission to invest in my business before I felt completely ready. And most importantly: allowing myself to spend money on tools that help me achieve a goal I wouldn't have the energy to achieve without it, because of my health. Start small, be intentional about where your money goes, and you might be surprised how quickly those investments start paying off.