A few years into working in marketing & advertising with some of the biggest brands in the country the recession of 2008 hit.

Businesses large and small began tightening their belts, looking for areas to cut. Marketing, specifically advertising budgets, were slashed.

That makes little sense to me. Why cut the engine that is chiefly responsible for driving the sales of your products? In fact, when times are tough and situations are tougher, you should invest more in the engines that create the growth.

I get it, though. Marketing is one of those company expenditures that is non essential. So are investments in capital improvements. You must have employees. You must manufacture the product. You must have operational functions that bring the product to market and allow the business to run. You don’t *have* to invest in the future.

Luckily for Disney, that was not their approach in 2008. When the theme park industry was hit hard by customers trading down to less expensive entertainment options, most park businesses hunkered down, hoarded whatever cash was coming in – waiting for the storm to pass.

Not Disney. During 2009-2015 they made $10 billion dollars of capital investments into their parks & cruise ships. That included $3 billion in 2012 alone. It paid off well. In 2013, Disney parks set record attendance WHILE increasing prices.

A USA Today finance article said, “Disney is the poster child for making investments when the economy was soft. The company regained its pricing swagger in large part due to investments made — at a time other companies hoarded cash and retrenched — that are generating returns now.”

Disney knows that a struggling market is the prime time for investing in your biggest assets. They did the same thing during the height of the pandemic as well.

Do we take Disney’s lead? Are we investing in ourselves and our future – especially when the market conditions are not in our favor?

Much like marketing for the fortune 100 and the parks for Disney, YOU are your biggest source of revenue & growth. The more you invest in you – your skillset and your underlying mindset that bring your skills to life – the more “product” you’ll sell, money you’ll earn and purpose you’ll experience.

That’s all well and good for multi-billion corporations, but how does that work for me?? Great question.

I see this play out all the time.

A client that emerged from a successful business partnership with uncertainty about their future as a solo leader was able to double what they initially thought possible.

A client that I work with is just about to pass the 6 month mark working together and they have doubled their year-over-year results to start this year.

A client burned out and feeling lack of direction found their purpose and business jumped into overdrive from their energy.

Many have heard the famous Jim Rohn quote “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.”

Prioritize investing in your physical body, the skillsets of your business and the power of your mind. Those are the only 3 things you can level up AND each are necessary investments in the person you want to be and the future that you want to have.

Investing in YOU will pay for itself today and compound over time. Don’t delay your future with “someday I will….” Make that day today!