The saying goes "you gotta spend money to make money". Whilst this is true, It’s essential to spend that that money wisely. If business were about spending money to make money, why get a Harvard MBA? My wife will help you out for free!

It’s easy to get carried away. You launch a business, buy everything needed and plough as much as you can into marketing, technology and other business stuff. The problem is you’re spending nearly all the money at a time when you know the least about what you’re doing.

So what’s the answer? Don’t spend all at once. Spend a little, see how it goes. Gauge the return; did it meet expectations? After a few weeks or months, spend a little more. Now you’re spending wisely, you know what to expect and what wastes money. If this works, then should you think about making the biggest spend.

We’re going to be doing a marketing campaign. We’ve allocated a five figure amount, so it’s a sizable investment for us. We nearly fell into the trap of spending it all in one go. Then where would we be? Down a lot of money, but a few more "life lessons" richer. Great!

So we held back. We’re spending 10% on a pilot to test the waters. Next we’ll spend 30% to do a larger campaign, which is our chance to get the concept and message right on a larger scale. If that works, we’ll expand to the full target of people. The flip side? We’re only down 10% if we get it wrong.