More than money, more than new services and products, and more than office supply, investing in people rains supreme. This concept cannot be ignored. Spending time, each an every day, investing in your employees, partners, and clients is absolutely essential to running a successful and healthy company.

Investing in your Partners

This may seem counter-productive to many of you, but having daily meetings to keep everyone on the same page is really a big thing. Going over the monthly plans, goals, and progress is necessary to keeping the entire team tight and cohesive.

One of the great things about having a team is that everything starts to become compartmentalized as each partner takes on responsibilities and projects of their own. This can also be a bad thing if it creates wall amongst the team. Sure, you want each partner to be focused on their individual projects, but you also want to have meetings where everyone is able to obtain an understanding of what everyone else is up to. Otherwise, poor communication will prevail which will result in a lack of productivity, morale, and focus.

Investing in your Employees

This will either break or make your company. As a founder or partner of a startup, you must have the patience — and even “ability” — to effectively teach. And let me tell you, it takes a special type of person who is able to explain a concept over…and over… and over… again until some learns what you are trying to each them.

All too often, people become angry and annoyed when someone isn’t learning something as fast as “you” want them to learn it. This isn’t fair. And someone who doesn’t have the skill, patience, and sincere desire to want teach, isn’t going to make for a good founder / partner.

You have to think of your employees as your greatest assets, even more than your clients and customers. Your employee are living extensions of your business — they will be on the front-line of your product and the ones with the closets relationship to your clients. You MUST not underestimate the art of grooming quality employees. Be patient, and take the time to really instill a sense of passion, motivation, and company pride in your employees. Do that, and your company will shine.

Investing in your Customers

Obviously, make the necessary monetary investments in improving the product and releasing new services. That’s a given. What I’m talking about, here, is taking the time to constantly reach out to your employees.

For gosh sake will you start replying to those personal emails you’re always getting from customers who simply want to chat with you! When was the last time you had non-business related chat with a client? Do you personally know any of your clients? Do you even care about your client’s lives / well-being?

If you don’t, you should! Always, always, always invest time in getting to know your clients. Of course you won’t be able to know everyone, but that’s not the point. The idea is to continually, whenever you can, reach out to your clients and let them know that you care about them. Yes, I said it: “care.” Founders and partners have this false belief that you have to be “hard and serious” all the time. Bollocks! This sort of caring positive energy will go a long way with growing your company. People want to know that you care about them — that you are thinking of them. You’re clients are real people, not “things” that pump money into your bank account.

Power to the People

So if you thought investing money back in your business was the most important investment, I hope you’re thinking on a new level right now. Invest in people. The people will take your business to new heights, not the products, services, or ideas. The power lies in the people…in the people….