Let me ask you a question… How often do you actually spend time and money investing in yourself?
If you’re like most people, you likely invest the least amount of time and money in yourself. Let’s be honest, investing in ourselves is probably THE most important place to invest.
We often neglect ourselves the most, and it’s time we stop. In reality, we will receive the biggest return on investment by giving to ourselves. In order to give to others, you must first give to yourself.
Investing in yourself can look different for everyone. Maybe you invest in a coach, or possibly in courses that can teach you a new skill– Wherever you feel like you have a drive to learn or BE more, that’s where you should focus the investment.
Expand Your Knowledge and Skills
The internet has made it fairly simple to start a business. If you have an interest in a topic, and want to share your story, you create a couple of social media accounts and maybe a website, and you’re in business. The problem begins when you realize that just because you have a business, doesn’t mean that you know all of the nuances of running and building a business.
There are A LOT of moving parts, and it’s likely that you won’t have experience with all of them. You’ll need to grow and expand your skills in order to be truly effective in business.
A guest of mine on Success Unfiltered, Marc Von Musser, shared a story of how he went $38K in debt to become an expert in real estate and sales. He made flashcards and worked hard to memorize the lessons that he was learning in the trainings. He dove head first into every topic and worked hard to implement everything he learned.
Truth be told, not every tactic was successful, most of what he’d learned was old school sales techniques, but he found something useful in every seminar. He states that he did not regret going so far into debt to attend these seminars because it led him to the training that ended up making a huge impact his career.
He had to put himself on the line in order to afford it. He used his art of selling to negotiate himself a spot in that seminar, and it ended up changing his life. He was able to obtain a listing when he was in Real Estate, that no one else had been able to get, and he ended up selling the home for FAR beyond what it had been worth.
I know it can be tough at times to feel like investing in ourselves is the right choice, but it always is. Learning and growing can only happen when you learn new things, and who doesn’t want to grow in business?!
Release Negative Energy
When Marc started in real estate, he made hundreds of calls, knocked on tons of doors and would hear NO after NO, or simply no answer at all. It can be discouraging to go through the sales process that way, but one thing he took the time to remember was that bringing the negative energy with him, the energy and belief that he wasn’t going to get the next listing, wasn’t helping either. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If you’re like Marc was, and you’re struggling to come up with ways to positively look at your circumstances, it’s time to work on reframing your mind. Instead of just showing up and doing what you “think” you’re supposed to do, learn new, more effective ways to complete a task.
If you’re a salesperson (and as entrepreneurs, we all are) make sure you know the latest sales techniques that will take your business to the next level. If you’re using the old car salesmen tactics, it’s time to change!
I can almost promise you that once you reframe your mind, and start going into each sales meeting with the attitude that I CAN HELP THIS PERSON & THIS SALE WILL BE MINE, the magic will start to flow. You may not get every sale, but you’ll start to notice the things you did right and wrong, and work to fix the ones you did wrong. It won’t be a burden to make a hundred calls because you know that one will eventually lead to a sale.
Once you crack the code, you have the keys to the kingdom and you can eventually make as much money as you’re willing to serve clients.
Invest in Your Health
One quickly forgotten area in business is your own health. People get mired down in all of the tasks that need to be accomplished in order to make your business a success and forget how big of a role their health plays in their business.
If you frequently eat fast-food or candy, and drink soda all day long, your health is going to suffer, thereby making any other investment you make in yourself nearly useless. You’ll feel run down and exhausted most of the time and have little desire to actually implement BIG changes in your business.
Instead, focus on making your health a priority!
If there’s a particular workout class you’ve been thinking of doing, sign-up for it! If you’ve been wanting to hire a personal trainer, a dietician or a meal delivery service, do it! Now’s the time! If you hold back, your health could slip, as could the advancement in your business.
In Conclusion
If you’re ready to open up a world of possibilities for you and your business then heed my advice and invest in yourself. Consider investing in coaches, personal development books (both audio and actual books), courses that will teach you a new skill, or seminars / conferences, where not only new skills can be learned, but connections can be made. And don’t forget to invest in your health!
Investing in yourself allows you to become the best version of yourself, which will lead to others wanting to invest in you as well.
I guarantee you will not regret it!
