To Be Successful in Business — Invest in Yourself First
The energy you put into something always comes back to you and expands. This is the law of attraction at work. And like all the universal laws — they’re working without our even knowing. We only need to know they exist and tap into them.
We attract who we ARE. So what are you attracting?
If you look around and don’t like what you see, there’s something in there for you to look at. If you’re focused on scarcity, you’ll get more scarcity.
And if you focus on your expansion, you’ll (you guessed it …) EXPAND.
Then, what am I focusing my time, energy, and resources on?
Two words — self-development.
Or is that technically one word because it’s hyphenated?
Rewind back to corporate life, where I had to ask permission from my boss to attend a training session for $2,500. These development opportunities required formal approval from a manager. Back then, someone else needed to tell me what I should learn. In the end, they said no, and I had to take another snoozefest of a training from our “preferred vendor.”
Well, that was just to get the training paid for. I still invested in books and online courses on my own.
Never put your future self in someone else’s hands.
My manager back then was looking at the $2,500 investment from a bottom-line perspective. I had an allowance for training and if that investment would help them bill me out as a management consultant for a higher hourly rate, then it would be “worth it” to them.
The real worth that was going unrecognized was the value that growing my skills and talent would have and the resulting impact not only on my personal development but the business overall.
If I got a certification that cost them a few grand, plus my time and energy — they could make millions more from me alone. I might make another $10K a year in salary. Spread that out over 12 months and that’s only $833 — pre-tax.
In that world, any professional development I invested in needed to help me do my job better and directly impact how much I was “worth” to a company.
But what did this investment make ME worth?
That corporate training would increase my worth on paper back then. But what actually did make me better at my job were the things I invested in on my own — healthy eating, slowing down, meditation, mindfulness, parenting, investing in my own greatness, saying no.
Only when I invested in myself did I actually improve as a human and employee.
But this article isn't about corporate because I now play in a new sandbox. Since going full-time in my business in 2017, one of my biggest lessons is this:
Business growth IS personal growth.
Since starting my business, I’ve invested tens of thousands of dollars in my self-improvement (I still do), and what I don’t invest in dollars, I invest in time and energy.
First, let’s look at the list of investments. Some programs and courses I invested in were crap — as in they didn’t deliver on the promise, but they did show me something else — how I don’t want to deliver my programs. That lesson is still priceless. There are always important lessons.
Masterminds ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 a year
Group programs in copywriting, healing, manifesting
Business coaches
Professional editors
Book writing coaches
SEO consulting
Brand designers
NLP training
Sales training
Podcasting course
Blogging course
Hundreds of books on writing, intuition, editing
Membership communities in astrology, healing, core wounding
When considering your own list of investments, think of it like this:
“Address whatever you feel your weaknesses are, and do it now. Whatever you want to learn more, start doing it today. Don’t put it off to your old age.” – Warren Buffett
Beyond the financial investments are those that I’ve focused on solely based on time — and still do:
Resting when it’s time to rest
Meditation
Movement
Managing my energy
Managing my emotions
Hypnosis
Journeying
Checking my ego
Cleansing, detoxing, juicing, and filling my plate with plants
Studying the writing of industry leaders, including emails, launch copy, sales pages, and more — breaking down what makes them stand out
Listening to hundreds of hours of podcasts on business and personal growth
Figuring out my website, email systems, shopping carts
Writing, editing, and marketing my books
Writing my blogs and social posts — we learn by writing about things
Releasing negative emotions
Rewriting contracts that no longer serve from the past (thank you, LifePath Manifesting)
Instead of trying to figure out everything on my own, when I see someone who has something I want — someone who has a million-dollar business teaching how to do it when I have a 6-figure business, I'm going to invest in that and learn.
“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.” – Warren Buffett.
When someone is doing the work, and I clearly see the evidence of their personal development, and they’re teaching something, I know I can learn something from them.
I apply the same principles when it comes to designing and selling my own programs for people who want to invest in themselves. When it comes down to it, the investment in many of my programs is a deal. I could charge so much more.
The investment for me to write a new LinkedIn profile for a client is $1,200. A new profile could easily help them go from making $150,000 a year to $200,000 a year. The investment is a no-brainer.
Website copywriting templates to help people write website copy with what I've learned over almost a decade of writing for clients and studying copy — a deal.
$6,000 to write website copy so that you can book a $10,000 client — and not only book one, but fill your practice over and over again — priceless!
And when people tell me that $99/a month is “too expensive” to be a part of a community of business owners who are doing the work. Effectively, I’ve gathered a community of people who are helping each other be better, but $99? Nope. They’d rather spend $1,000 on a new phone so they can better scroll through Instagram.
I’m willing to invest in whatever it takes to improve myself.
Conversely, it’s also important to note where I don’t spend my time — consuming news, doom-scrolling, or anything to further anyone else’s agenda other than my own personal growth.
The ROI (return-on-investment) in the investments I make in myself will not only benefit me but also my family, clients, and their families and clients. There’s that law of attraction working its magic again.
“You’ll have a more rewarding life not only in terms of how much money you make but how much fun you have out of life; you’ll make more friends the more interesting person you are…So go to it, invest in yourself.” Another one from Warren Buffett.
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