Why Personal Development is the Best Investment You’ll Ever Make

Since leaving my job to pursue an entrepreneurial life full time, I noticed that I spent so much time in my business that I didn’t spend any on my growth or personal development.

Another thing I noticed is that time became so important to me because there wasn’t much of it. 

Personal investment is crucial. Even big corporate companies invest in their people.

The benefit of working for a big company is that they take care of personal development for you, so you don’t have to worry about it – they made sure to send you to training, conferences, and etc. Well, when you decide to become an entrepreneur the responsibility falls on you to take action. 

Time Invested is Related to your Success

If you’re really honest with yourself, I’m sure you would agree that you don’t know everything about the business you’re in.

There may be one thing you’re really good at but those other areas are not areas of strength.

Being an entrepreneur means you should be constantly learning and you need to be able to deal with these changes and react so you can stay in the game.

The question I often ask entrepreneurs who come to me saying their business is not making money is : “Are you investing in yourself and your business?”.

Most of the time, they’re not.

How do you expect people to pay for your products and services if you’re not willing to invest in yourself?

If you’re stuck in your business, and not willing to hire the proper resources, how can you make great strides? 

Successful entrepreneurs know the value of self development and make it a part of their everyday lives. Regardless of the type of business you are in, the environment is always changing.

Entrepreneurs must be ready to always learn new things in order to keep up with the fast-changing trends. What many entrepreneurs don’t understand when building a company is that you’re in the business of serving others and the more you improve yourself, the more you have to offer to others.

Think of the impact you can make when you have the knowledge to make better judgment calls for your client or customers.

The best entrepreneurs know that they’re not good at everything, so instead of trying to teach themselves everything, they invest in themselves to accelerate the process. 

Successful entrepreneurs know the value of self development and make it a part of their everyday lives.

Regardless of the type of business you are in, the environment is always changing.

You must be ready to always learn new things in order to keep up with the fast-changing trends. 

So, How Much Should You Invest in Your Personal Growth Every Year?

Jim Rohn, the world renown motivational speaker. once said, “Income seldom exceeds personal development”.

What he meant by this is that rarely will your income soar beyond your level of development. It’s crucial as an entrepreneur to continuously reinvest in yourself.

For starters, most companies usually set aside 3% of their revenue for training and development.

However, as an entrepreneur running a start up business, I personally recommend a little bit more, especially if you’re just getting started. (you can use 5-10% as a rule of thumb as a start up, but as an entrepreneur to earn more quickly, you need to spend more upfront learning so this number will be higher for you)

The year my business made our first 1 million in sales, I spent about $50,000 in personal development.

That money was spent between books, courses, in-person and online events and coaching.

I made so many mistakes that year and my only regret is that I didn’t spend money on personal development earlier.

The following year, I tripled my personal development budget.

I made less mistakes but I also 3x my sales and kept more of my profit margin this time around.

It’s not evident when you’re in the moment spending money you’re earning to increase your learning.

Someone once said to me if you take the “l” out of “learning” you get “earning”.

They go hand in hand.