Ramit Sethi argues that paying for self-development like courses and conferences forces real commitment and pays off. A woman considering a $2,000 computer course and a friend who spends $3,000 yearly to meet people show how investment in learning and networking accelerates career growth.
$2,000
About $3,000 minimum per year
As inexpensive as $20–$25 up to $2,000
For you, and they're giving it to you for like 25 bucks or 100 bucks or $2,000, whatever the number is. Is it worth spending thousands of dollars on courses, conferences and books? I remember sitting next to somebody at a coffee shop a while back and I was actually writing a blog post about what they were saying because I was eavesdropping on their conversation. And it was two women and it was the middle of the day and one of the women was complaining about her boss and saying that she felt like she should spend money to take this computer course because it would help propel her into the next level of her career. The course was actually $2,000. And I mean, to people who are technically inclined, it seemed like a big fat rip off. I mean, you could go find that book at Barnes and Noble, buy it for $10 or even at the library and learn it, but this woman probably wouldn't do that. And so for her it was worth $2,000 because over time she'd be able to make that back and make it back significantly. I know people, most of my friends who are in business spend a tremendous amount of money on self development materials. Every year they buy tons and tons of books, they buy courses, they travel to meet people. I've got a friend, Paul Singh, who recently sold his company after about six months in operation. He himself has said that he puts about $3,000 aside minimum every year just to travel and meet interesting people. I know that I buy lots and lots of online courses. These are marketing courses or business materials that I find online. Some of these are as inexpensive as, you know, 20, 25 bucks. Some of them cost $2,000. But the valuable thing is that once you have built up a business where you can make a big difference with a small change, then it becomes really, really, really worth it. On the other hand, you have people who say, oh, I'm just not going to buy his book. That way I can save $25. Yes, I'm sure those people are really, really, really going to get ahead. Because if you stay stagnant, if you constantly say, well, I could just go find that somewhere else. Yes, you could, but would you actually do it? Think about the value you find in a book or a course, someone who has spent years of their life just absorbing this material and writing it for you, and they're giving it to you for like 25 bucks or 100 bucks or $2,000, whatever the number is. Most of these things come with a money back guarantee. And what you find doing this is that getting a course really forces you to commit and acknowledge, am I actually going to do this? Am I actually going to put $500 down and spend it on this thing? Or am I just going to pontificate about one day how I could find this? Bottom line for me is that it's worth it to spend on self development. All the people I know who are interested in business, who have built businesses for themselves, spend significant amounts of money on self development courses, on traveling to meet interesting people, on putting money aside to invest in themselves.
