When’s the last time you invested in yourself?

One of my friends, TP, doesn’t believe in buying books anymore. Or buying anything for that matter.

“It’s all free,” he said. “You can get it on the internet. It’s all out there. You just need to search”.

I think he’s overlooking something.

Yes, some things are free but you only value what you really pay for. At least that’s been my experience.

The downside of free is that you accept the ‘that’l do fine’, the mediocre instead of getting the best.

“But it’s free!”

Would you eat food just because it’s free (or super cheap)? Maybe if you were late, but as a way of life, I doubt it. In the long term, you pay the price.

So, this brings us to your career… or maybe that business you’re thinking of getting off the ground.

Let’s say you want to learn about Facebook.

“How can I use Facebook to grow my business?”

Now, there must be a 1,000 blogs about Facebook out there, so there’s no shortage of reading material.

But is it any good?

Does it move you forward?

Here’s something I noticed over the weekend (because I was trying to do too much)

When you invest your time in one thing… you’re ignoring another.

The lesson for Ivan?

Be very careful with your time.

The lesson for you?

Can you really afford to spend six months trawling through the web looking for stuff?

The temptation of free is that indirectly it’s expensive.

It costs time.

Time you could spend moving the needle, getting ahead, getting out of the job faster.

One final thing.

If you don’t invest in yourself soon, you may regret it.

You’ll look back and think: where did those years go?

Then it’s too late.

You’ll see people who invested in themselves get way ahead.

That’s a bitter thing to see, especially if you know you have (or had) more ability than them.

Ok, so what do we do?

Here are four ways to start:

1. Get certified – https://www.safaribooksonline.com/
2. Join an experts group — http://www.jonloomer.com/about-me/
3. Take a course — https://www.udemy.com/
4. Bob Bly – The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells

What else?

What would you recommend? Let us know on Facebook.