I learned firsthand that it’s crucial to invest in yourself, after seeing the difference it made when I invested in paid material over free material. The more I decided to put my income back into my business and in myself, the faster my growth became. And as I purchased more equipment and software, I was able to reach more people on more platforms.
Most people don’t think to spend on educational resources online. They figure, “why pay when a lot of stuff is accessible online for free”? In this post, I want to get into specific reasons why I think it’s necessary to invest in paid content rather than depend on whatever’s on the internet.
Invest in Yourself: Investing in Paid Content vs. Free Content
1. No thought leader is going to provide all their secrets for free.
If you think about it, content creators & thought leaders still need to make a living, and they’re not going to be able to give ALL their educational material away if their business is their content.
Thought leaders still need an income source, and because of that they most likely won’t provide their secrets free and available for everyone. That would merely create more competition for them! They’re looking for a win-win situation where their audience gets help, and they receive benefit as well.
So you might be able to get some free material out there, and it might be enough for you to progress little by little. But when you’re looking for top education to maximize your growth potential, it’s usually worthwhile to pay for this material. Normally when you’re trying to achieve success in whatever you’re working on, you frequently look for successful thought leaders and emulate their strategies. So if there are any influencers that you really look up to and they’re offering great courses with solid reviews, invest in them! These courses may get you to exactly the place you want to go.
2. Even if you can find a lot of free content, you won’t know what you don’t know.
What’s great about courses is they generally go step-by-step into the topic they’re teaching. Blog posts and podcast episodes may answer one question at a time. But courses will actually give you the exact blueprint you need to take you to the next level.
Rather than try to piece together multiple blog posts to find what you’re looking for, you’re going to get the entire guide in one swoop with courses. You’ll get all the steps in sequential order so that you can merely follow step-by-step (especially if it’s a strong course). Free content is usually a bunch of individual tips while paid content is a full system to follow.
3. If you do things the way you always do them, you’ll always get the same results.
The reason why people advocate books and learning is that it gives you new perspectives, skills, and knowledge in the world that can really change your life. If you’re always doing things the same way, you’re never going to get the results you want to achieve. Grabbing these resources and investing in yourself is how to think smart so you can work effectively.
4. Many courses have affiliate links that you can use to promote if you recommend the course.
If you end up loving the paid content you purchased and they really help your growth, you can see if the owner has an affiliate link for their course so that you can promote the product. Course owners commonly have affiliate links that you can use for their work. Affiliate marketing is a win-win solution that lets you promote paid products, gives value for the customer, and provides you a commission for any purchases through your links. In this way, you not only receive education from paid content you purchase, but you can also further benefit by promoting this to your userbase.
5. You can support people you’ve been following through purchasing their courses.
Many content creators spend a ton of time, money, and effort building up their brand and content to provide value for readers like you. So if the people you follow have had impact on you in any way, investing in tools they create is a great way to just pay it forward as a thank you.
Conclusion
Invest in yourself. I wish that I started doing so earlier as I feel I have benefited tremendously from purchasing educational material versus depending solely on free content. I mean, paying for education beats paying for materialistic items! After all, you’re investing in your most valuable asset – your learning capability.
Have you been investing in yourself and have seen benefits from purchasing courses and paid content? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
