INVESTING IN YOURSELF: THE FOREMOST INVESTMENT

If you see a nice plot of land for sale and at the same time your child got admission and is about to pay his fees; which would you do, buy the land or pay for your child’s fee, assuming the amount of money you have can only do one of the two options? I guess many people will go for the training of their child. If you are in the category of people that went for the school fee payment, it means that you unconsciously believe in the fact that investing in human beings is the best investment you can always do.

Educating yourself and your dependents is the best investment choice you can always make, but the problem is that people mistake education to mean just University Degrees. If you check the dictionary meaning of the word education, you will discover that it emphasizes acquisition of knowledge through learning and experience, and not about acquiring University degrees.

If you take time to go through the profiles of many successful people, you will discover that they were not really the most educated; their success did not come as a result of their certificates. If success was measured according to the level of your certificate, then professors would be the most successful. I am by no means trying to say that acquisition of certificate is useless. Far from it! I am merely advocating for the shifting of the emphasis from acquisition of certificates to acquisition of knowledge.

Like one of my mentors will always tell me, “the investment is not the problem, but you are the problem”. So many businesses fail not because the business is not profitable, but because the owners are not knowledgeable enough to run it.

This scenario I am about to paint is not uncommon in our society: Mr. Jude is drinking and chatting with his friends. He is telling them how Mr. Nnanna has turned into a millionaire from just his poultry business. Mr. Ibe overhears this conversation and remembers one of his relatives who is also making money from poultry business. “This must be a very lucrative business” he says, “I must make my own money from it.” He rushes off to start his own poultry business without good knowledge or experience on how the business works, only to fail woefully and his money completely lost. He turns around and tells people that those who claim they make money from poultry business are money-ritualists and that they are only covering up their money-rituals with the poultry business.

Rushing to start a business just because your friend says it is profitable, without you first getting adequate knowledge and experience about the workings of the business is complete folly. I call it “blind business” and it is one of the problems many people have today when it comes to business.

Most of the causes of business failure may come from you hence the need for you to first invest in yourself. Investing in yourself means spending time and if needs be, money, to acquire the knowledge and experience you need to achieve what you want to achieve. If you want to be a good businessman, you must spend time and money to learn whatever you can about your choice of business. For example, if you want to start a publishing business, you will need to learn how to get and operate original machineries, types of paper quality and where to get them on lower costs, how to the business is run, etc.

Aside the specialized knowledge required for each particular business, there are skills and knowledge that you must acquire before you can run any type of business. These includes basic book-keeping and accounting (this will help you account for your income and expenses and helps you to know when you are making profit or loss), marketing skills (this will help you to get customers since no business can exist without customers), networking skills, communication skills, etc. Fortunately, these knowledge can be learnt outside school and by anybody whether a graduate or not; it will only cost you time and maybe money. But be rest assured that any investment you make to add knowledge to yourself can never be a waste. Remember, the investment is not the problem, but the investor is.

So how do you invest in yourself?

You can invest in yourself in various ways. All it requires is the discipline and the will to learn. Here are some ways through which you can invest in yourself:

READING:
There is a popular saying that readers are leaders. The more you read, the more knowledgeable you are, and the more knowledgeable you are, the more you will be ahead of others in that field (leading). When you read, you learn a lot about what is happening around you.

Should you read everything that comes your way? Invariably, no! If you are a voracious reader, you will learn how to scan any material to know whether it has relevant content before actually reading it. This will help you save time and streamline your readings to only things that will add value to you.

To the question of what you should read, it will be wise of you to read books, journals, magazines, newspapers and internet materials on the field you are interested in. For example, if you are interested in business, you should read business-related materials that come your way; if you are interested in manufacturing, stock-market, or any other thing, the same thing applies.

ATTENDING SEMINARS/WORKSHOPS:
Many firms and institutes organize training sessions for people on different specialized knowledge. These are usually knowledge that you might not be able to get from the walls of a classroom. Participating in seminars and workshops relevant to your field or areas where you have interest will give you knowledge that will advance you faster in life, business or career. So when next you hear of a seminar, and it is going to cover your area of interest, do well to participate as no knowledge is waste.

TRAVELLING:
Ever heard the saying that travelling is a part of education? Well it is basically true. If you read my article on how to discover business opportunities, you will remember that one of the ways to discover opportunities is when you travel.

When you travel, you mix with people of different views and opinions in diverse aspects of life. You will learn how they do things which are different from the way it is done in your area. That little difference might be what could give you breakthrough in your business or career. Many ideas that have evolved into big empires were discovered while travelling.

There are people who do not travel from year to year. In as much as I am not condemning them, it is very important that once in a while, you change your environment, mix with new people and learn new things from them.

WATCHING TELEVISION AND LISTENING TO RADIO:
These two media are another powerful form of acquiring knowledge. When you listen to news, commentaries or other programs on radio or watch it on the television; you learn a lot from them. Even though all programs on radio or TV might not interest you, there are still some that will offer value to your knowledge bank. Sometimes, big breakthrough in career or business might come from information gotten from the radio or television. As I always say, no knowledge is waste.

LISTENING TO BUSINESS AUDIO OR VIDEO TAPES:
Some experts in various field of business and career package their knowledge in VCDs or CDs and sell to the general public. You can take advantage of the convenience this one offers as you can play it in your car while travelling, in your phone, etc. Thus no time is wasted for you, as you are always learning on the go.

You should understand that books, articles, seminars, lectures, etc are written and or organized by people who already know more than you do in that area. Even if you feel you already know all you need to know, you should bear in mind that there is always something new to learn. It could be that singular knowledge that you acquired that will set you apart from the crowd and see you succeeding where others have failed.

Finally, I want you to check this out: whenever an employer wants to be promoted, he upgrades his knowledge by taking an advanced course in his field (promotion course) either through reading or lectures. So whenever you want to advance to the next level in your business, investment or in your career, open your mind to learning more through reading, seminars and workshops.

NUGGET:
From hence, make it a duty to read at least one book every month. Likewise, listen to radio, watch television and read newspapers and be on the lookout for the information that can bring about the breakthrough you desire. It could just be in the next book or seminar you will read or attend.

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