Make the Most of Your Educational Investments

If you have a DVD, CD or digital training program in your possession that is sitting there waiting for you to finish it, raise your hand. I’m raising my hand right now. I have a marketing video series sitting next to my desk - half finished. It was a gift, but when I first received it, I was plowing through the marketing DVDs. Then I went to a Mari Smith live event to learn more about Social Media, joined a mastermind and moved on to other things. They’ve been sitting there for well over a year. Here’s what I’ve learned about investing in coaches, mentors, and any kind of product that give you business or mindset training; they’re only good if you use them. And using them means more than just listening. Here’s the only way to get true value: 1. Be present while using your info product or attending a live session.
2. Be very clear about the outcomes you want from your time spent.
3. Block out time on your calendar for your learning, especially if it’s home study course.
4. Block out more time in your calendar to implement the material.
5. Ask questions of the instructor if you need more clarity on their process.
6. Enroll in a program or coaching that will assist you in the implementation and create some form of accountability. Before you start giving yourself a beating for not making the most of these kinds of investments, take a deep breath. It’s not too late. After my first Mari Smith live event, I found that I didn’t change much in my social media strategy. I was overwhelmed with the knowledge I received and never made a game plan to implement the strategies that I liked. Over one year later I enrolled in a webinar series with Mari Smith that would review some of the stuff I already learned plus give me new information on the ever changing Facebook pages. This time I implemented new strategies after each class. Not massive amounts but enough to create momentum. Next, I scheduled out a whole afternoon with my business partner, Eva, who also had gone through Mari’s trainings with me. We went through every transcript from the class and made an action item list of our favorite strategies that we want to implement in the next few months. We also enrolled in Mari’s new training to learn how to monetize all of our new strategies. Now, I’m not saying you have to keep enrolling in your favorite trainer's programs to get value. You just have to do whatever it takes to keep connected to the training material, until you’ve made the changes necessary in your business. If I hadn’t set up a day with Eva to go through all of the material again, I would’ve kept moving it to my someday list. And my social media marketing would never improve. And if I tried to implement every single good idea in the program, I would be overwhelmed and never get into action. I’ve watched this same thing happen to so many coaching clients over the years. Now I deliver bite-size chunks of information for all of my products and programs, and do massive follow up so that people implement and practice their new learning. So before you invest in your next training product or course, commit to the process with excitement, time and willingness to do the ‘work’. Practice, implement and get support. The reward you’ll get is that your mind and business will both experience the peace and profits that you craved when you said yes to your new training!