What is Your Professional Education Worth?

The only way to keep growing as a person and as a financial advisor is to continue your professional education. Recently, I’ve received several comments about the cost of professional education products. Most of their messages can be encapsulated into:

“Gee, all of this stuff is expensive. I can’t afford to spend so much.”

I even had one old friend who said:

“I’m gaining 10 clients a month and grossing $30,000 a month. I need to reach 20 clients a month and I’ve been told you are the best in the business industry at marketing. Tell me what I need, and I’ll get it.”

The conversation was completely undone when my first suggestion received the following response:

“That’s too much.”

Keep in mind, in his case, increasing clients from 10 to 20 per month generate $30,000 a month or $360,000 per year in added revenues. An even more important consideration is that $360,000 is added revenue per year probably increases his net from $70,000 per year to approximately $400,000 per year — a 500% to 600% increase.

The conversation finally ended when my least expensive suggestion, costing approximately $1,200, was countered by his willingness to invest no more than $600.

Professional Education is an investment with great dividends.

If you know me at all, then you’re able to guess my attitude. I’m still driving my Porsche and he’s still gaining 10 clients a month. It’s ‘no skin off my nose’. It’s his loss, and it makes no difference whatsoever to my lifestyle or outlook. I am only able to help those business owners who want help and are willing to invest in their professional education. How much are you investing in your professional education?

I recommend two strategies:

First, you must be willing to invest one dollar if it returns two or more dollars. I often rail on this subject, but I do believe in the Benjamin Franklin quote: “Empty your purse into your mind and your mind will fill your purse.”

Second, you should have a continuous study project to help you develop new and existing skills constantly. There are many courses to choose from, but my past course of study may help you choose the one best for you:

• Educational Psychology
• The Psychology of Motivational Teaching
• Direct Response Marketing
• Internet Marketing
• Effective Personal Selling
• Rapport Building in Communications
• NLP NeuroLearning Pathways
  • Teaching
  • Persuasive Copywriting
  • Effective Personal Selling
• Direct Mail
• Leadership
• Employee Management and Supervision

Let me help you focus on the decision-making process. We’ll assume you are already furthering the mastery of your current skills, so then turn your focus onto your business skills, as these skills probably require the most attention. I propose there are three primary skills you must develop to succeed in running your own business.

• Selling
• Marketing
• Teaching (your employees)

Once you begin mastering those subjects, you then must move to staff and master subjects, such as recruiting, hiring, training, supervision, and motivation.

Let’s get started.

First, acquire, read and study the information available from all the great industry sources, including reviewing and ask about my Extraordinary Marketing and Coaching programs, which have a wealth of knowledge about marketing and sales. Aside from that, when I joined Jonathan Mizel’s Internet Marketing Coaching Program and Dan Kennedy’s Coaching Program, the first thing I did was print everything available on their websites (more than 2,000 pages each). I then organized the material in notebooks and read everything and took notes; I was very determined to learn. These professional education suggestions only scratch the surface of what’s available in the industry.

Once you’ve exhausted all the industry sources specific to your business, then start with generic topics, such as selling and marketing. I recommend:

• Selling: Tom Hopkins, Zig Ziglar, Robert Cialdini, and Dan Kennedy.
• Marketing: Dan Kennedy and his Magnetic Marketing & Copywriting Programs.
• Joe Sugarman, John Caples, Claude Hopkins, and others.

Your head may hurt, but great knowledge doesn’t come easy. Take your time, organize it all and take one step at a time. My coaching experience with Dan Kennedy, Jonathan Mizel, and others has paid huge dividends. If you think a coach would help you, take the first step now by scheduling a free introductory session.