Invest In You and You Will Make a Fortune

Posted on 10. Sep, 2009 by Natalie in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration & Motivation

I’ve met several amazing people over the past year since becoming an entrepreneur – people who have accelerated my thinking and caused me to take action in many areas of my life. I now have a small handful of mentors who I meet for coffee or lunch each month to discuss specific areas I’d like more knowledge on.
I’m also excited to soon start the Forum for Women Entrepreneur’s mentorship program. I see this as an investment in myself to grow, learn and continually evolve and then to be able to mentor others to do the same.

I credit the start of this newfound enlightenment with my trip to Costa Rica in May this year. I got to hang out with 10 amazing young entrepreneurs as part of a `Livin Large’ vacation. I was the only female entrepreneur there and initially was overwhelmed with the sheer depths of talent, ambition and intellect these guys radiated in my presence. Being the only female in a group of good looking men, however, was no problem at all!

One of these was the gregarious energizer bunny Kent Healy. I’m continually astounded at how much Kent can pack into his day. He manages his personal brand as an author and speaker, as well as his thriving businesses with grace and humour.

Kent Healy

He’s also extremely supportive of everything I do and is someone I communicate with regularly to share ideas, stories and a joke or two with. I particularly like his thought provoking articles he sends me and really like his perspective on why you need to invest in yourself in order for your business to succeed.

Here’s why in this excerpt from Kent:

‘Like startup companies, we may not have the most money, natural talent, formal education, physical resources, connections, and so on, but as countless businesses have shown us over the course of history, those are not the defining factors of success. And notice that age is not a factor either!  What matters most then, is how we can apply what we do have to create something greater. After all, “entrepreneurship” is really about building value and delivering it to the marketplace. And ultimately, it’s always YOU at the source of the value being produced. As Jim Rohn once said, “If you work on a job, you’ll make a living.  But if you work on yourself, you’ll make a fortune.”

Look at all of the resources you currently have as “capital” and then purposefully and carefully decide how you can best apply it to build something of greater value. Be resourceful; you have more options, assets, and opportunities than you’re probably presently aware of.  Pretend you’re a consultant hired to take a closer look at the “inventory” on hand—right down to the paperclips!   What implementation strategy will work best for you? How should you be utilizing your existing assets and what resources should you be pursuing?  These are very important decisions.

Essentially, you must call the shots. That’s right, you are the CEO of your life—definitely not a position to take lightly (and no, demoting yourself will not help either!).  Fortunately, you don’t need an amazing package that is incredibly unique from competitors. You just need to be more resourceful and willing to work hard at honing your abilities with the time you have (the same amount of time each of us has… 24 hours).

The right combination of creativity and discipline can produce extraordinary results. And the right investments can pay their weight in gold. In this case, remarkably, you have control of both. View yourself as a venture capitalist… your next great investment?  You.

Make your life a masterpiece.’

Kent’s own success is in using the 24 hours he’s given to the max and living and breathing what he preaches. He also has an insatiable appetite for learning and more importantly putting that into action. To find out more about Kent, visit his site.
Or for those extra young entrepreneurs in the making check out his latest book `Chicken Soup for Soul: Extraordinary Teens.’

My advice to you is to start investing in yourself and find those mentors who’ll do the same.

Read my previous post `Get a Global Perspective as a Female Entrepreneur’ here which included my 3 top tips including surrounding yourself with a supportive network.

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