Bet On Yourself

Do you trust someone else's ability to succeed more than your own?

We are used to thinking about investing in companies, houses, or other assets. We want money we put somewhere to create more money.

But how often do you think of yourself as an asset worth investing in?

Not just with money. With your time, energy, attention, and willingness to learn.

Betting on yourself means believing in your capacity to create value and then doing the work to develop it.

Why I chose to invest in my own business

Years ago, I reached a point where I was either going to take my business to the next level or shut it down. I had little kids and a dream of building something bigger.

I decided to go all in. We cashed out our retirement accounts and put the money we had saved into the business.

That was my decision, and I want to explain the thinking behind it.

In a conversation with financial professionals, I compared the return I was creating in my business with the returns they described from other investments.

They emphasized the risk of investing in my business and the value of diversification. I kept considering the part I could influence: how hard I worked, what I researched, whom I hired, and whether I kept going.

I decided I wanted to invest in my dreams, business, education, and capacity. That decision worked well for me.

Now I also invest in other companies and real estate. I am not saying those investments are bad. I still think of investing in myself first.

Keep educating yourself

Education can increase what you are able to produce.

I don't mean only traditional education. Becoming a doctor can be an investment that leads to earning through that career. A shorter course can also help you develop a valuable skill.

Financial education, mental health education, coaching, or therapy can help you become a more capable version of yourself.

Too many of us treat education as something we complete once. We finish school and stop investing in our brains.

What if you kept learning throughout your life?

You could keep adding knowledge, experience, and perspective. You could become better at identifying what you need to learn next.

I invest in courses, study my field, and seek out people with knowledge I don't yet have. I recently hired a business coach because I wanted access to experience and thinking beyond mine.

Develop what is specific to you

I believe each person has something important to offer the world.

Your interests, desires, talents, and motivations are not exactly the same as anyone else's. Pay attention to those differences.

You can be inspired by my success without trying to follow my footsteps precisely.

When someone learns the Model, it becomes part of their own combination of knowledge and experience. The student next to them has a different combination and will serve different people.

I coach very directly. Some clients thrive with that. Others want a gentler, more detailed approach.

We need coaches who offer both. We don't need everyone to mimic me.

Ask what you want to contribute and whether you are willing to invest your resources in developing that offering.

Your experience remains yours

My business is a valuable asset. But even if it disappeared, the knowledge and experience I have developed would still be in my brain.

I can coach, create businesses, and consult. I have learned how to make decisions, build processes, hire, and produce value.

That is part of the return on investing in myself.

I see the same thing in students I have mentored. If their current businesses ended, they would still have the skills, confidence, and experience they gained building them.

They wouldn't be starting with an empty brain.

They would carry the asset they had developed into whatever came next.

The price includes discomfort

Investing in yourself isn't only a financial cost.

You also need to be willing to feel the discomfort of failing.

When a company you invest in does poorly, you may be disappointed. When you invest in yourself and fail, it can feel much more personal.

You are the one you answer to.

That is why learning to feel discomfort without beating yourself up or quitting matters.

Your own failure can teach you what it takes to win. It can add to your knowledge and make you more capable instead of simply costing you money or effort.

Not every investment is one you follow through on. But the things you do follow through on become part of what you can offer.

If you never bet on yourself, you don't get to discover how much that capacity could grow.

You can do this while working for someone else

You don't have to own a business to think of yourself as an asset.

If another company pays you, that company is your customer. Your job is to create value for it.

Learn from the work. Offer ideas, make contributions, take risks, and ask for opportunities or promotions.

Ask how you can become more valuable to this company or another company that might want to employ you.

As an employer, I am willing to pay for people who have developed useful knowledge, experience, and the ability to contribute.

You can build those things while working for someone else. Your experience belongs to you, too.

Take care of the asset you are building

If you want to keep producing and contributing over the long run, you need to take care of yourself.

That includes learning, but it also includes getting support. Find guides, coaches, and mentors who can help you develop.

As you get older, you may have more experience, a larger network, and a better understanding of what you need. I love the possibility of continuing to create with all of that instead of assuming my productive years must end.

But don't confuse financial value with human worth.

You will never make yourself more worthy. You are already one hundred percent worthy. Success can't increase that, and failure can't reduce it.

The question is whether you want to develop your potential to create money, value, or contribution.

If this matters to you, ask whether you believe in your own ideas as much as other people's. Are you continually increasing what you know? Are you willing to put your time and energy behind yourself?

If you aren't willing to bet on yourself, ask why. Then give that answer your attention.