Not so long time ago I decided to start a new online business. It took me some time to choose the business model that I want to pursue, but after finally picking one, there was another big decision that I had to make. I had to find the right people that would teach me everything I needed to know about selling on Amazon.

I am a firm believer that almost nothing in this life can be done well without having a coach or a mentor. Regardless of the field you are trying to get into, you must have someone to show you how to do it. Sports, music, languages, cooking, business, yoga, meditation, etc. – all need a coach or a mentor. Sure, you can do those without someone guiding you, but don’t expect outstanding results. If you are trying to learn a new sport on your own, there is a strong possibility that you will hurt yourself. And if it is an instrument or a language, you are going to have a hard time in the future unlearning the things that you might have learned incorrectly.

So, after finally having found the right course and seeing all that it offers, it once again became clear to me that without it I would make a countless amount of mistakes. And because this particular case concerns investigating, I definitely want to avoid making mistakes.

Your biggest investment is you

When I talk to others about the importance of investing in a training, a coach or a mentor, I keep hearing how people don’t want to spend any money. Usually, people say that they either don’t have the money or that they can find all of the necessary information online, for free! It’s actually quite funny to hear how people don’t have enough money to spend on learning, yet they waste so much on eating out and buying things that they don’t really need.

So is it really true that all the information is out there and available for free? Even if this would be the case, there are a number of problems come with this:

The information you find for free is from different sources and therefore not structured or coherent No one can guarantee that it’s valid today It may take you years to put it all into one whole piece

Unfortunately, the problems don’t end here. There is a number of other crucial things to keep in mind. If you are learning something new completely on your own, you will lack:

Motivation

First of all, you need a lot of motivation! If you have a coach or a mentor, much of your motivation will come from them. They are a walking proof to you that if they could do it, so can you. Talking to them directly about their success and achievements cannot be substituted with any motivational video or book that you read.

Often, we begin something without having a clue of what we’re getting ourselves into. You can probably agree that it’s pretty hard to stay confident when the subject is still very new and relatively unknown. A mentor or a coach is there to constantly motivate you and to show you that it doesn’t matter that your knowledge is limited. What really counts is your passion, desire and willingness to learn.

As long as we have little experience, there will be tough times, struggling and adversity. If you are at that moment alone and there is no one to guide you, you simply might give up. The most common reason why people fail is because they give up too early. It’s the case when you decide to do it all on your own.

Most of the people that are millionaires were not born millionaires. Buddha was not born enlightened. Olympic prizewinners had to fight for their success. All of them struggled, and all of them had someone to teach them and to hold their hand along the way. Remember, your motivation is 80% of your success. If you are trying to succeed on your own, you will need to try pretty damn hard to keep that motivation up, unfortunately.

Experience

As already mentioned, coaches and mentors have experience that you don’t. They have gone through most of the difficulties and know what they are talking about. This is extremely important, especially if you are just starting.

If you gather free information online, you may get instructions of what to do, but people won’t usually tell you why exactly it should be done that way or how they got to that solution. On the other hand, you won’t be told of all the things that you shouldn’t do either, which is no less important than knowing what to do.

Experience is more valuable than gold. By learning from the mistakes of others and their experience, we have the opportunity to learn much quicker, while avoiding all of the mistakes that can lead us to lose money, time or (mental) health.

Uniqueness

If you think about finding information on your own vs. being coached, you will see that in the former there is no unique approach to your problem. What I mean here is that free information online gives only very general answers. And if you want to find a very specific answer to your exact problem, it may either take a long time to find or you may not find it at all. I work as a software engineer and I constantly need to search for specific answers online, so I know this from experience.

Whenever you are part of a coaching program, there is always some sort of a roadmap or a blueprint that teaches you all the steps from A to Z. You don’t have to worry about your problem not being covered or that you will need to make some additional research on the side. No, all of the courses that I have been a part of always cover any possible roadblock. And whenever I needed additional help, there was someone to guide me and help.

If you do decide to learn everything on your own, be prepared to spend a lot of time finding useful information from the masses of junk.

Accountability

The last point but not least that I want to mention is accountability. When it comes to spending money on coaching, this one is the hardest for people to comprehend.

If you decide to pay money, especially big money for a training, a coach or a mentor, that’s when shit gets real (pardon my French). When I for the first time spent money this way, I realized that it was no joke. A big step in my life was just made. I took action and that I made a commitment.

Previously, when I downloaded books for free or watched youtube videos, I liked the content and I definitely learned things from it, but I never felt obligated to really make use of them. But as soon as I spent my money that I had to work for, I knew that I was making a serious investment. I made an investment in myself, and I had no interest in throwing that money away.

When I was younger, just like the majority of people out there, I thought that information should be free. I couldn’t understand why others need to ask so much for things that they can just easily talk about. However, after having paid for my first guidance, I learned a few very important things.

1. If all information would be given out for free, the world would be a chaos. Even in the ancient times, students had to pay their spiritual teachers for the teachings that they got. Of course, then it wasn’t always done using some type of currency, but in the form of labor. Students helped out their gurus for years before they would be allowed to get access to hidden knowledge.

In today’s modern society people cannot be used like that. Therefore, money is the only thing that you can use in exchange for valuable information. You can judge this in any way you like, but it’s just the reality of the modern world.

2. I am quite convinced that anything given out for free, no matter how valuable it is, will be taken for granted. Only by paying a price, you will be able to take it seriously. The more you pay or sacrifice, the more chances there are that you will do your best to learn. By investing in a coach, a mentor or a training, you are really investing in yourself!

Never save up money when it comes to investing in your future. Rather spend more now, get the help that you need, do it the right way and succeed. Remember, your time on this planet is too limited to make the mistakes that you cannot afford.

“Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. It will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of all those around you.” – Robin S. Sharma

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Sincerely,

Victor Step

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