3 Areas Leaders Should Invest in Themselves

You probably know why you should invest in yourself. But do you know WHERE you should invest in yourself? 

I often get asked by corporate leaders and business owners, “Where should I invest my time, money, and energy?” Because those are the three things that you're investing in, right? There might be other resources, like your team manpower, but three main things are time, energy and money. But where should you invest those things for your life and business success? 

There are three different areas that you should invest in yourself as a leader to bring you the most benefits. I’ll share stories of leaders and clients I worked with who have invested in themselves in these certain ways and had great results.  

1. Invest in Your Connections

Sara was feeling pretty lonely and unsure of herself. She felt a lack of belonging. When she did get into interactions, she was starting to feel a little bit awkward. Maybe you felt like that after COVID because things are very different now and you haven't been interacting. 

Financially, this was causing her to not make the kind of money that she wanted. Also, she couldn't get ahead as easily. Maybe you're feeling that way, too. 

What she decided to do was start attending events - events with like-minded women, other female leaders, and other business owners who she could connect with. What she found was that she was able to connect with someone who could specifically help her figure out crowdfunding. 

It's funny because I actually connected the two of them by putting them in the same group for an activity, which was such a coincidence. In doing so, she felt more connected. She grew in her confidence. She got the answers that she needed, which helped her so much. 

You should invest in connections, networking, and being with other people who you know you can help, where it can be a win-win, and they can help you too. Connections are so important. 

What I've seen in clients I've worked with and in women that come to my Dynamic Women events, summits, trainings, and even with a group coaching program is that connection brings them so much. 

• You can receive increased wealth because people will refer to people they know, like, and trust.
• You can increase your confidence because you see that others are reacting really well to you.
• People also vouch for you, write recommendations, and write testimonials for you, even if they haven't worked with you. ​

It's really important to invest in your connections by attending events, being part of masterminds, group coaching, and/or programs. Different places where you get to connect and know a lot of cool people. 

This also reminds me of the Jim Rohn quote, “You're the sum of the five people you spend the most time with.” Maybe you are looking to elevate your five and add some more people to the close network.

2. Learning

Now for the next story, I'm going to call this person Jen. Jen was wanting to start a very specific type of business, but she wasn't sure how to do things. It was holding her back. She kept saying she wanted to do this, but she wasn't moving forward. She felt hesitant. 

What she realized was she was trying to reinvent the wheel. Maybe you've done this yourself. 

Where is the 2nd place to invest your time, energy and money? In learning. 

Not just any kind of learning, but practical application. There should be actionable steps. That's the type of learning that you want to receive so you know exactly what to do.

When Jen was able to listen to someone, teach her something, and follow their tips, (this wasn't even a program!), she was able to add $1000 in her profit to her bottom line in the following two weeks.

She easily put things into place by following those steps, and it was so much faster for her to get going. The key thing here is to invest in learning:

• Learn from people who have done it, and done it well, so you don’t make their mistakes.
• Learn from people who have the experience so that you can use their systems, processes and formulas.

Right after Jen did this, not only did she feel like things went easier and faster, it also increased her confidence because she already knew the steps she was going to take were actually going to move her forward because they were successful for someone else.

I have seen other people save 1000s of dollars. One example is getting rid of some technology that they didn’t actually need. 

I've seen people completely gain back hours of their week because they were able to follow a certain method or approach that someone taught. I've also seen people be able to bring in a new marketing effort, which has brought them new leads and new clients. This is all from learning from others. 

3. Inspiration

I'm going to name this person Poppy. Poppy was feeling pretty stuck. She was feeling like her energy was being zapped and her confidence was starting to wane. She was at a high level and was a great leader. But she felt like she didn't have it all together. 

She shared with me…

• “I'm trying to keep face” 
• “I'm trying to make it seem like I know all this stuff, but I really don't.” 
• “I feel like an impostor. I really don't have everything together.”
• “I hope people don't find these things out.” 
• ​“I really don't know everything that I'm supposed to do.”

It was then causing her to not perform as well because she was doubting herself. She was thinking that she was the only one who was an imposter. She was keeping everything quite private to herself. But then what she did was she start listening to other people's stories, and she was investing in inspiration. This is the third one to invest in: inspiration. 

In listening to one of my stories about where I sucked and where I didn't have it all together (I've got a bunch of those!) she realized successful women don't need to have everything together every second of every day. She said to me, “It's so refreshing to hear the honesty and the vulnerability that you're not perfect all the time.” ​

By continuously looking for moments and times to be inspired by others, she realized I don’t always have to be perfect. Then she was able to make it through a hard time because she was inspired to go for it. 

Hearing great stories from others can give you permission to go for your goals. It can give you hope. I remember one day when someone said, “That gives me hope because you shared that story.”

I can give you probably 20 other ways to invest in yourself. But these are three things that you can do easily. It doesn't take a lot of time, energy, or money to be able to do these things. 

Now, what are your next steps? 

I’d say it’s to put all three together. All three are happening at the Dynamic Women in Leadership Summit.  I've done it for you! I'm going to be fostering connections for you with other female business leaders. There are going to be lots of opportunities for connections with the speakers, experts and other women who are going to be in attendance. You can also connect with me by doing a Q&A session when you have one of the VIP tickets. 

For learning, I have curated so many amazing experts who are going to help you to lead in many areas of your life and business with actionable steps. I don't want it to be just fluff. I'm going to ask them the right questions to pull out the secrets to their success, so you can replicate them. You’ll be supported as you go towards your goals. 

For inspiration, we're going to ask the women to share their stories because the stories will stick with you in your mind. When the going gets tough, not just the tough gets going, but the inspired leader will continue to go forward. 

Get your free tickets to the Dynamic Women in Leadership Summit happening June 3rd and 4th, 2022 from 9AM-5PM to connect, learn, and inspire. Even if you can’t make it to all of it or even some of it get a VIP ALL ACCESS ticket to have the recordings, bonuses and gifts mailed to your house.

Read my other blogs here:
1. What's it like being a Business leader and a parent
2. 6 Ways to Get Paid What You’re Worth
3. How NOT to feel isolated