Investing in myself

We all know the saying, “You have to spend money to make money,” but actually doing it can be uncomfortable. It was thus a big decision for me to hire a career coach and quit a part-time job within the span of a week back in October. Doing so meant earning less and spending more, with no firm plan in place to start earning enough money to live on.

Fortunately, it was a risk I was able and willing to make. After several months without seeing any real improvement in my professional situation, I needed to enact semi-drastic measures in hopes of turning things around. Now, almost four months later, plans are taking shape. I’ve accepted a few small freelance contracts at a higher pay rate than before, and I’m feeling nearly ready to launch my own money-making projects. In the grand scheme of things, it hasn’t taken me that long to get here: a few months’ investment of time, money, and energy in my own future. And I’m a pretty good bet. Success becomes me!

But seriously, it does. And it does you, too! Plus, investing in oneself, if done with passion and a positive attitude, is a low risk/high reward endeavour.

I’ve been thinking a lot about investing in myself lately because I’m contemplating investing even more. I want my own apartment with dedicated office space. But Toronto, a city I love and want to keep living in, is expensive. Going it alone is a big financial commitment, especially for someone who’s self-employed. What I need to do is come up with my ideal compromise situation given the resources at my disposal—that is, how much I’m able to invest. I guess this means I’ve got homework to do. I need to figure out what’s important in my life, assign a cost to each item on the list, and then make adjustments to my lifestyle (personal and professional) to live my best possible life. No easy task. But an investment I can’t not make.