Lately I’ve been inundated with webinar and eCourse ads in my Instagram feed. Click on one and you click on them all, it seems. Social media ad targeting is clever like that.
The webinars/eCourses that I’m seeing are mainly geared toward helping small businesses improve in various aspects of their enterprise. I run a product-based business so I know how and why these ads appear in my scroll.
You know the kind.
Girl (usually a girl because I’m a girl and social media knows this and sends me stuff that they think I can relate to) starts business but she’s only getting 1 lead a week. Then she introduces one amazing tweak to her website and BAM! A new lead every 3.5 seconds or something ridiculous. Now she spends her life teaching that one awesome tweak.
Of course, it’s far better wrapped and delivered than that and always sounds so good, right? This one little tweak could help me reach my goals, reach more people, change the world one cloth nappy at a time, etc.
The thing is though, that I’ve been in business now for almost 12 years. And during that time, I’ve done a LOT of personal and professional development. More than what was involved in my husband’s MBA, if I’m being modest!
Well this past week, I came close to purchasing something new and shiny. I so very nearly went through checkout with two separate eCourses that promised to solve this and that problem for me and teach me this new incredible skill that is the ONLY skill to have if you’re in business in 2018.
But I’m proud to say that I didn’t.
Not that I’m opposed to paying for great services. Not at all! I’ve purchased many incredible resources during my time in business, and I credit many of them with some very specific wins. Some have even saved me from what would have been very costly mistakes.
What I’m proud of is that I took my own advice from my blog from last weekand declared a hiatus on new subscriptions and courses. That’s bad news for all those service providers out there who know a sucker-for-knowledge when they see one, but great news for my bank balance, and if we’re being really honest, also for my headspace.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
Every single item in your home requires cleaning, maintenance, organising, repair, replacement – no item just sits there requiring nothing from you.
The same goes for virtual items.
Every subscription that hits our inbox requires filtering or some kind, even if it’s just deletion.
Every course that we sign up for takes brain power that we may need elsewhere, and money that we could use in a different way.
And if we happen to decide two weeks into the course that we just can’t keep it up or it’s not for us, there’s the added guilt of knowing we spent money on something we’re not using.
But, Eva, I heard you say (or maybe that’s my own objection talking??): learning a new skill is fun! It’s not healthy to think that you’re in a place where you know everything and can no longer be taught. It’s good to keep growing and learning and developing!
Of course it is. I’m not denying that.
My point is simply this: if you don’t use what you currently have – your skills, knowledge and experience – you won’t effectively use anything knew.
Time to go back through the archives of my 12 years in business and remember that I already have the skills, knowledge and experience to change my world.
