𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗦𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗣𝗔𝗬 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚.

Praise Ohanwe
Dec 26, 2020
7 min read

As you journey to global relevance, you cannot turn blind eyes to the fact that YOU NEED TO GET TRAINED.

Coaching, tutoring, consultations - all these and more will be pivotal as you sharpen your skills and prepare for the world ahead of you.

And at some point, you will have to PAY for knowledge.

This is where the challenge often comes in. Sometimes, you may want to pay for knowledge, but for obvious reasons, you may not have the money (at the moment).

I know this because I have been there, and although it can be frustrating, it may be your reality - especially if you are just starting out on your journey.

In this piece, I will share with you how you can leverage freebies, even as you get set to begin investing money in your personal development.

=. =. =. =

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗿.

1. The idea behind this piece isn’t to lull you into the false sense of security that comes with thinking that you can become the next John Maxwell by pursuing freebies for the rest of your life.

Make peace with this fact and do so in time; at some point in your journey, you MUST invest in yourself by paying for knowledge.

2. Do not always expect your coaches to give you things for free. Nope. The expertise they have didn't come for free.

3. The steps discussed below aren’t set in stone. Depending on what skill(s) you want to learn, you may have to go a different route. For the best results, read this piece (as many times as necessary), internalize it, and find out how you can connect the dots.

Now that we have these out of the way, follow these steps if you want to learn a skill, but you do not (yet) have the money to pay for tutelage.

1. 𝗛𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗗

This is the first thing you need to get right, or you may not be successful with your endeavors. I have come across any people who resent coaches simply because they didn’t get what they wanted, for free.

Sadly, that’s not how life works. If this blueprint is going to work for you, you must know that;

A. Although you’re starting with freebies, do not train yourself to become completely dependent on them. At some point, you will have to commit to purchasing premium knowledge.

B. Although you may start learning the skill without paying money, what you will learn will not come without a price.

At this stage, your attention is the currency with which you can purchase what you want. You may not be paying MONEY, however, you must pay ATTENTION.

2. 𝗗𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗡.

This may seem like it shouldn’t be a part of the steps you must follow. However, you cannot make a lot of progress if you’re all over the place.

Don’t try to learn graphics design today, tailoring tomorrow, and Cryptocurrencies the day after.

Jumping from trying to learn one skill today, to another tomorrow, will only serve to confuse and frustrate you.

While deciding on the skill to pick up, I’d advise you to take up a skill that is relevant to your life/business/career.

For example, if you want to be a business trainer, why not start by learning content creation?

3. 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧 𝗔 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛

This is where you define WHO is worthy of your attention at this stage of your journey.

Remember the currency you’re paying with at this stage is your attention, so you need to be careful where it goes.

This is what you need to do;

A. Now that you’ve decided on the skill you want to develop, conduct a search for the top figures in that industry. You can use Google to perform this (just know the right search terms to use).

Usually, you will find a list of the top people in the industry displayed by Google. Congratulations, you’re on the right track.

B. Narrow down your options. Although you’d usually find a list of up to 100 people (or even more), you can’t give your attention to all of them.

You know why?

Different people have different perspectives; different coaches have different approaches to the same manner.

Consuming content from all these industry leaders at the same time will (more often that not), confuse you into giving up on your aspirations. I usually advise that you select at most, 3 people that you will learn from.

Three people. Please don’t make things harder for yourself.

4. 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗘.

This is where the party begins.

Now that you’ve decided exactly who you’re giving your attention to, it is time to go all out.

For the industry leaders you selected, find out how you can access their free content (putting out free content is most likely part of what they did to become industry leaders).

Most times, you’ll find these content on their websites (as free resources), or their primary content channels (where they publish most of the content they create - could be a Facebook group, Youtube channel, or even social media).

Follow them on social media.

The idea behind this step is that you expose yourself to as much content as is needed to let you get the hang of the skill you’re learning.

5. 𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘.

At this point, you should have started getting better at the skill you are learning. It is time to roll up your sleeves and put some things to work.

Practice, practice, and when you think you’re done practicing, practice again.

The key to becoming the next best thing in that field lies in your willingness to practice and get better at what you do.

𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀;

Remember I asked you to select a skill that is relevant to your life/business at any time, right? This is why I asked you to do so.

Practicing what you have learned, on yourself, can sometimes take the edge off of it.

Let’s assume you’re learning the skill of marketing, from some experts in the field, and you have a business you run.

It will be easy for you to learn, apply (practice), and find out what works.

6. 𝗦𝗘𝗘𝗞 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗘 𝗘𝗫𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘.

If you’ve carefully walked through the steps above, you most likely are at a point where you have become good at that skill you’re learning (to some level).

At this point, seek value exchange.

Some people out there need the skills you have, while you need something they have (money). This is where you find them, and offer your services to them.

To achieve this, exploit either of these options;

A. 𝗣𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲.

If you’ve sharpened that skill to a point where you’re sure that you can get people the results they seek (at least to an extent), it is only logical for you to put yourself out there.

Let them know that you’re here to help them solve their problems. You can achieve this by leveraging social media.

However, to be successful at this, you need

1. An insane amount of confidence - in yourself and what you do, and

2. A keen sense of judgment - to make sure that you do not bite off more than you can chew. You must know the exact problems you can solve, and stay within the limits of your capabilities.

Conversely, you can choose to…

B. 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿.

If you’re not willing to walk the former path (of putting yourself out there), you may want to try this out.

Volunteering is one way to sharpen the skills you’ve acquired and become more confident in yourself.

However, do not be careless with your volunteering efforts because you have a destination in mind.

As you seek volunteering opportunities, look out for people/organizations who are

1. Willing to recommend/refer your services (after you must have done stellar work for them).

2. Have the resources and the ability to expose you to bigger opportunities.

𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀;

You will usually meet people who will tell you “to come and build a portfolio by working with them.”

Well. You can choose to, but I believe there has to be something in it for you - besides the good ol’ tale of building a portfolio. 🤷

7. 𝗗𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝗫𝗖𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗟𝗬.

If you’ve followed through to this point, you most likely should have started getting some gigs to work on.

Congratulations. It’s all going according to plan.

Now that you’ve got work on your table, sink your teeth into them and make sure that you deliver something that turns heads and leaves mouths hanging open in wonder.

You don’t have any reason not to. The success of your entire career probably hinges on this one step.

One job well done will ALWAYS lead to more work (I know from experience). So, you can’t afford to be lousy about it.

8. 𝗜𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝗣𝗔𝗜𝗗 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚.

Did you really think you were going to escape this step?

Nope. You shan’t!

Here’s a secret not a lot of people will tell you; your first paycheque (or credit alert) is not for flexing foolishly.

Yes, you can reward yourself for doing a great job, but it matters what you do with the first money that comes from dispensing your skills (especially if you followed the blueprint provided).

Pay for that relevant training. This one act can be a game-changer for you. DON'T SPEND EVERYTHING ON FRIVOLITIES - please.

You owe this one thing to yourself.

Now that you have paid for that training,

9. 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘, 𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣 𝟲(𝗔).

Your confidence levels will definitely increase after taking the last step.

Take this as an emotional booster to begin charging what you’re worth.

And go global from there.

That, my dear, is how life works.

Learning a skill is vital in today’s world, and even the lack of funds (at the moment) shouldn’t be a reason for not equipping yourself for global relevance.

Follow these steps I have outlined in this post, and watch yourself become a professional in that field.

in the meantime, have you checked out the last episode of The Extra Podcast?