Back when I was starting out as a speaker ? and I can assure you that those were lean times ? I flew to Dallas and attended a weekend seminar by Jim Rohn. On top of the flight, seminar, hotel and related expenses, I also bought all of his audio programs.

It was an expensive weekend.

For the next year, though, I listened to his teaching over and over and over. If my car was running, you?d hear Jim Rohn?s voice through the speakers. I consumed every insight he had to offer.

Many years later, when I?m asked who has had the greatest impact on my professional life, I can always answer without hesitation.

Nor am I the only one. In over 40 years of delivering seminars, changing lives and influencing greats like Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield, Jim Rohn taught much to many.

Some of his insights profoundly changed how I?ve come to see life and business. He taught me to ask not, ?What am I getting?? but, ?Who am I becoming?? and to be grateful for what I have while in pursuit of what I want.

The most important idea Jim taught me, though, is to never begrudge the money you spend on your own education.

When I look at our clients, I can see that principle in action. The first people to buy that new book, or purchase the new audio program? They?re always the top sales people. The first people in line to register for the seminar? They?re the peak performers.

If you ask the struggling sales person why it is that the elite do this, the answer is invariably, ?Because they have the money.?

I?m not so sure. Do they invest in themselves because they have the money, or do they have the money because they’ve always invested in themselves?

Intuitively, we all know the answer to this, but Jim Rohn may have explained it best:

Formal education will make you a living? self education will make you a fortune.

A lot of people say I can?t afford the seminar, the book, the audio/video training program. If you?re in sales, I?d suggest you can?t afford to not make the investment. Like that seminar I couldn?t afford, but did anyway, the greatest investment you will ever make is the investment you make in yourself.

What you know has gotten you where you are. The question is what do you need to learn to get where you want to go?

I?ve never begrudged the money I spent on that first seminar and those first books. They?ve paid off handsomely, just like every one since.

Thanks Jim. I miss you.

“It isn’t what the book costs; it’s what it will cost if you don’t read it.”

– Jim Rohn (1930-2009)