The Blogging Myths: Buying Courses is a Waste of Time

I have another confession to make to you today: “I’m a serial learner.”

It is both a blessing and a curse.

I simply love to learn. If I had my ideal day or week, it would either be going through an online course or sitting at a conference learning from experts on topics I have interest in.

I simply love to learn.

I was listening to a recent podcast conversation between David Siteman Garland and Amy Porterfield. David was talking about being a serial learner. A serial learner is someone who loves to buy up courses in order to learn something new.

However, what he discovered over-time (and something I’ve talked about before on this blog) is that you also need to be a “serial implementer.” You need to just make it a habit of taking action on what you buy. Just do it! Don’t be a serial learner unless you can also be a serial implementer.

“Don’t be a serial learner unless you’re also willing to be a serial implementer.” Tweet that

There is also another big group of you out there. You’re hesitant to purchase anything. Maybe you see it all as a bunch of hype or you don’t see it as a worthwhile investment. This leads me to myth #4:

Myth #4: “Buying courses is a waste of time when there is so much free information out there.”

It is true that we are drowning in free information. According to YouTube, they have over 100 hours of video uploaded every minute! While some of it is pure entertainment, there is still a ton of learning to do on YouTube alone.

My Own Journey of Purchasing Courses

If I had to guess, I’ve spent somewhere between $5,000 – $10,000 over the last few years on courses. In fact, one course alone I paid out $2000 over 4 months to get access to it.

For some of you that number is low and for others of you that is way too high of an investment.

My reason for sharing this with you is not to convince you to buy up every single course and success will come your way. Instead, let me share with you a few powerful reasons why I do buy courses:

1. I made a commitment to always be growing – A year from now I’ll be the same except for two things: the things I learn (books and courses) and the people I meet. When I stop learning, I stop growing.

2. I intentionally chose to make investments in my passions – I simply want to feed my passions. There is nothing worse than having a burning passion to do something and never flaming the fires. Make an investment in your passions.

“There is nothing worse than having a burning passion to do something and never flaming the fires.” Tweet that

3. Gain up close access to the creators of these products – This is alone is worth an investment. When you purchase a product someone has created, you have just entered into their inner circle. I cannot tell you how many phone or email conversations I have had with experts simply because I chose to become a student of theirs.

4. Get access to a passionate community of like-minded people – Not every course gives you this kind of access, but if I know a course has a built-in community by way of a private forum or Facebook group, I’m in. I want to meet others doing what I do so I can learn from them and grow with them.

5. Get a step-by-step blueprint that you can follow – I’d rather pay for the convenience and time saving factor that purchasing courses gives me. I also love courses that break things down into repeatable processes. These courses are designed to get you to take action. They are not just out to motivate and inspire you with theory. They have an intentional blueprint you can follow and use.

The answer should be obvious by now, but here is my answer to this myth.

Answer: Get step-by-step guidance from mentors in your field and connect with others on the same path

If you’ve been following this series, then you probably see a trend here. Have you seen the value of connecting with people on a similar journey? It is crucial to your success as a blogger and something I wish I had done from the very beginning.

I doubled in growth (both traffic and revenue) between year 2 and 3 simply because I stopped hiding behind my blog. I started reaching out to other people. I showed up to help people with what I knew to be true and in turn I was blessed in the process in some way.