Monetize Your Professional Development With These 3 Steps

Disconnected in the sense that their professional development has not advanced their career.

The purpose of professional development is to enhance you while building your career. Professional development should give you a ‘return on your investment’ (ROI) in terms of new challenges and increased income.

Here are three steps to monetize your professional development:

• Take stock of where you are now as a professional in terms of your career and your life. What is working well for you and what would you eventually like to let go of or cut back on.  Think about where you would like to be 1 – 3 years from now.  If I could wave the magic wand, what would your career look like? What types of clients would you be seeing?  How would those clients /new responsibilities be different from what you are doing now?  How much money would you like to be making?  Put all this down on paper so that you have a hard copy visual.

• Imagine yourself successful in this vision. Identify what professional development (or levels of professional development) is needed for you to get there. Plan, save and allocate the funds to take the particular professional development.

• Once you have taken the professional development activate the steps to leverage your new insight and skill set. Update your resume, update your website, market yourself to the various resources that can help you utilize your new found skills. Seek out professionals who can help you position yourself in the right direction.

You have invested greatly in your choice of profession; take the steps necessary to make sure that your career is working right for you.

Photo courtesy:  Ben Tesch