Flickr image "Conference Hall" by shinemy

Have you attended any training, read a new book or learnt something new recently?

If you haven’t then, that’s a warning sign that your horizons may be stagnating and it could be slowing you down in your quest for financial freedom.

1. What I got from attending conferences

I recently attended a two-day conference and was also a speaker for one session. I used to do presentations a couple of years back when I was an IT security auditor and consultant and am starting to slowly get back into the speaking circuit.

If you know the business conference industry, you’ll realise that speakers are generally not paid. They speak for free in order to attend the event for networking, promoting their company or brand and to build up their reputations and thought leadership in a particular field or topic.

I was asked to speak at this conference as I’ve spoken for this conference organiser before and it was a topic that I had some familiarity.

What I got from this conference are benefits that you can derive for yourself by engaging yourself in a learning environment where you can make connections in your brain with new ideas and concepts as well as connections in person with people who know more about things you are interested in.

You should always be reading, listening, interacting with things that are new and refreshing in order to grow your horizons towards financial freedom. This can done in the following ways:

1. Read a book, listen to a podcast or seminar about something you don’t already know

I’m reading Guy Kawasaki’s “The Art of the Start” that talks about entrepreneurship and the process of bootstrapping your start-up. While I’m now in a stable job and have no plans do a start-up as an entrepreneur, the tips and techniques that Guy shares in his book are equally relevant to me in trying to implement new initiatives in my own department within the organisation.

Learning about pitches, getting support and funding and how to deal with different types of people in any type of “start-up” initiative are useful topics.

Most of my own knowledge about personal finance and financial freedom were also from books. With the spread and availability of information on the internet, there’s no reason why you cannot access podcasts, youtube videos, websites and blogs about topics that you have an interest.

I picked up many useful ideas and concepts relating to my area of interest from the other speakers. Their own ideas have rubbed off and now I have some new ideas generated due to their inputs.

2. Network and talk to people by asking questions

The other important thing I gained from attending the seminar was to network with like-minded professionals. Now I have a loose link that I can cultivate over time to tap on a network when I want another view on any initiative.

Networking is two way. You also need to consider what you can offer others. I was a speaker for this conference so it gave me an easier time to demonstrate some degree of competence in my area of expertise which is IT related. This allows me to be able to first be of service to others before asking others for help.

3. Seeing other types of opportunities and building skills

During the conference, I met a retired professional who now spends his retirement doing training and consulting for very decent fees. This has given me ideas on future post-career plans to be a consultant cum trainer as I’ve invested 5 years in toastmastering and will continue to invest the rest of my career to speak at conferences to build up credibility and add value.

You have to build up your own expertise over time in order to be able to leverage on it in the future. Start to build the required skill-sets now before you hit your retirement age. This is how I approach “retirement planning” in that besides savings and investment, I invest in skills that can see me leverage on my experience to be of value even at the age of 60 or 62.

How have you expanded your horizon lately towards financial freedom?

Share with Panzer.

Be well and prosper.

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