What should you pay for?

There are so many people on the web right now trying to sell you a better way of life by giving you hard won advice on how to get off your ass and be a winner. Many of these people entice you with free content teasing you about just how much your life will change if you can invest in yourself and join their insiders network. Now before this starts to sound like an anti-guru or maven rant, let me be clear; There are many people out there who I would gladly pay to be my life coach, but there are countless others that I wouldn't pay to rake my yard. It's the latter category I'm worried about.

If you feel stuck and are searching for motivation on Google when you come across one of these guru's, pay attention to what you get versus what you're promised once you fork over your cash. My favorite coaching guru's dump a ton of content for free and politely invite you to join their paid programs at the end of the content you have already consumed for FREE. These people, in my opinion, are doing things the right way by giving you a clear picture of who they are and what they can do for you without so much as getting your email address.
The other type of person will show you their beautiful homes, cars, planes, islands...etc. and allude to the fact that you too can have all this, the life of your dreams, if you'll only invest in yourself and take the plunge to a better life. They might even use marketing tricks like telling you they're going to share a secret with you at the end of the video, only to reveal that secret is that you'll need to fork over some cash to get the secret sauce that makes life so much more than you could ever imagine.

My advice is to very carefully consider alternatives before joining someone's monthly payment plan. Find a local mentor or life coach that you can actually connect with in person. If you do want to pay one of these professional coaches, research them like you would any other major purchase and don't write the check until you are sure you can afford to lose the money. You're basically buying something you can't quantify until you've made the purchase so make sure you're not going to kick yourself after a week.