Can You Get Paid to Learn?

Is there a job in your industry where you can get paid to learn about a topic that you need to know about anyways?

Get Paid to Learn
If you’re going to be spending a lot of time at a job, mine as well find one that creates value for you other than just a paycheck.  Of course the income is most likely why we show up every day but if you learn a skill that will benefit you personally or professionally and get paid to do it then you have two good reasons to go work in the morning.

My wife started a job not to long ago where she makes money training or tutoring parents on how they can help their children learn.  Her employer has the mission of helping parents learn the best ways to teach their children as they play and spend time together.  She has received an enormous amount of training and support in this area through her new job.  This is a perfect scenario for her since we can use all her newly gained knowledge in raising our son.

Professional Development
Of course this is a personal example where the skills learned through a job can be applied at home but there are many ways you can make use of things you pickup at work to further yourself professionally down the road. One way to do it is find a job that will teach you specific skills you need in order to break into a certain field. It helps if you have an idea of what you’d like to be doing in the future so you can try and target certain skill sets when interviewing. 

Of course, this can also work to some extent in a job you already have.  If there’s an area you’d like to get into professionally but don’t have the experience you can always work with your boss to see if you can incorporate some projects into your existing job that would help train you in those areas.  Basically this is a way of investing in yourself, not just thinking about your current paycheck but how you’d like to earn your income in the future and positioning yourself so that can become a reality.

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

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