If you can budget just $50 to further your professional education, you have access to plenty of high-ROI ways to invest in your own professional ambitions. Through lots of trial and error, I’ve learned some of the best ways to maximize this feasible amount of cash. Let’s go!
- Buy a few books
- Reading ravenously is the easiest way to broaden your horizons and get smarter. Books teach you novel perspectives, introduce you to different ways of speaking, and help you imagine new worlds. Some great genres for professional development include self-help, business, autobiographies, psychology, sociology, and history. Hear me out on the history suggestion – history repeats itself in many ways because human nature stays constant across millennia. Having a deep understanding of people and our desires plays an important role in becoming a successful marketer.
- If you want to level-up your marketing game:
- The Analytical Marketer: How to Transform Your Marketing Organization (Adele Sweetwood, former SVP Marketing at SAS)
- Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One (Emily Heyward, co-founder of Red Antler – branding agency)
- Blue Ocean Strategy (Renée Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim, professors at INSEAD)
- Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, & Be Generally Amazing on All the Social Networks that Matter (Dave Kerpen, CEO of Likeable Social Media – marketing agency)
- If you want iconic business inspiration:
- Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike (Phil Knight, Nike co-founder)
- In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules (Stacy Perman, business journalist)
- The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company (Robert Iger, former CEO at Disney)
- Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility (Patty McCord, former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix)
- Expect to Win: 10 Proven Strategies for Thriving in the Workplace (Carla Harris, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley)
- If you want to learn about people:
- Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World (Adam Grant, psychologist and professor at UPenn)
- Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman, psychologist and Nobel Prize winner in Economics)
- How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie, business and self-help author)
- If you want to hear specifically from women:
- Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office (Lois P Frankel, best-selling corporate coach)
- Shark Tales: How I Turned $1000 into a Billion Dollar Business (Barbara Corcoran, real estate mogul and Shark Tank shark)
- Dare to Lead (Brené Brown, researcher of courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy)
- Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean (Kim Scott, corporate coach in Silicon Valley)
- Take a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) to learn something new or brush up
- MOOCs gained popularity a few years ago with the rise of education technology companies such as Lynda.com (acquired by LinkedIn), EdX, Coursera, and Udemy. They allow the whole world to connect online to teach and learn. I’ve taken a range of classes – from Harvard to the University of Melbourne, from public health to data science. The internet is amazing!
- Obviously, there’s tons of free content via blogs and Youtube, but MOOCs give you the chance to learn from an expert that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to interact with. There are also plenty of exorbitantly-priced MOOCs. With a bit of searching, you can definitely find an interesting and valuable ~$50 course.
- EdX: Becoming an Effective Leader, The University of Queensland (Free enrollment with $49 certificate)
- EdX: Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills, The University of Michigan (Free enrollment with $49 certificate)
- Udemy: Seth Godin on Presenting to Persuade ($29.99 for the course)
- Udemy: Marketing Analytics: Stand Out by Becoming an Analytics Pro! ($44.99 for the course)
- Udemy: Business & Technical Writing Immersion ($49.99 for the course)
- LinkedIn Learning: Unlimited access to business, tech, and creative classes ($29.99 for 1 month)
- Buy and learn a marketing software
- Marketing is getting increasingly technologically fancy! You need to keep up with the latest skills and be well-rounded to be a desirable candidate with options in the industry. business softwares are really expensive, so you probably have to learn them on the job. But here are a few simpler ones that you can mess around with and can boost your resume nicely if you’re proficient:
- Procreate ($9.99): An iPad app that allows you to create graphics and art, which can be great for IG stories or posts
- Adobe Photoshop ($20.99/month): Graphic design tool – sky is the limit!
- Start using Grammarly
- You’ve probably seen the Youtube ads for Grammarly. They are annoying and unforgettable. If grammar is not your strong suit, you should consider getting the tool. It catches spelling/punctuation mistakes and suggests replacements. You can use it for emails, documents, and social media.
- At $25/month, it can be relatively expensive to pay for all year round. If you just want to try it out, you can just purchase it for a couple of months when you know you’ll be writing a lot of important documents, and then see if it’s worth it to you.
- Price: Free version for $0; Premium for $25/month
- Resume and cover letter review by a professional
- If you’re about to embark on a job hunt, it could be a good idea to get an expert’s advice on your materials. When you’re in the weeds of fixing your resume, it can be really tough to step back and see if it tells the right story. Take your resume to an expert and without telling them any context, ask them what they think your story is. You want your experience and goals to pop out of the page without you explaining it. They can help re-word, catch errors, and re-arrange.
- The cover letter is also a generally cumbersome piece (some companies are now removing it from the application process), but it’s still required for many roles. You don’t want to write a whole new cover letter from scratch each time, but many online templates are also way too formulaic and it’s really obvious that you just swapped out a few words. A professional can listen to your goals and experience, and help craft a personalized template that sounds more like you and is more relevant to the types of jobs that you are applying to.
- Price: Varies but you can definitely find a good proofreader/strategist for $50. Try searching on Upwork.
- Purchase a paper magazine or online news subscription
- New developments occur every second in our chaotic modern society. As a marketer, it’s important to be culturally-relevant and well-read. Where you get your news is very important. If the way you catch up on news is by scrolling through Facebook and Instagram, then you’re totally behind. Some of the best content out there is behind a paywall, and it’s worth paying for access. I found some prices and listed them below, but they may not be accurate as promotions change all the time.
- Serious business vibes
- Wall Street Journal (Promotion for $15/month)
- New York Times (Promotion for $2/week)
- LA Times (Promotion for $1/8 weeks)
- Forbes (Promotion for $30/9 print magazines)
- Entrepreneurial and fresh vibes
- Fast Company (Promotion for $49.99/1 year of print magazines and online access)
- TechCrunch ($15/month for premium content)
- Inc. (Promotions for $34.99/2 years of print magazines and online access)
- Entrepreneur ($49.99/year for premium content and webinars)
- Treat 5 people to coffee (post-COVID)
- This one is simple. After the world is vaccinated, I can’t wait to meet people over a latte again – old friends and new! Find some acquaintances or network-adjacent role models that you’ve wanted to build a relationship with. Ask to chat and offer coffee on you.
- Invest in a physical gadget
- Buy an item that will help you work more comfortably. I’ve bought a few things over the years that have helped me look forward to sitting at my desk and gotten me through long days. I’ve bought (with my own money) and used all these linked items many, many times. I am obsessed with great products, so if something doesn’t serve me well 100%, I return, give away, or toss it.
- Lumbar support pillow: Purple Back Cushion ($39), Amazon Lumbar Support Pillow ($30)
- As someone who previously suffered moderate scoliosis and fixed it through years of physical therapy, I’m really conscious about maintaining healthy posture. Sometimes the office-provided desk chair isn’t the best and I need to customize it a little with extra lower back support. I really appreciate the washable covers and also have one in my car.
- Ergonomic seat cushion: Amazon seat cushion ($40)
- For the same reason as above, I’ve checked out a few seat cushions as well. This is so personal that you need to figure out how your body is built and what’s best to sit on. I rely more on the back support pillow than the seat cushion, but I do have a seat cushion for WFH at my cute-but-stiff dining chair. The one I like (linked above) is kind of a weird shape, but it helps take the pressure off the tailbone.
- Extra-long phone charging cable: Amazon Basics 6-Foot Rose Gold iPhone Charging Cable ($15)
- For those times when you want to sit somewhere a little further from an outlet while still charging your phone. Major gamechanger.
- Wireless keyboard: Logitech MK470 Wireless Combo ($49.99)
- Excellent if you want a little more distance from your screen! Particularly helpful for those situations in which you are video-calling from your laptop and want to be further from the camera but also want to type notes. I use this with my Macbook.
- Good task lighting: Amazon LED Desk Lamp ($39.99)
- I also have horrible vision, so a bright lamp specifically dedicated to my work table is essential. I don’t want to be squinting at tiny budget numbers or my planner.
- Is this the most beautiful lamp? No. But it works. If you want to splurge on a more artful lamp, I also have this from West Elm: Light Rods LED Table Lamp ($179)
- Aromatherapy diffuser: Amazon White Ceramic Diffuser ($25)
- Work can be seriously stressful. Everyone has days that make them want to pull their hair out and hyperventilate, but my aromatherapy ritual provides a good break. Taking a minute to refill the water and oil gives my brain some pause, and the actual aromatherapy clears my mind and provides stress relief.
- Some of my favorite scents for the workday include lemon/citrus (for a zingy wake-up), peppermint (for clarity), and lavender (for some peace). I use the random Amazon one in my office but again, if you want to spend a little more, I have a Vitruvi diffuser at home ($119).
- Insulated coffee/tea mug: Hydroflask insulated 12oz coffee mug ($25)
- Ok, if there’s something that I am thankful for every single day, it’s this. Getting a cozy, piping hot cup of coffee is the high point of the morning and I want that to last as long as possible. In a regular mug, my coffee cools off in about 10 minutes. I’m not a coffee-waster so I’ll just microwave it, but it tastes so much worse… Putting my drink in an insulated mug is a serious game-changer, and I’d say that this Hydroflask mug keeps my coffee hot for an hour+ (because I like to drink it without the lid). If you use the lid, it’s supposed to keep your coffee hot for 5-6 hours!
- Laptop stand: Amazon aluminum laptop stand ($38); Etsy wooden laptop stand ($22 – gifted this to a friend)
- At my office, I have a couple of monitors. However, when I first started WFH, I was only using my laptop and constantly staring slightly downward at the screen. Result: bad tech neck. I started using a laptop stand during video calls to alleviate that neck/spine stress, and that was a big relief on my body.
- Having it on a stand also helps the laptop stay cool and function better.
- Blue light blocking glasses: St. Michel glasses from Eye Buy Direct ($51 for the cheapest blue light lenses)
- This one’s a little controversial as the jury is still out on whether blue light blocking glasses are truly helpful. But if you’ll take my word for it, I used to experience blurry vision and slight headache by the end of the workday. On really crazy days when I’m working until midnight, it gets really bad. I started wearing these blue light blockers a few months ago – not always, but especially on crazy busy days, and I’ve noticed a big improvement.
- Lumbar support pillow: Purple Back Cushion ($39), Amazon Lumbar Support Pillow ($30)
- Buy an item that will help you work more comfortably. I’ve bought a few things over the years that have helped me look forward to sitting at my desk and gotten me through long days. I’ve bought (with my own money) and used all these linked items many, many times. I am obsessed with great products, so if something doesn’t serve me well 100%, I return, give away, or toss it.
