When it comes to business, you can never stop learning. There’s always a conference to attend or a course to do that will help you build your skills and grow your business even further.
But when you’re working in a business that you’re not the manager or owner of, sometimes it can be difficult to prove exactly how taking you out of the office for a day (or two!) is going to help the bottom line.
So whether you’re trying to convince your manager to send you to a conference later this year, or wanting to learn more in a Google Analytics course, here are a few ways you can hone in on that long-term ROI to convince your boss that it’s worth investing in.
Weigh up the time and cost vs the benefit
If there’s one thing we know that bosses understand, it’s the bottom line. Anything that impacts the money going in and out of a business, particularly a small business, can have repercussions for the whole workplace.
Education in business is a long game. It may not have an immediate ROI, but consider this: if you learn just one thing from that event/seminar/conference that you can use to produce one more lead for your business, it’s already paying for itself. And it should grab the attention of your boss or manager.
Take into consideration the cost of your time, the cost of the event, and then look and what you can get out of it. Have you been to something similar before that you’ve learnt from? If so, then a larger event is definitely going to be worth your while.
If you can explain it to your boss in terms of the financial ROI, they’ll be more likely to consider you attending, or even going themselves! 
Be transparent about the cost, what the event is, and why you want to go
There’s nothing worse than underselling what you want to go to, and then finding yourself in knots when it’s time to try and convince your boss that it’s worth you going to.
Make sure that when you’re telling them about potential opportunities, they know exactly what it is you’re going to, as well as why. Send them a link to the event, the cost, and why it’s actually going to be useful for you and the business. A summary will also work wonders here so you can make sure you’re on the same page.
There’s no point in trying to go to an event about social media if you’re actually in the sales team, and someone else deals with your socials. Not only should the event be relevant to you and your field, but it should actually have some benefit to your business and industry.
We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf. Well if you cry ‘business opportunity’ too much to try and get an afternoon out of the office for no reason, it’s going to start to matter when there are events you should actually be attending!
Get the event to email your boss for you
Some conferences or seminars actually have a program where you can opt in for them to help tell your boss why you should go. Not only does this mean you have someone else in your corner, but they’re also going to be more knowledgable about what exactly you can get out of the event.
It’s a great way to get another person on your side and may help convince your boss further by having the company contact them directly.
