Personal Development is a multi-billion-dollar industry
Personal development - also commonly called self-improvement - is a booming industry!
According to study, it is a 64 billion dollar industry worldwide. In the US alone, an estimated 9.6 billion dollars is invested in personal development in 2005 in the form of:
- books
- motivational speakers
- personal coaching
- weight loss programs
- audio tapes
- stress management programs
It is also projected that this industry will grow at the rate of 11.4 percent yearly and reach 13.9 billion dollars in 2010.
People are now turning to gurus for help in various areas as above. For example, Robert Kiyosaki’s ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ had been on the New York Times bestseller list for several years in a row and sold 20 million copies!
Likewise, Stephen R. Covey’s ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ sold more than 15 million copies in 38 languages around the world!
The Personal or Self Development is indeed a big industry.
I strongly believe in Personal Development. I invest my time and money in acquiring books, CDs and magazines.I learn Personal Development on-line too.
Hi BenL,
Fully agreed!
I look at personal development as learning gems of wisdom from other people. Isn’t it cool that we don’t have to make all those stupid mistakes ourselves?
In fact, I’m writing a book on giving advice to young people based on the mistakes I’ve made in the last quarter of a centure of my life, hoping that it would shorten some learning curves…