One of the expected perks of most white collar jobs is professional development: Every year, your employer foots the bill for a course, seminar or workshop. The idea, of course, is that you will learn something that will make you a better employee.

For most, that opportunity means much more than the skill development or new knowledge associated with the course. There’s the interaction with peers — an important bonus if you’re the only one who does what you do within your company – and there’s a new credential for your resume. More, when the workshop or seminar is out-of-town, there’s the fillip of little holiday. But most important, there are new contacts. Every career move I made before becoming self-employed involved being recruited by someone I’d met at a course or seminar paid for by my soon-to-be-former boss.

(pull)Once I was self-employed, however, courses and workshops disappeared from my life. My new boss — me! — was pretty stingy and I was too busy building a business to notice.(/pull) Even so, it didn’t take long before I began to feel a little “out of the loop” professionally and more than a little isolated. Later – rather than sooner, I’m sorry to say – I realized that it was time to get back to “school”, even if I had to pay up myself.

Not surprisingly, those costs can be steep. A couple of days at a conference can easily cost $1,000, not including accommodation; even a lunch seminar is going to set you back the best part of $100. (Never mind the hours you’re not billing.) Of course, you can deduct the relevant costs, but it’s not quite the same as investing in promotion or advertising.

That said, professional development really is business development. It may seem as though learning more about your profession amongst your peers is unlikely to generate clients, but, in truth, sooner or later those peers are going to find themselves overwhelmed with work. They’re going to be looking for a partner to take on part of a project or someone to whom they can hand off a client with confidence.

Upgrading your skills doesn’t only keep you current, it’s a sure-fire recipe for doing more business.

Sharon Airhart is a Toronto-based writer and editor who has been successfully self-employed for more than a decade. Her clients include governments, corporations and not-for-profit organizations and charities. After leaving her "first" career as a journalist, she was a Communications Director before launching a freelance career as a writer, reviewer, editor and communications consultant.