There are several ways to look at this, when starting out you can put your $ on a site and just play, if you learn from your mistakes well then you may make a profit. However if you are serious, to make poker a job, then it might pay in the long run to pay someone like Doug Polk to join his training program, where they teach you the latest techniques and how to play profitably. They also can examine each hand played and show you what to look for etc.
I have nothing to do with Doug except I do watch his videos and I see he is a very good player. His teaching site is something like upswing poker I think.