When it comes to your business, there is always something to learn.
Each day, take time to learn something that will help you do better in your business. Once you learn things that will benefit your business, make sure to find a way to store those lessons for when you need them later.
You can learn something new every day if you try.
Some people say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I never liked that saying. I am a person who believes you can do whatever you can think of if you believe it in your heart. As a consequence, I have always said, you can learn something new every day if you try. In order to accomplish this, I get up each day looking forward to learning something new. It is an exciting process because often, I do not know what the lesson is or where the lesson will take place. For example, if there is a traffic jam and I have to go 30 minutes out of my normal route, no problem. I have learned an alternate travel plan. If I attempt a new business practice and it does not work out as planned, I have learned a new thing that my business should avoid. In your business, get up and go forward each day thinking that you will learn something new that will benefit your business. Just having this attitude will get you going off to work with excitement and anticipation. This attitude will be beneficial to your business.
When it comes to learning new things about your business and your industry, it is important to keep an open mind. After all, no matter how much you know about your business and your industry, there are always new things to learn and new ways to learn them. The internet and modern technology like tablet devices and smartphones make it possible to learn anywhere you desire. You no longer have to be stuck inside a classroom, a library or an office. While standing in line to make a deposit at the bank you can text a question to a colleague. While sitting on a train during your daily commute to work you can take an online class and learn something new in your industry. While watching television at night, you can participate in forum discussions via social media. It really is possible to learn something no matter where you are.
It is the quest for knowledge that leads to innovation, profit, and advancement. When your mind is open to opportunities to learn, you know you can learn from children, competitors, people in other industries and even comics in the daily newspapers. Opportunities to learn are all around us like air, it is good to simply reach out and grab them and squeeze all you can from them. It is true that not everything you learn will directly help your business. That is okay. It is important to build a large base of knowledge. If you increase your body of knowledge you will be able to better use the lessons you use. Knowledge builds upon knowledge, so the more you learn, the more you will be able to learn that will benefit your business.
It is important to look for new things to learn each day because the world evolves and changes. Things and ideas that are wonderful today, are worthless tomorrow. Look at the typewriter and dot matrix printer. Once upon a time, they were state of the art and people marveled at them. Today they are relics of bygone days. They have become things sitting in a pile on the back of the supply closet or have been thrown out long ago in favor of computer and laser printer. We had to learn new things, new methods, new routines and new ways of doing business. When you limit your business practices to “the way we have always done things” you limit your business’ opportunities for growth, profit potential and in some cases even existence.
When you are open to the idea that you may learn new and better ways to do things, you open your business to new possibilities. Perhaps the way you always did things meant you only had the ability to handle 10 clients per month. New means of production, technology, and operating systems may make it possible for you to handle more clients per month. This increase in clients will lead to increased revenue, increased profitability and perhaps enable you to hire new employees. This is a benefit to you and to the world at large. As an entrepreneur, you are part of the world economy and that is important to keep in mind as well.
Learning new things is a part the healthy development of your business. There are many things that are part of the circle of life for your business. Learning should be one of those things. As your business grows, develops and weathers the storms of life, it is important to understand that all learning does not take place in a school setting. Indeed business lessons can be learned by observing how your competitors do things. Business lessons can be learned by talking with your clients and customers. Encouraging employees to be innovative can lead to important business lessons. Spend time each day seeking out knowledge and looking for ways to learn new things. Learning new things is important enough that it should be a part of the things your business does on a regular basis.
When it comes to your business, what are you doing to learn? Do you read industry publications? Are you part of social networking groups? Do you read magazines, blogs and newspaper articles? Have you explored any of the colleges and universities that offer classes online? All these informal learning avenues are available to you for the benefit of your business. In many cases, these sources can be accessed at little or no cost. Yet the lessons they will provide for your business are priceless. Keep in mind that no matter how successful your business is, you should always be learning, always be looking for new and better ways to get things done. Laws change, standards of care change and best practices for all things change over the course of time. If learning is a priority for you in your business, you will know these things because you seek out knowledge about your business and your industry.
Get all you can, can all you get.
My mother-in-law always said, “Get all you can and can all you get.” I liked that expression so much I taught it to my children and they will probably teach it to their children. This idea directly applies to your business. It means that you should learn everything you can and store all that you learn. It is good to learn, but it is better to remember what you learn. When you do not have the ability to recall a lesson you have learned, the lesson is lost. Often, those lost lessons must be learned again. It can be costly to re-learn lessons. It is a sad thing to say, “I used to know the solution, but I forgot it.” When you have to say that, you prove yourself to be an unreliable source of information. You are unreliable because you may receive a lesson, but not be able to use it or share it at a crucial point. In business that is a bad and dangerous thing. When you have to re-learn a lesson it costs you time and perhaps money. This is not a good position for your business to find itself. It is important to keep records so that if you do not remember the lessons your business has learned, you can go back through your records and find what you need to know. Storing the lessons you learned means the lesson are never lost and can be accessed when needed.
There are many ways to store the lessons you have learned in your business including:
- write them down in a notebook and store the notebook
- type the notes using a word processor and save the files on your computer and in the cloud
- create audio recordings of the lessons
- create videos of the lessons learned
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