Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.
As I have written in previous articles, the majority of business owners believe that when they leave formal education that the learnings stop, the other very small percentage of business owners think very differently.
They know that to be successful you have to be prepared to do what others won’t. This is why only 1% of business owner have achieved millionaire status. They make self-education and personal growth a priority in their day to day life. Yes, we all lead very busy lives, I see most people are busy being busy, doing the unimportant things, but for me personal growth is a non-negotiable daily habit.
Do you want to become a member in the 1% club? The only person stopping you is yourself, your self-limiting beliefs and a well-structured day.
If it’s time that you don’t have, why not make a version of your “monkey list”. This is a list of daily activities that is currently on your schedule that you can pass on to any “monkey” to execute. Why waste your time?
Remember TIME is the most important commodity we have and how you spend this time will show up in the results you are currently seeing in your life and business today. You must be consciously aware of how you spend your time and make sure it aligns with your goals and vision.
Just like any form of further education, getting yourself educated requires some commitment and a level of financial investment from you. This must be viewed as an investment and not as a cost. I personally spend over £20k a year on self-education and personal growth. My return on investment shows up in my results. All my businesses have seen a 100% increase in turnover year on year. Your business is only as good as the quality of thinking you bring to it. Participating in Self Education and Personal Growth will develop your thinking.
A typical start up business starts like this. You may be a plumber for instance, you served an apprenticeship. You were shown and educated how to install pipe work, boilers etc. Over time you become the best plumber you can be, working for somebody else. You decide to set up your own plumbing business. Great, well done, however you have never had a business before, how do you know how to run a business? You don’t. So, you become a technician within your business. Yes, you are getting paid more money but with more money comes more stress and more problems to deal with. Your business only earns money when you are installing or fixing problems. You don’t run the business the business runs you. This isn’t what you signed up for. You don’t want to be a technician you want to be the entrepreneur with the company vision and the great ideas but you don’t have time.
There it is again, that short little word that is so important to us, Time.
One of my fellow Mastermind colleagues has a great analogy of what we must do as business owners. Since I heard it, I know it will stay with me forever. Your business is like a ship. The captain needs to be on the bridge to steer the ship and co-ordinate its movements. Now and again the captain may need to go below deck to help shovel some coal to keep the engines fueled. However, the captain must make it a priority to return to the bridge to take back control of the ship to get to the destination they are travelling to.
Are you an entrepreneur or are you a technician in your business?
If you are an entrepreneur business owner, you should be implementing and participating with the following if you are serious and ready to move both your personal life and business to the next level.
Coach/Mentor: This is part of your apprenticeship if you like. A coach will help get the best out of you. Ask you questions you won’t ask yourself and help you dig deep for answers. So why a coach? Look at sport, every successful team or individuals have a coach. When you were learning your trade, you were coached. Coaches bring the best out of us and also bring guidance, advice to help us to become the best can be. They have already experienced things you haven’t even thought about. Leverage that experience to help you and your business to avoid pit falls before they happen.
Reading Books: Make this a daily habit. Reading personal development and business books has changed my life. I never read at school, in fact I hated it. I had to change my beliefs to help achieve my goals and visions. I read at least 1 hour a day. I wake at 6.30am make a coffee and read till 7.30am. My goal is to read 2 books per month. That is 24 books a year and a lot of knowledge and learnings. Not only is it important to read but also to implement what we are learning. Why not set yourself a target of 1 book a month to start with to help form the habit, it will change your life.
Join Mastermind Group: Another life changer for me. I call this my board I can’t afford. The chance to sit in a room with 9 other entrepreneurs and leverage their experience and have 9 different views of a question you have asked, is priceless to you and your business. Being an entrepreneur business owner can be a lonely place, join a Mastermind Group and you will soon have friends and associates that only have your best interest at heart. If you want to achieve better results in your life, you have to be prepared to do things others won’t. How many business owners do you know who are in a Mastermind Group.
Growing a business is a journey. There is no such thing as overnight success. It’s up to you to go and chase your dreams. If you wake up in a morning and you don’t have a dream to chase, go back to bed until you find something worth jumping out of bed for. You need to be able to enjoy your journey.
Every day is a stepping stone to where we want to be. This is your vision. Without a vision for your personal life and business life you are just existing. Write down a plan for both. Articulate it in your mind and get emotionally involved. Once you have this you will attract all resources you need to achieving success. Share the vision with your employees, get them involved and get them believing in your vision. What does it look like for them? How will they bene t? Your employees are the backbone of your business, how much time and effort do you invest in them? Grow your employees and you will grow your business.
This article is about self-education and personal development but if I don’t touch on the importance of the employees I would feel I have done you a great deal of injustice. You need to develop your employees to have an entrepreneurial mind set. Reading books, one to one mentoring from you, training courses just to name a few. All my staff are each given book to read every month. They return the book on payday. No book returned = no pay. I hold them accountable so I know it will get done. In exchange, they will continuously learn by reading 12 books a year. This is set out from interview stage. I want to know if they will buy in from the start and be committed to personal growth. If the business owner and all its staff are continuously learning and educating themselves on a daily basis your results in life will only be heading in the upwards direction.
