Running our own business means we wear several different hats. One day we are strategising our business plans. The next we are busy developing our business or devising innovative marketing campaigns, sometimes networking. And, on other days when we are not actually delivering or facilitating – we are busy chasing our unpaid invoices. Granted, this career path we have chosen is never dull, but it can be challenging finding the time to do everything. If, like me, you have worked in a large corporate environment in the past, you will know that as employees, often our training and career development is supported and we don’t have to plan too much to achieve our goals. But as business owners, time for professional development and learning is often neglected.
Use your Professional or Industry Memberships to learn more
If you are a professional and/or accredited member of an industry group you may be required to stay up to date by completing a certain number of development hours a year. For example, I am a member of the Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA) and in order to remain a Professional member I must complete 30 hours of approved Professional Development a year. This requirement will, of course, drive you to seek out approved activities that satisfy the requirement but your professional industry group will also be providers of professional development opportunities so seek out what’s available on their websites and newsletters. As an example, the CDAA provide opportunities to attend seminars, conferences and the chance to contribute to your industry newsletter or magazine, as well as the opportunity to mentor or be mentored. All of these activities will contribute to your hours and satisfy your annual requirement but most importantly will help you to keep learning. Even though in the back of my brain I’m aware of these activities and that I must make time to complete them, I have just checked my status and I am more than half way through my year and have only accrued 8 of my 30 hours required. However, looking more closely at the activities relevant, I realise that I am probably completing more professional development in every day activities than I am giving myself credit for. You may not have a requirement to keep a professional status with an industry group but as a business owner and leader I urge you to try and incorporate some time for continuous learning – one day you will be glad that you did! I would like to share a few ways we can incorporate both formal and self-directed learning into our every day plans.
Write a Blog
One way of staying current is to regularly write articles for your own blog and contribute to other industry related blogs. Become a contributor to The HerBusiness blog. Blogging gets you in the habit of researching various topics in your area of expertise and provides an up-to-date understanding of what’s going on in your industry. It helps to improve your writing skills and increases your knowledge of your area of expertise as well as building your profile as an expert in your field. So submit articles to share with your peers.
Become a Committee member
Another way to learn more is from each other by becoming a member of your state or national committee for your membership groups and associated organisations (including the ABN). Attending meetings and conferences not only earns you official development hours but also leads to new relationships with colleagues and associates within your industry, possible new leads, marketing opportunities and most of all new learning opportunities.
Read for Work AND also to be Inspired
Reading is another way to learn and keep up to date. Reading industry related journals, magazines and online publications is essential for keeping up to date, contributing to industry discussion and building your profile. Most industry websites have a newsletter that can be emailed for free, you can contribute to industry related blogs by reading articles and leaving your own comment or by starting a discussion. Reading can also be so inspirational, even life changing. How many times have you seen or read someone being interviewed and they are asked, “What book changed your life”. I have just started to read again, I found that I didn’t have enough time in my day for reading but I have started to make time again and have rediscovered the joy of an engaging, inspirational story. A story can put your own life back in perspective and help you view things in a different way. It can motivate you and inspire you to make changes that you have been putting off. You can learn all manner of new things from how to save money, how to manage a crisis to how to become more healthy and happy. One of my favourite books recently was The Four-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris. It gives some excellent tips on how to outsource your non-essential business activities so that you start to work on your business and not be destroyed by it! You can take a look through the associated website also for some great tips.
Formal Learning
The obvious way of thinking about formal learning is when you enrol and complete a course of academic study relevant to your business and professional standards. I think it’s worth bearing in mind we all learn in different ways and formal learning is not enjoyed by everyone, so some people are not going to be motivated by this type of professional development. They also may have just spent several years completing their formal accreditation and the last thing they want or need to do is another formal course, but don’t despair as already mentioned there are other ways to enjoy ongoing learning perhaps in ways that are better suited to your personal learning style and ways you will benefit from. Learning should never feel like a chore but should continue to fuel what we are passionate about. Formal learning also need not be an accredited course that is directly related to your business in an obvious way but might be a way to add value to our core competencies like learning a new language, perhaps enabling us to broaden our business horizons overseas or perhaps specialist facilitation skills which will enable us to deliver our work in new and interesting ways.
Link Learning to Your Business Plan
A good place to start when figuring out where to focus your professional development is to look at your business plan. Look at what you have already achieved and see this as the cornerstones of your development plan. But, where do you see yourself in five years, how does your business need to evolve and what skills and learning will allow you to get there? For example, if you are new to business it’s probably worth investigating writing skills so that you can confidently start and maintain a good blog, as well as contribute to other blogs and articles in business related publications. A good site I have come across, for example, is www.copyblogger.com which is an excellent blog to help amateur copywriters improve their own copywriting skills. A blog that Suzi Dafnis has recommended to me recently is www.problogger.net. Here you can sign-up for daily email alerts on blogging tips, it’s fantastic. You may wish to review your core qualifications and build on them in order to get where you want to go. Post graduate courses can be completed over a couple of years part-time, and remotely in some cases so you can work at your own pace. It’s a flexible and time efficient way to supplement your formal qualifications or take you into a new field. I find that SEEK Learning is a good resource for researching courses available from across the country, and all in the one place.
Keep Up with the Latest Trends
If you, like me, are a Baby-boomer or Gen Xer you will recall The Who going on about “My GGG… Generation”. Not sure about you, but I’m personally not hoping for an early demise so I need to understand how things are done these days and what to expect in future. Starting out in business, I needed to understand how business development has evolved and more and more is conducted in an online world. Blogging, social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Facebook are already generating business leads. Getting formal training or self-developed skills in this area are worth pursuing if you want a place at this marketing table. Being able to express who you are and what your business provides in an entertaining, engaging way via your blog or website will lead to success.
Self-Directed Learning
Self-directed learning is less expensive and works well if tailored to your business needs. Perhaps you need to consider upgrading your software skills to ensure you are optimising your ability to send out well-designed newsletters, or perhaps tackle your own accounts by learning MYOB or a similar package? It’s good idea to keep a look-out for online podcasts and webinars which are mostly free to attend, on subjects of interest such as motivation, business development, networking tips, marketing tips, etc. These can all be attended via your pc or laptop from home or your office at your convenience and are a cost effective way to gather tips and useful learning to put into practice in your business. Being a member of the HerBusiness is a huge benefit as they regularly offer useful podcasts and webinars on various subjects for free. The newsletter sets out what’s on offer.
iTunes
Another great source for free podcasts is iTunes. They offer over 150,000 free podcasts which you can download and listen to at leisure on all manner of different subjects. I have also discovered recently the joys of iTunes University where you can download lectures, discussions, audio books and podcasts from universities across the world such as Harvard, Stanford and others, in topics that interest you, for FREE. This is a fantastic resource for those of us who feel we no longer need any more formal qualifications but love to keep learning. It’s easy, flexible, FREE, and one of the most enjoyable professional learning experiences I have engaged in, outside of setting up and running my own business! I usually listen to the lectures whilst at the gym or walking the dog – that way I am doubling up on my available time by combining it with exercise.
Block out time in your diary
It’s worth blocking out a few hours a week in your schedule to complete your learning, after all life is busy and it’s hard to find the time, so making it a real appointment in your diary will help you stick to your goals. Remain Curious Finally, always remain curious about everything you encounter and the people you meet– after all, life is unfolding and every one of our human experiences are, one could argue, the best teachers of all. Eartha Kitt once famously said “I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my Diploma”. Purrrrr fectly put Cat Woman!
