There are plenty of things I do to get more business and career education every day. For example, I listen to audio books while I’m driving around town, and finish a book per week that I wouldn’t otherwise have time to read. I took a speed reading course, where I was able to double my reading rate in one month. And finally, I surround myself with successful people.
The last one may sounds strange, so let me explain. Like my other two methods, making good friends let’s me learn automatically. In other words, I don’t have to take any additional time out of my day to get the benefit. It is built into my life so that it happens no matter what, which is the real power.
Simple put, I make friends with people who are knowledgeable, full of great ideas, and happy to share them.
When I spend time with my friends, we inevitably talk about the work we’ve been doing, what’s been working, what hasn’t been working, and what we’re excited about. These discussions always leave me feeling either inspired about the success they are experiencing, or with new ideas that I can apply to my own business.
Quick story: I recently went to go see a speaker named Chris Wasden, who is a successful entrepreneur and founded several medical device companies. His talk was informative and insightful, and afterwards I ran into an old friend. We caught up over a cup of coffee, discussed the speech, and talked a bit about her new accounting business. Just as we were wrapping things up, she casually mentioned that she had put up a post on craigslist.com, a free classified website. She said it had been an effective way to bring in new business for her, and she suggested I give it a try.
Well, I promptly went home and put up a quick post (it was entirely free) and by the end of the day I had new client for my own business.
That was money in my pocket, just because of a quick conversation with a friend.
I knew about that particular website, craigslist.com, before our discussion that day, but it took a conversation with a good friend to remind me to actually use it!
But it wasn’t just any friend. It was a friend with similar interests, who was successful, positive, and willing to share.
Most people do the opposite: they spend time with their same old friends, who are stuck in their same old jobs, and have few aspirations in life. It is quite literally impossible to spend time with negative or unsuccessful people, and NOT have it rub off on you.
So make an effort to surround yourself with people who know more than you do. Find friends who are entrepreneurs. Find friends who are positive. And find friends who are willing to share their ideas. They will automatically start pushing you toward owning a successful business, whether you like it or not!
If you are still on the fence, try this little experiment: Take your five closest friends and average their income, and I bet you’ll end up with a number remarkably close to your own income.
Try it. Was I right?
An unsuccessful person would look at this and say “When I make more money, I will start to have successful friends”. A wise person would look at this and say “When I make successful friends, I will start to earn more money”.