As a business owner you MUST keep up on the trends and news affecting your business. You need to really understand your business and customers and stay on the cutting edge by knowing what is new and next. Oh yeah, you also have to do your work and live the rest of your life. So how do you pull this off? Here are five ways I stay up on the latest and greatest.
5. Books ~ Books by leading experts are important to help you refine and improve your business process. Books like the Lean StartUp and Marketing in the Round can give you ideas on how to look at your systems and approaches to help you operate more effectively. I look at books like taking a class and other sources of information more like updates. Books can provide great ways to run a business but can become stale so staying plugged into the author on-line can help you freshen up the content.
4. Internet Search ~ Sure I search when I need something but I use search for educational reasons too. I allocate certain time to just searching topics I need to know more about. When I do this I find a number of sources, both written and videos, that really help me become smarter. As my wife says "Google is our friend".
3. Podcasts ~ I am relatively new to the podcast game but this has become a major source of information to me. I use Stitcher to find and stream fresh content to me each morning as I drive to work. I primarily stream WSJ, tech and marketing podcasts and it really gets me up to speed and what is going on. It also helps me make conversation and small talk on topics I typically wouldn't know much about.
2. Blogs ~ Blogs are great ways to stay on top of new ideas and real-time information. I set my reader up to follow business thought leaders and industry experts. This information is fresh and tied to what is happening in the economy right now. Blog posts tend to be quick hit information so I can stay up on what is happening in my down time using my phone.
1. Twitter ~ Twitter is a great source of business information. The beauty of twitter is that it really augments what I see in blogs. I have set up lists to stay on top of posts and tweets from business experts. For example I can follow Spin Sucks in my reader but by following Gini Dietrich on Twitter I not only get content she has written but content from people she is reading. This creates a really great source of information. Plus Twitter is very mobile friendly.
Efficient, effective and informative that's how I like to get information.
What do you use to stay informed?
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