I remember like it was yesterday...
I had just gotten back from the local bookstore and had in my possession a few new titles. I'm guessing this was around the year 2003 or so....So yeah, it's been a while since this story took place!
Not really sure what made me go to the bookstore that day, but here I was...A fledgling entrepreneur with huge dreams and big time goals. I might have been convinced by my mother or father to take a trip to the bookstore that day, but you see....This was a rare thing for me in 2003.
I had not yet fallen in love with reading and building my personal library.
So I checked the books I had in my possession...
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries
and The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer
I cannot begin to describe you how these two books changed my life.
And don't get me wrong...They were both jammed packed with some of the best sales and marketing advice I've ever read in my life.
But it was what happened because I read these books that really changed me. You see, after reading these two books, I became a fiend for information. I fell in love with reading after I devoured these books.
And thus began my never ending journey in self-education.
I bring this up today because my co-worker asked me how did I fall in love with reading....And I mentioned that it was because I didn't have the money to go to school back in the early 2000's but I wanted to become a marketer.
So I did the next best thing, or some may argue the BEST thing...I let the experts become my professors and teachers.
You see, for around 20-30 bucks, I can have John C. Maxwell teach me about leadership. For the price of a pizza dinner, I can let Jeffrey Gitomer instruct me on the best sales practices. If I want to learn about marketing and branding, Al Ries costs me 25 bucks or so for a copy of his best sellers.
This is the biggest piece of advice I can give any entrepreneur....You have no excuse to not become an expert in your niche. Find a thought leader, and devour their books!
If you don't want to spend the money (which is peanuts when you think about the value you are receiving) you can find their TED talks, their blog posts and their speeches all over social media for no cost.
There truly is no excuse!
And when you fall in love with reading, your world completely changes. You don't want to spend time endlessly scrolling social media, you want to learn. You don't want Netflix playing in the background, you want to dive into the brand new book you just got from Amazon.
This will change your entrepreneurial journey in so many ways.
Want to become an expert in any niche you choose...Spending the next year, learning everything you can by reading and soaking up all the information you can on a particular topic....It will separate you from the competition!