I love to read, more specifically I love to read quality business books. As a small business owner I feel like I am always short on time and can barely skim over a two page article let alone a 300+ page book. I was speaking about this subject with a friend of mine who owns several small businesses and he suggested audio books to me. A light went on in my head. I commute nearly 30 minutes to and from my business each day, what a way to make more productive use of my time. Instead of earning my graduate degree in 80’s Hair Band lyrics, I was inside my own mobile classroom.. Fast forward 24 months and 48 audio books later. Today I feel like a knowledge sponge, having listened to books I otherwise never would have had time to read. I have even expanded into awesome business pod casts and audio lectures.
Who would have known a simple suggestion would have opened up a whole new world of learning for me, I even discovered that i’m an auditory learner, making audio books even more impactful. I learned two things from this experience. #1, when you meet a successful person, pester them (in a good way) about everything they know. #2, to become a success at anything, you need to have an obsession for it and a hunger to learn more.
Sites like Audible.com make it super easy and inexpensive to download and listen to audio books. Becoming more productive can lead you on a road to small business success. Give it a try, you may give yourself an MBA education during your once boring commute this year.
How do you make productive use of your time as a small business owner?
Gary Shouldis
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Thanks for the advice. Will put it to work. Tom
[...] I’ve found inspiration and productivity by occasionally turning off all the screens in my life. Try going low tech now and then if you’re [...]
Haha, never thought of my car as a mobile classroom. Will have to pick up some audiobooks for my commute. It would be nice to consolidate them on an MP3 player.
Lol, Matt….I used to drive around with about 100 cd’s in my car….some of those audio books would come with over 8 cd’s! It was a challenge driving and changing cd’s all the time. Luckily I found out about Audible.com and went and got myself an MP3 player….now I just use my phone.
I’ve probably learned more while driving in my car over the past 5 years than most people learn in all their years of formal education. It was time that I would have otherwise spent listening to the radio, or worse yet….politics! Cheers, Gary