What does being an entrepreneur mean to you? Are you one as you read this column or are you aspiring to become one? If you are aspiring, why do you want to become one? What are you seeking that the life of an entrepreneur or business owner will provide you?
These are questions that you should be asking yourself everyday. You should constantly be learning about who you are and who you are becoming by reflecting on what is happening around you and how you are growing. It’s a way of keeping yourself balanced as you move through life. I want to teach you 4 steps to use podcasts to master any new topic that you want to learn and apply to your life.
Entrepreneurs Starve for New Knowledge
That constant want to learn and to grow as a person and a professional is one of the most common traits of entrepreneurs. They are starving for more information, starving for the oppprtunity to learn something else that they can apply to their business, starving for the opportunity to become a better person and business owner.
Does that resonate with you? Learning completely runs my life. I read. I write. I reflect. I watch tutorials. I practice what I learn so I can learn more. And most recently, I have been listening to podcasts on Facebook Ads, creating great content, advertising, sales funnels, and digital marketing.
Podcasts Can Feed that Hunger
Ian Smith’s Challenge
I met a new Internet entrepreneur, Ian Smith, recently who is also a young, 26 year old entrepreneur and his specialty that he has developed (through active learning) is exactly what I just told you I am studying. Sales funnels, Facebook Ads, and ClickFunnels. At the digital marketing agency that he helped to start, he worked with a particular client on selling one product that hit sales of over $3 million in a few months span.
As we had a few beers, I asked him what resources he would recommend on the topics and how he had become so intelligent and studied on what he was doing. One, he said that it all comes down to practice and testing once you have the basic knowledge. Two, to get the basic knowledge, he told me that I should listen to all of the podcast episodes from Digital Marketer’s Perpetual Traffic podcast and Russell Brunson’s Marketing in your Car podcast.
Diving Into the Podcasts and Learning
So, what did I do? I took his advice and I started spending my time in the car listening to these podcasts and learning how Facebook Ads, sales funnels, and ad copy really work. It’s been about 2 weeks since I had lunch with him and I’ve listened to over 20 hours of podcasts from these two channels. The results are amazing. I feel like I can contribute more to the growth of my companies, ConnorGillivan.com and FreeeUp.com, and I am competent in what I am doing.
When I am creating copy now, I am thinking of the person who is going to be reading it. I’m putting myself in their shoes and I’m saying, “what are they trying to get out of reading this article? Who is this person? What fears do they have? What aspirations do they have?”
As I ask those questions, I have a better understanding of who I am trying to relate to and I am able to tell a better story. I am able to depict the future that the reader is seeking and then provide truly valuable advice that I have used in my life as an entrepreneur to reach that point.
How the New Knowledge Has Bled Into my Work
With all of this new knowledge packed into my brain, I have been finding ways to teach it to the people that I manage at FreeeUp as well. Today, I had a meeting with our Social Media Manager and I gave her feedback on how we can be better representing our voice via social media messaging.
Let me give you an example.
Revamping Content on ConnorGillivan.com Social Media
Recently on ConnorGillivan.com social media, a lot of posts have been going more in the direction of just stating the facts about the article. Which is fine, but we were missing a big opportunity by having a more defined voice with personality and clear call to actions for the reader.
Here is a recent column that was posted on my ConnorGillivan.com Facebook page….
So I took this screenshot and pasted it into our Skype chat. And I asked her…what if we were to change it up and introduce this article like this…
Hey everyone! Really proud of this recent publish. I’ve been listening to Digital Marketer’s Perpetual Traffic podcast recently for 1 hour per day and I’m learning amazing tactics to optimize your Facebook Ads and set up sales funnels that convert. How is your business using Facebook Ads right now?
It’s personal. It gives the reader a glimpse into my life as an entrepreneur. And it engages the reader to think…”How am I using Facebook Ads? Could I be doing it better? Should I read this article? Why the hell not!”
Maybe that’s not what everything thinks, but you get the point. Having a more personal, conversational, and defined voice is going to attract people more than simple copy stating the title of the new piece. Keep an eye out for a new voice on the ConnorGillivan.com social branding. Let me know what you think.
How You Can Use Podcasts to Learn New Knowledge
I don’t care if you are an entrepreneur, an aspiring business owner, or a professional working within a business, anyone can utilize these next steps to add new levels of knowledge to their brain using podcasts.
1. Identify the topic that you want to learn about. Make it specific.
I want to learn more about how to use Google Adwords to attract people to my business’s website.
2. Find the podcast that can teach you what you want
If you have an iPhone, go on your Podcasts app, and browse the most popular apps for a show that may fit your topic. If you can’t find one, search the app for adwords. I bet one will pop up that has tons of reviews and subscribers. If you don’t have an iPhone, search on Google.com for top podcasts on “your niche.”
3. Commit 30 minutes per day for 2 weeks to listening to the podcast
Whether it is in the car or right when you wake up or right when you fall asleep, put the podcast on and listen. Absorb the information and jot down new ideas that you haven’t heard about before. I find it easiest to just email myself with any new information I learn so that I can review it the next time that I am in my email.
4. Find ways to apply the new knowledge to your life
Once you’ve listened to the podcasts for 2 weeks at 30 minutes per day, you will have 420 minutes, or 7 hours, under your belt of learning that new topic. That is a lot of time that you just spent to solely learn a new topic. With all of that new knowledge, find a way to pour it into what you are doing in your life, whether that be work, personal, or both.
