It’s a fact that no matter how smart you are there’s something out there you will not have got a handle on yet, and that’s where books and other learning material fill the gap.
What I like to do before heading to the US each time and order a bunch of books from Amazon and send it to my hotel.
Observer say we’re likely to be in the information economy for a long time to come, and a lot of times what separate you from your competitor is using one extra technique or website or service that they aren’t using. So every little bit of “intellectual juice” helps.
On this trip, among the books I’ve picked up were:
- WordPress for Dummies
- Instant Income by Janet Switzer
- Blogging Heroes: a series of interviews with bloggers
- Various titles from the Dan Kennedy “No BS” series of business books
I fall into the trap sometimes of having the books in hand, but not putting in the time to read them, and by extension putting the knowledge into action.
Being successful is hard work…and not putting in the investment into your own knowledge can be like taking a step back in a fast moving marketplace.
Here are a couple of techniques to give yourself that added edge:
- Make time: Block out 30 minutes before you turn in for the day, or when you wake up in the morning (or better yet, before you sleep and when you wake up) to go through a book which will help you up your internet marketing game. If you can block out at least an hour a day, you’d be ahead of 90% of the marketers out there.
- Mark it up/Take notes: The human tendency is to forget information over time. Go through the book with a pencil, mark out relevant points, write notes in the margin. That way when you go through it a second time, you’ve already noted the important parts.
- Take action: Some feel that “knowledge is power”. But then a wise monk once told me “Knowing without doing is like not knowing”. So the lesson is you need to put your knowledge into action, and do something.
The bottomline is that if you do nothing, nothing will happen. If you do something, something will happen.
Simple logic…but I wonder why many fail to do anything about it…
Any suggestions?
Wow, you sure did pick up a lot of books! I agree that it’s important to read. A lot of people refuse to read because books they think books are becoming obsolete because of the internet, and they’re wrong! There’s so much knowledge to be learned from books.
I’m currently reading Dr. David Schawrtz “The Magic of Thinking Big”, and it has changed the way I think.
Excellent post Andrew! You’re absolutely right, even people who didn’t do things right or even very good still DID them, and still got a result, some still even made a lot of money. The more action you take the more money you make! 🙂
hi andrew…i guess people are just lazy to learn…. that’s why most people fail…. the bottomline is the attitude…
i guess that’s why you are so successful till this date. becos u have the right attitude.
Hi Andrew,
If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend “Made to Stick” by Chip & Dan Heath. I’m about half way through as we speak, but it’s an awesome book. It was recommended to me by Ed Dale.
~Shannon
So that’s what you were picking up at the hotel lobby..
seriously I also brought two suitcases of books back.
Some Dan Kennedy stuff also, but also oldies but goodies – Ogliviy on Advertising, Tested Advertising Methods, and some non business related books.
See you in boston or ny?
Hey Ari,
I was picking up my mum’s shopping actually…
The books were sent to a friend’s house.
I plan to head over to Boston.
See you then!
Haha, I see The Mystery Method in that pile of books! 😉
I love the Dan Kennedy No B.S. series. They’re so packed full of information, it’s crazy to think of some of the prices some people pay for the same information, just less quality.
Mystery Method? How is it related to business. Human psychology?
Thanks for the auspicious writeup. It if truth be told used to be a amusement account it.
Look advanced to more brought agreeable from you! By the way,
how could we keep up a correspondence?