Listen and learn!

Are you like my wife?  The phone rings and she waits to use the caller ID to see if she wants to answer.  If its friends or family, she picks up.  If not, hello voicemail.

I think in business we are often this same way.  We talk to the people we know in the industry; our vendors, our clients, our employees.  The closest we get to learning outside our network is trade shows and industry publications.

I understand why we get stuck in this rut.  We are all so busy, it takes a lot to just stay on top of what we got in front of us.

But the breakout ideas are going to likely come from people outside the industry.  Think of Moroccan Oil, they are the hottest company in the professional beauty industry.  They were the first company to hit $100 MM within its first 4 years.  Amazing success story in a slow growing industry in a horrible economy. 

They were not from the beauty industry! 

I always made a point of saying yes to meetings.  It clogged my schedule sometimes, but truly I got exposed to things that really helped me. 

You kiss a lot of frogs that way, but occasionally, you get that prince of an idea that makes all those frogs worthwhile.

In January, I was walking a trade show and met a new person.  We went to lunch shortly after.  At that meeting, we discussed a bunch of different ideas.  Frankly, I hadn't even thought of some of them.  Since then, I have followed up with those ideas.  New people ask different questions, provide different insight, and have different resources!

So the next time that phone rings... it could be opportunities to learn!