How Much Time Should You Allocate to Learning/Training

Read the full episode transcript below:

00:31 David: Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of WP The Podcast, brought to you by WP Gears. I’m David Blackmon.

00:35 Tim: And I’m Tim Strifler.

00:38 David: Today we’re going to talk about how much time you should allocate to learning and training. And the reason why I kind of wanted to cover this topic, was I was reading a blog post, and I don’t even remember where it was, but we recently spoke at WordCamp Phoenix, and I had a few articles to read on the airplane while I was traveling to and from.

01:00 David: One of them touched on this, how much time do you allocate to, you know, learning your craft better. It made a lot of sense to me, and I thought, man, this is a good topic that we probably should cover on WP The Podcast, because as entrepreneurs and business owners, we dive off in our day to day of what we got to do, and things we have to do. But I’m curious, and as listeners, come on over to our website, leave us a comment, shoot us an email, let us know, I’d love to know, how much time you allocate towards training.

01:37 David: I feel like I’m kind of always learning, because I’m a big YouTuber. I love to watch YouTube. I love to try to hone my craft, so to speak, and just try to figure out what we can do better to, you know, well, I don’t know how to say this without sounding shallow, Tim, but how to make more money.

02:02 David: At the end of the day that’s what it’s all about, I guess, so …

04:36 Tim: Yeah.

02:05 David: Yeah, that’s kind of where I’m at.

02:06 Tim: Definitely, yeah, I think for me it’s never a time where I’m like, you know, sit down and I’m intentionally thinking, okay, what can I do to learn more, or set aside time to learn this, or anything like that. It’s kind of just, it happens really organically with the fact that I’m passionate about what I do, and I naturally want to follow podcasts, blogs, YouTube channels of all these things that interest me. So, it just kind of happens really naturally.

02:35 Tim: And then also, if I’m trying to figure something out. Like, okay, I really need to improve my content marketing game, okay, you know, and I read some articles, learn some things, blah, blah, blah.

02:47 Tim: So, to me, because I’m so passionate about what I do, and I’m trying to improve and stuff, all the learning just, again, I don’t know how else to say it besides naturally, organically. And so, it’s not like there’s something where, like, okay, this thing over here, I don’t like to do it, but I need to get better, and so I have to sit down. To me it’s like, it doesn’t feel like it’s work set aside, time to learn, or anything like that.

03:09 Tim: I think that’s a big reason why, when you love what you do, you don’t feel like you’re working, because you’re constantly learning, and you’re passionate about it, so it just happens.

03:18 David: Yeah, it’s not planned, is what I think-

03:20 Tim: Exactly.

03:21 David: I hear you saying, you know?

03:21 Tim: Yes.

03:23 David: And I agree with it 100%. I do think organic’s a great word for it. You know, when I think about learning, and honing our craft, and becoming better, and taking our businesses to the next level and stuff, it’s not something that’s on my to-do list and stuff. It just kind of happens as it comes up, when I need to learn, or improve, or get better.

03:52 David: So, I agree with you, for me, also, it’s not about … it’s not a planned, set time of hey, Friday afternoons, two to four is my learning time, you know?

04:04 Tim: Yeah.

04:04 David: Because I kind of feel like we’re learning as we go, throughout the entire week, as business owners and entrepreneurs, we’re kind of learning things as we go and stuff.

04:15 Tim: Yeah, absolutely. I’m a big fan of the TV show Shark Tank. I’ve watched it for years now, and Mark Cuban, he’s said quite a few times on the show, he likes the entrepreneurs that he invests in to live and breathe their business, to where they wake up, that’s what they’re thinking of, they go to sleep, that’s what they’re thinking of, and they’re so passionate about it that it’s always kind of something that they’re centered around, and pursuing.

04:38 Tim: And I think that goes with small business, is if you have that kind of mentality, and you love what you do, then you’re always kind of going to be doing that. Like David said, that’s a great way to put it, it’s unplanned.

04:54 Tim: So for me, I guess, if there’s kind of practical advice, where you want to facilitate that easier, then subscribe to email lists of all the leaders in your industry and your niche, subscribe to their YouTube channels, read their blogs, kind of thing.

05:11 Tim: And then it’s like you get … I get so much content and stuff sent to me, educational, like, I have to kind of pick and choose. It’s like, there’s never a shortage, that’s the word I’m looking for, of awesome educational content around the stuff that I’m passionate about, and want to learn more about. Podcasts is another one.

05:33 David: Couldn’t agree more.

05:34 Tim: We’re on a podcast.

05:35 David: Yeah.

05:35 Tim: That’s another one.

05:36 David: Exactly. So, how much time should you allocate to learning and training? Obviously as much as you can afford, but it’s probably going to come naturally, and just be a part of your business, I think. You should always be learning, and you should always be looking for ways to improve upon your processes and your … the way you do things. So, yeah. Hope that helps.

06:02 Tim: Yeah, there’s a sales acronym called ABC, always be closing. I feel like for this, ABL, not nearly as catchy, but always be learning, and you’re in that mentality of continuously learning, and improving, and everything. And then, again, it just happens organically.

06:19 David: You heard it here first, folks. We’ve coining this, and we’re trademarking that, ABL, always be learning. So, there you go. How much time should you spend? All of it, always, you should always be learning.

06:33 David: So, tomorrow we’ve got another great topic, how to fix the 500 internal server error on your WordPress website. If your site’s ever crashed, and you’ve used a plugin that’s conflicted, and holy crap, oh, my God, what am I going to do? My site’s down. We’re going to teach you how to fix that.

06:51 David: Tim, until tomorrow, we’ll see you then.

06:54 Tim: Take care, buh bye.