Learning new things for business/self improvement

1. I check these sites frequently. This Week In Startups - and Business Tips for Successful Startups . Both of these sites have interviews with entrepreneurs and people who have started businesses. I find the info they provide very useful and you should have a look as well.

2. I typically set aside a few hours per week for learning.

3. I have business owner friends and we all talk about resources that can help us all.

1. recommendations. Amazon reviews. After wasting a couple of $1000 on bad information, I kinda start to "detect" good quality info quickly, and overtime, I developed a list of books/courses/experts on each area that I need more education on.
2. at least 4 hrs per week.
3. when I wanna do something myself (not when i wanna outsource), and don't know how to do it, I start seeking help. I tried coaches/mentors for my online business (more than 4, 3 of them were "gurus")... here is my opinion:

• if you're newbie you'll save time and get good advice
• if you're already successful you will get fewer ideas from them
• if you're advanced, or really stuck -- you'll get general advice.

But if you are gonna follow a mentor, find someone you realllly like, and just follow him only for a while. Read his books, blogs, emails... etc. Don't distract yourself with more than one.

I try to read one book in a fortnight to keep abreast of the latest developments in IM.

on minimum how much is recommended to spend on your work a day
around 3 hours is good or do i need more ?

Attending webinars that are value based is good for content creation. Another great idea to to read books. Then come up with questions from the book that can help your target market.

1 - I will generally join the list of the prospect just to get a vibe of who they are. I will then check out reviews for them and then review the reviewer to determine the impartiality. This process generally takes around 5 minute... it's not like I stay on there for ages. Lol

2 - I agree with the above. I would say a few hours per week. But I would do the few hours in a big lump so I am focused and connected.

3 - Well I look at what I want to achieve and then see if the proposed course will assist me in getting there.

1) I'll do a review or buy a product (usually books, DVD or audio) recommended by a friend.

2) 30 minutes to an hour a day. I make it a habit to always improve myself each day.. no matter how bad my day is.

3) For self-help books (DVD and audio), I don't decide.. I just read them because I know I'll learn something from different subjects and authors. It's a NO-brainer imo.

For business (career and finance), I read books related to what I'm currently doing (IM and Silver coin investing) and on subjects which I'm interested in finding out more (The importance of cashflow, how to manage employee, the velocity of money etc)

Can i answer this please, 3. How do you decide what to learn? - I always go with my interests, one reason, i wan't to improve what i do best.

Me personally I aim for 3 hours of learning per day. I get up early, have a coffee and spend an hour learning the most mentally taxing thing. Around lunch time I do another hour of something less taxing and in the evening I read an hour of biographies / autobiographies of successful leaders I aspire to be like.

You can pay for coaches and mentors but you can get a lot of the information from books or cheaper online course as long as you are committed to follow through with the learning.

For me I would recommend before learning anything spend a few months of learning about mindset, how to get a positive mindset, what's your purpose in life etc. Then onto the business, the purpose, vision, mission. After that it would be goal setting, then put measure in place to ensure you meet these goals. MEDITATION, try and do at least 10 minutes a day, work up to three times per day.

Once you have a solid mindset, a clear purpose and path to what you want to achieve, goals to reach in specific time frames then start to learn areas within your business that will aid you in achieving these goals both financially, personally, health wise etc.

A good book I just finished as I am always working on Mindset in 'The Answer' by John Assaraf and Murray Smith, it pretty much steps you through the process and gives you some really good tools to start seeing the good life!

Best of luck.

1. How do you go about finding "good quality" material/courses for learning?
Read reviews before taking action on the courses.

2. How much time would you dedicate (per week/month) for learning new skills/improving existing ones (sharpen the saw)?
I would say everyday! 2-3 hours per day

3. How do you decide what to learn? Do you have a coach/mentor to tell you this?
Learn stuffs that are related to your business, personal development. No you no need anyone to tell you this. Those things that you want.

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