Are you taking time to sharpen your saw?
If you ever find yourself too busy doing your work to find the time to work on improving your skills, learning new things and expanding your perspectives, you’re not alone. That said, there are many, many of your peers who are making learning a priority. I know, I see them at the same conferences every year. I hear about the books they’re reading. I see their posts about new products and services and how their customers are enjoying those new results. I work with wedding and event pros, just like you, and see how you’re growing your profits, sometimes from more weddings and events, sometimes just by doing things differently.
Listen to this new 8-minute episode to see how taking time to sharpen your saw can reap you the benefits personally, professionally and in your profits!
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Below is a full transcript. If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at [email protected] or contact me via text, use the short form on this page, or call 732.422.6362
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– Are you taking time to sharpen your saw? You might’ve heard the old adage about taking time to sharpen the saw. A story goes about a man who is sawing down a tree, and he’s sweating and he’s working hard and working hard. And somebody comes by and says, “What are you doing?” He’s said, “I’m trying to cut this tree down.” He said, “Well, why don’t you sharpen the saw, wouldn’t that be easier?” He goes, “Oh, I’m too busy trying to cut the tree down.” So, what this applies to our businesses is we’re always working in our business and our business in our business. Are we working on it? And are we working on our own skills? So I was thinking about this because I was listening to an audiobook. And for me, I don’t tend to read books or listen to books when I’m writing. It’s the way my brain works. When I’m writing, I’m in writing mode, otherwise I’m in reading mode. And I just got back into reading mode, not that long ago, and I was thinking about all the books that I listen to. And I do audiobooks because I can do it in the car. I can do it when I’m out for a walk. I can be on an airplane or walking through an airport. And I was thinking, here are just some of the books that I’ve read recently.
I’m actually in the middle of “The Conversion Code” by Chris Smith. So this is for websites with like funnels and things like that. “Confessions of the Pricing Man,” I forget who referred this book to me, but this is just talking about the psychology of pricing by this guy here, Hermann Simon. “The Go-Giver,” by Bob Burg, no relation, B-U-R-G, and John David Mann, is a very famous story about how instead of being the go-getter, you’re the go-giver. And by giving to other people, you’re actually getting more. “A Mind for Sales,” by Mark Hunter. Mark Hunter’s also a certified speaking professional, a friend of mine, and he’s called the sales hunter. And yes, his last name is actually Hunter. And I’ve read a few of his books, and “A Mind for Sales” is his newest one, that was great. “Selling the Invisible,” by Harry Beckwith. I mean, a lot of us are selling the invisible, we’re selling intangibles. We’re not selling necessarily physical goods. And even if there are physical goods involved, we’re still really selling services.
“Give and Take,” by Adam Grant. Adam Grant is a professor at the Wharton school in Philadelphia, and I’ve read a few of his books. And Give and Take, again the same thing, givers and takers. And what was interesting in there is talking about how givers are some of the highest, most successful people, but they’re also some of the least successful people. And then the takers and what he calls the matchers, which are people that, ‘Yeah, I’ll give to you, but I want to get back at least what I gave to you,” as opposed to takers, they want to take more than they give, they fall in the middle. But the highest producing people tend to be givers and also the lowest, and that’s just, there’s a function in there if you read that book, “Give and Take.” And then “Dare to Lead,” by Brene Brown. I had not read any Brene Brown books, and I’ve read so much about her. So I read this one, “Dare to Lead.” And this is just 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 books that I’ve read in the last couple of months, or listened to in my case, the last couple of months, because that’s part of sharpening my saw. Taking the time to do that.
I haven’t had the opportunity to go to conferences as an attendee, speaker conferences, because of COVID. I’m starting that up again this year. I’m going to be going to speaker conferences again, all things fingers crossed being well for traveling and all, but that’s sharpening my saw. No matter how good you are at something, you don’t know it all. No matter how good you are at something, you still live in your own bubble. So what do you learn outside of that bubble by learning from other people? I get inspiration from outside of my industry. So from outside of speaking, I get inspiration for my speaking business, for my consulting business, for my training business. And I get ideas for you from outside the wedding and event industry, because I’ll experience it as a consumer or I’ll see it or hear it somewhere, and that gives me that. But we have to get outside of our bubbles to do that. And that’s part of the sharpening the saw.
Many of you know that I also do things personally like learning new languages. I’m working on French now. I already did Spanish. I’ve presented in five countries in Spanish. By the time this airs, I will have presented once already in French. I know, kind of crazy, kind of scary, but that’s why. One of my other podcast episodes was try it because it’s difficult, and that goes along with the sharpening the saw. You can sit back and say, “Hey, I’m good at what I do.” That’s great. My philosophy is always that I can always be better. And I can always be better because I know that there’s something out there that I don’t know or haven’t tried yet that can make me better. So I always say that whatever speech I give, I want it to be the best I’ve ever given, but not the best I can ever give, because I want to know that I can be better every time. And it’s the same thing for you, you know? Every wedding you do should be the best you’ve ever done, but not the best you can ever do. Every event you do should be the best you’ve ever done, but not the best you can ever do.
And if you’re listening and you’re not in the wedding and event business, everything that you do every day, just try to be the best you’ve ever been, but not the best you can ever be. So taking time to sharpen the saw, whether it’s reading a book, whether it’s physically doing something, or working out, or challenging yourself physically, mentally. I also do crossword puzzles because I find that a mental challenge, some of you do Sudoku or other mental games like that. Whatever it is, challenge yourself, sharpen the saw because that’s what makes us better for the next person, for the next customer, for our families and for ourselves. So whether it’s reading. I read, obviously you can see, I like to read kind of business related books. That’s my thing. I’m not into the, you know, the novels and things. Other people are, you can learn in those as well, but it’s also just expanding your mind to things that you don’t already know, and that’s the part of sharpening the saw. Going to conferences.
When I go to a speaker conference, I don’t even look at the agenda until I’m on my way, because I know I want to go, I’m going to meet somebody new. I’m going to learn something. I’m going to make a connection just by showing up. And just showing up, I did that on another episode of the podcast as well, is you have to show up for these things to happen, for that hallway, you know, oh wow, I just met somebody in the hallway, or are sitting at a meal, or sitting next to them in a session. You have to go, you have to go there, otherwise that can’t happen. That’s part of sharpening the saw as well. So what are you doing or what are you planning on doing? Or maybe better yet, what opportunity came by and you turned it down just offhand, like, “Nope, not going to do that.”? And maybe you said, “I don’t want to invest the money.” Well, I always get so much more back than I invest in dollars. And sometimes it’s tangible in terms of business. Sometimes it’s just a new connection that down the line at some point will benefit me, not necessarily financially, but personally as well. Just people that I’ve met. I have friends all over the country and all over the world now because showing up.
So what are you going to do to sharpen the saw? What are you going to do the next time an opportunity comes? Are you going to go, “Ah, no, I don’t want to spend that money.”? Or are you going to say, “You know what, let me give it a shot. Let me see what I can get out of that.”? And then you’ll know, should I do it again and again and again, or try other opportunities, because if you don’t show up, you don’t know what’s going to happen. So take some time, sharpen the saw, make yourself the best that you can be each time and that’s getting outside of your bubble and doing something new, doing something different and just not working just in the day-to-day, but working on your business and on your life. I hope that helps.
I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is [email protected]. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:
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- YouTube: www.WeddingBusinessSolutionsPodcast.tv
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sGsuB8
- Stitcher:
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