An entrepreneur never stops learning. Growing a business is a lesson in itself. You experience the ups and downs. Plus, every decision you make impacts the company.

While you grow your business, continue to learn through other means too. It’s normal to wing it on the first try. Testing customer relationship platforms, finding what motivates a sales team, and filing your business taxes for the first time accumulate lessons and knowledge.

Here we outline seven ways on how to soak up more knowledge while growing a business.

1. Attend Industry Conventions

Knowledge covers skills, information, and facts gathered in a classroom. It also covers the ones obtained outside an educational setting. Each profession holds at least two major industry conventions a year.

Fields that have significant niches and sub-categories hold additional conventions. For example, hardware and software compromise the technology sector. Sometimes, conventions cater to both. Other times they focus on specific aspects of each.

Nonetheless, they provide learning opportunities worth soaking up. Industry conventions highlight innovations, presentations, and speakers. In addition, you network among your peers.

Conventions provide an opportunity to find out the trends, latest technology, and new products. You can find out if a solution exists to a roadblock you recently encountered.

2. Sign Up for a Seminar

Seminars differ from conventions. They take place in an educational setting for a few hours.

At a seminar, you listen to a speaker lead a discussion or give a lecture on a topic. Insurance changes, demographics observations, and historical lectures are some seminar topics from the past.

Plus, you’ll find several seminars online too. Therefore, you can obtain new knowledge without stepping away from your company for too long.

3. Continue Your Education

The most obvious way to absorb more entrepreneurial knowledge is to continue your education. Master’s and certificate programs cater to the professional entrepreneur. Thus programs last a few weeks to a couple of months.

Each program targets information that the entrepreneur needs. They combine real-life scenarios with textbook knowledge.

For example, continuing education allows you to learn the difference between incremental and total cash flow. In the meantime, Now Corp offers this helpful guide.

4. Read Business Books

Reading books remains a great way to gain more wisdom while continuing to expand your business. Learn to think and grow rich with Napoleon Hill as Dale Carnegie helps you win friends and influence people.

Growing a company requires commitment. Entrepreneurs have a plethora of learning resources at their disposal that require little time investment. For example, if you don’t have time to sit down and read business books, download them as audiobooks.

Use your favorite audiobook app on your smartphone and listen while you drive, wait for a flight, or in between meetings.

5. Find a Mentor

Finding a mentor is a great way to obtain more entrepreneurial wisdom. A mentor provides an entrepreneur with real-life tips. Several mentors share the skills they learned after falling into pitfalls.

By having conversations with a veteran entrepreneur, you gain perspective on small things such as optimizing your sales pipeline or adopting technology that works for your employees.

An entrepreneur is never alone in their quest to expand their company. Plus, the entrepreneurial community emphasizes reciprocity. Veteran entrepreneurs know that the road isn’t a straight line.

6. Aim for Small Doses

Entrepreneurs wear several hats. In this case, you aim to learn and continue running your company. That’s a lot to chew simultaneously. To avoid burning yourself out, learn in small doses.

Studies have found that in some cases, multi-tasking is not optimal. If you’re learning something new, commit to it 100%. Once you feel comfortable applying the new material, give it time to percolate. Then, move on to a new topic. Everyone has a learning curve. Allow it to ride.

It’s a good idea for entrepreneurs to keep an eye on their health too. Exercise and a healthy diet allow you to soak up more knowledge efficiently. Physical activity activates the brain. Proper nutrients allow it to retain new information.

Sleep plays a large role too. In between running a business and obtaining knowledge, the brain and body require rest.

7. Network

Like reading, networking with your peers never goes out of style. Joining the local Chamber of Commerce, becoming a member of a professional group, or creating your circle allows another opportunity to learn and grow your business.

Forming mutually beneficial business partnerships creates win-win situations. First, you learn from each other. Second, you establish growth possibilities by finding common solutions for both client bases.

Conclusion

Soaking up more knowledge allows entrepreneurs to keep growing their companies. Success comes from combining book smarts with street smarts. Most entrepreneurs learn how to run a business on the fly. Soaking up additional knowledge in a classroom setting adds structure and fills in information gaps.