Episode 68: Do Not Become a Pro Learner

Show Notes

00:00

Hey everybody, Robert Cairns here. Before we get on today’s podcast on why to stop being a professional learner, let’s get on to today’s news highlighted a lot by COVID-19.

00:21

Hey, Al, today’s in the news segment. The first big story out there today was COVID-19 Coronavirus, has been declared by who? The World Health Organization as a pandemic. I’m really not that surprised at this, frankly. And you could see it coming. Just do me a favor everybody listeners out there. Please take care of yourself and your loved ones in this tough time because the unpredictable is coming. A couple of other big stories do us is considering restricting all travel or air travel to Europe. Frankly, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. In the sports world a couple stories. The world figure skating championship in Montreal, Quebec, Canada has been cancelled. The Golden State Warriors are going to play their next home game with no crowd. So as the Columbus Blue Jackets in Columbus, Ohio, and March Madness, the NCAA championships will be played to empty stadiums for the next three or four rounds right through to the Final Four. They say now whether that directive changes depending on what COVID-19 does, but it’s still a big deal, because the excitement of the crowd at March Madness will probably lack something. So there’s the news this week, and let’s get on to this week’s podcast.

02:04

Hey, Rob, Karen says I’m the CEO and Chief Creative mazing ideas had stunning digital marketing comm I hope you’re all having an amazing day. Today’s topic is one that is really important in the business world. And it’s entitled stop being a professional learner. And I want to talk about what that means and why that’s important. And why being a professional learner is not such a good idea. As many of you know, if you followed me on the internet, or interweb, or talk to me over the last while I am a guy who like Stoller, I pride myself on knowledge, I pride myself on getting ahead. I pride myself on being at the top end of the knowledge base is something local, I work long and hard. But I’m not a professional learner. And let’s distinguish between somebody who has a thirst for knowledge. And somebody who wants to learn a little more, and what the differences are. Somebody who has a thirst for knowledge has a career, and uses that knowledge to get away ahead in his career. And what that person does is they keep taking courses to advance themselves in a workplace. So in my case, many of you may or may not know, I have over 12 professional designations after my name over the years. They’re in a variety of fields, including technology, including project management, and certainly including in digital marketing. Now, the big difference that I’ve done is I’ve taken all those designations and all the learning and all the courses that I take and apply them to help make myself better, my clients better. And frankly, my business better. You don’t get to the point of running a large digital agency that does really well without keeping you ahead of the curve. And one of the ways to get ahead of the curve, frankly, is to find people smarter than you and learn from them. And then once you learn from them, implement what you’ve learned. There is no better way of learning how things work and why things work than when you actually implement. So let me give an example of that. I control millions of dollars of ad spend for Pay Per Click ads in my agency. We have figured out what works and what doesn’t work. But that’s by implementing If I just gone and taken a couple of courses, I would have had some instructor Tell me what works and doesn’t work. And I would never have learned by trial, or by error, what really worked and what really those courses translated into. that is implementing what you’ve learned not being a professional learn. Now, let’s go on to the professional learner. The professional learner is somebody who goes to school, again, in a versity degree, don’t want to work. So what they do, they go to college for three years. And then they go on to business go for three more years, and so on and so forth. And at the end of it all, they don’t have anything to speak about or show in terms of a career. They haven’t used the information I’ve learned. So frankly, why bother? It’s only really good to take courses if you’re going to use that information, advance yourself, the business you work for, or your clients. What’s the point otherwise? So folks, before you think about being a professional learner, my advice to you is, don’t do it. Go take some courses, and then implement what you’ve learned. Then once you’ve implemented that, you can decide whether you need to take more courses, or what types of courses you need to take to advance yourself in your career and help your clients don’t be that professional learner because in the end, those people never get anywhere. They just rack up the debt. And they and they frankly, are looking for somebody to pay that debt for and that’s not the way that life works. So implement what you’ve learned and show the world what you can do. As always, Rob Cairns, CEO and Chief creator amazing ideas of stunning digital marketing calm. Thanks for joining me this week. For more information go to our website at stunning digital marketing.com. This website

07:03

and my business and this podcast is dedicated my late father Bruce Cairns.Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars and make your business succeed.