The Australian Small Business Blog: The Value of Knowledge

When scouring the internet for articles, what we tend to find is half answers. They say the Truth is out there, but it sure isn’t easy to find.

The power of the internet is that it is a huge resource of human knowledge, but it is very disconnected and often highly unreliable. While we may become frustrated at this, we all know it is difficult to complain to anyone, especially when we are seeking free information. While there are good resources out there, the trouble is they tend not to be tailored for your specific needs, even if you can find them.

We have a choice-

We can continue to spend time scouring the internet to find that gem that is going to transform our business, for Free!

We can put our hands in our pocket to acquire information we are confident that will provide us the information we need.

While the first choice may appear lower cost, it is not if you value your time. Particularly if you can’t find the gem you were seeking. Like the people who spend their weekends with a metal detector hoping to find gold in the outback, they are depending on luck, but luck won’t help if you are in the wrong place to start looking. They could consult a geologist on the best place to look, but they would prefer to “save money” and hope for a lucky strike.

Knowledge has a value. The price you pay may be your time to find it, it could be the cost associated through the purchase of a book, a course or seminar or paying for advice from business coaches. There is still a price you pay through the school of trial and error if you “save money” by ignoring all of the previous resources. Its the cost of blind alleys and time and opportunities missed. These costs are very real.

What would it be worth to you to achieve your two year goals in one? That’s how you value knowledge.

For those who are serious, and value knowledge, there is a new resource (that is not free- but not expensive either) that will provide you many of the answers you are seeking. This resource is the Small Business Achiever where you can find, in bite sized chunks, the small business advice you are seeking. The Small Business Achiever puts the “HOW TO” into how to.

Whatever the resource you choose is, decide this year to invest in yourself and your education. Create a budget for this and put aside 5% of your turnover. This is not an expense, it is an investment which you would expect to pay dividends many times the cost.

Define your knowledge gaps and seek out advice or education to bridge them, and don’t be afraid to draw on your budget to pay for it. That is what it is there for!

May Your Business in 2008 be as You Plan It!

Dr Greg Chapman

Over to You. What do You Think? Post Your Comments Below.

Dr Greg Chapman is the Director of Empower Business Solutions and The Australian Business Coaching Club and is Australia's Leading Advisor on Emerging Businesses and provides Coaching and Consulting advice to Australian Small Business Owners in Marketing & Business Strategies Planning & Systems. He is also the author of The Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success.

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