I’m concentrating on acronyms and using them for business. Training is the first of them.

T

Training is something that every business owner could do with investing in at least once every year. It doesn’t necessarily need to be an expensive training, in fact spending a lot more than is necessary is a complete waste of business funds. Decide each year where you want to learn a new skill or upskill in and then source and cost the providers of them. Some people I know learn a new skill every month or at least expand on one they are not good at yet.

R

Really be realistic about your business training. Just because you have a website does not mean you have to be able to write the code for it. You do however need to know how to manage your content management system if you are in charge of updating it. Restrict your business training to things that will help develop your business acumen further. That can mean learning and having an understanding of how a system works basically rather then intricately.

A

Always check that the training you sign up for will be delivered in a method that suits your learning style. Spending money on an online training that does not have a question and answer session added into it is a complete waste of your money if you are the type of person who asks lots of questions and learns better in a classroom setting. Likewise if having someone constantly asking questions riles you during a class, then maybe distance learning might suit you better.

I

Interest in the topic you are looking for training in will have a huge impact on the level of learning you will be open to and therefore the benefit you will get from it. If you are spending money on a training because you feel you have to, rather than you actually want to know you will not enter with the right attitude. Imagine this was an employee of your’s how annoyed would you be having spent money that could have been better used elsewhere? Either do it whole heartedly or don’t do it at all.

N

Notes. Most trainings come with notes or a recording of some type be it audio or video. For other trainings students are often advised to bring a pen and notepad for taking notes. Use them to refer back to when you get stuck. I am sometimes asked by clients how to do something that I have already written clearly in their notes, to find that they haven’t even bothered to check them when they got back to their desks. The notes are there for off-site help, use them.

I

Implement it. The amount of times I hear business owners tell me that they did a training they really needed or wanted and then did absolutely nothing with it astounds me. This is a complete waste of finances. If you are going to spend your money on training implement that learning as you go along. Don’t wait until you have a spare day to do so, that spare day will never come, or when it does it will be too late.

N

New trends often mean new training or upskilling. Be sure that you need to use them or you could be throwing away a chunk of money that could be used elsewhere. Social media has many different forms. As a business do you really need to be on top of them all to be effective? Cherry pick the one’s that best suit your type of business. The same applies for other types of trends, does your business really need to keep up or can it afford to give this particular trend a miss? If it is not going to seriously grow your business in a manner you want, then let it pass.

G

Growth. Training is all about growth. By the time your training if over, whether it is a half-day event, a course over a few weeks or a few years the process is to expand your knowledge base so that you can use it in your business. Learning is a continual life-long process. The sense of achievement felt from mastering a new skill is motivating and definitely well deserved.