It’s so easy as a business owner to stick with the tried and trues. When your money is involved, you want to make sure you’re using it effectively and are guaranteed some kind of return on the investment. The problem is that big things only happen when you’re curious and coloring outside of the lines.

So how do you break out of those bounds and work towards those bigger things? Let’s talk about it.

Make friends outside of your niche

It’s sounds so simple to look for connections outside of your niche, but it helps so much.

I know that when I take a client who is outside of my niche, they are always amazed at how I look at problems differently and have new solutions to try. And this is a big part of the reason why talking with those outside of your niche is so helpful. They aren’t stuck in the same old, every day stuff that we might be in. And they’ve tried tactics that may still be novel to your industry. Having people outside of your industry that you can bounce ideas off of will give you more to think about and more willing to try something new.

Read as much as possible

It’s not shocking to say I read a lot. Every morning, I’m looking at the latest social media articles to see if there is anything I need to know. Every day, I read roughly a hundred pages of a novel. And then there are all the articles, stories, etc. that I read for my daughter and her care. And yes, I’m a knowledge nerd, so there’s a whole lot else that I read that I’m not listing out here.

Reading is such a vital part of staying curious. It takes you out of your world and shares a bit of someone else’s world with you. You’re more able to put yourself in other people’s shoes and see more viewpoints. And I can’t tell you how many times the random facts I have collected over the years has helped me market something or give context when needed.

I’ll never say there’s such a thing as too much reading, but you don’t have to read as much as I do. Just start with ten minutes a day and see where it takes you from there.

Talk to all kinds of people

This is kind of funny that I put this here, because I’m a huge introvert. Talking to people I don’t know is a bit of a nightmare for me. But I keep trying to do it even as it feels incredibly hard. Why do I keep trying?

It makes me less weird. If I’m stuck at home living in my head, I lose any kind of connection with reality and I start floating further and further away from it. That’s not good for a marketer. So I get myself out at every chance.

But also, it makes me understand where other people are coming from. When you read the news or social media posts, it seems that we are drifting away from each other and it seems just impossible to close that divide. But saying a simple, “Hi,” can be the start of closing that divide. I know it’s not possible to understand every person out there, but as a marketer, trying to understand a wide variety of people could be a huge asset in your day-to-day job. You are able to create much better content that can connect with your clients’ various audiences. All by starting that conversation with a simple, “Hi.”

There are other ways to stay curious, but these are frankly my favorites. And keeping that curiosity will help you stay on top of what’s going on in social media and marketing, which makes it vital to your business. So stay curious and see what it can bring to your business.

How are you staying curious?