00:00.00
retailjosh
Welcome to today's episode of retail initiative I'm so glad you're here. Honestly, this is one of my favorite things that I get to do and it's an honor that you trust me with your time I apologize that I have been a little more inconsistent we have been in. Full on event planning mode for my upcoming manifest workshop we just wrapped up our conversion clinic. So the podcast had to take a little bit of a backseat but today I'm excited to share with you my reading strategy and I'm sharing this because. A lot of times I reference books in talks or whatever and the ah question I get all the time is like how do you read so much or how do you even find the time to do these things because I am a dad like a very engaged dad I don't work like I generally work like a normal schedule. Ah, and. You know I like my sleep I like my wine at night. All of those things so I don't have this endless time. But I'm all I do read a lot and I want to share with you the strategy of how I do it. But also what what I'm reading because I think that's what ultimately matters most. So. I'm going to cue the theme and then we're going to dive it into it.
01:29.57
retailjosh
All right? So hopefully I didn't lose you when I talked about books I'm sure some of you are nerding out and you're like oh my gosh. Yes, like please tell me all the books to read but others of you are probably have this idea of like you don't have enough time or that it's not that important you are talented enough to get. Where do you want to get and so on and I don't know about you so my background I actually grew up terrible at school and it wasn't until I was an adult that actually learned to enjoy reading and it wasn't until a few years into entrepreneurship that where I was like. My gosh I really need to elevate myself and so for you what I would encourage you to think about is where do you want to be three years from now 5 years from now think about your business. What size is it? How big is the team. What does your workday look like envision these things. Ah, and. Then think about are you capable as of today is the you like this current version capable of running that business I know when I think about where I want to be 5 years from now and the the business that I have. Honestly I am not capable of running that company I can't lead that size of a team I don't know how to produce that much content yet I mean obviously like I just missed a few weeks I have to elevate myself in the power of growth.
02:57.70
retailjosh
I believe in courses I believe in masterminds um I do all of those things. But I think the power of books is really something unique and so what I want to share today is how I read and I don't mean like obviously I sit there and I read that's obvious now there are other pieces. That go into this like content content consumption. You know I listen to podcasts almost every day every morning in the gym I tend to be listening to some audiobook or I've listened to a lot of old dead guys like Jim Roan and Zig Ziglar and all of that stuff a lot and. And those are great. But I'm I'm actually talking about physical books or Kindle books or whatever you do although audibles definitely count in this just to be clear. So if you're like I don't read then get an audible subscription or or I don't know if you know this. But um, the public library in most cities actually rent audiobooks. And so you don't even have to pay for most of what you could want. It's all available and so the power of a library card. The power of the books that you're reading can really elevate you to that next level all right now. What does my reading shortage look like um I'll get into like some of the tactics in regards to schedule and that sort of thing. But I first want to talk about how I like how do I choose what I read um and so there are really 3 books that I'm almost always reading. The first group is actually books that I've read before I think that most of the time our problem is not that we lack new information.
04:29.36
retailjosh
Problem is not that we lack new information. Our problem is actually that we are not implementing the information that we already have again for the people at the back because this one is important. We are not lacking in information we are lacking in implementation of what we already know and so. 1 of the easiest ways to make sure that we're doing this is actually rereading books now I don't reread every book gosh no I would never who has time for that but have you ever read a book that's just so freaking powerful and you leave that book inspired. You leave it with a million ideas of things you could do and maybe you do a few of them. But you kind of move on to the next book. Ah well instead of doing that. Why not reread that. Um, and so I am always reading through. Ah this small list of books and honestly I just like rotate between them when I fly. Ah, tend to bring one of them I don't bring like the newest book that I'm reading unless I'm just glued to it. Ah I will reread these things and 1 of the biggest reasons for this beyond implementation is if you think about like how we grow as people when you read chapter one you learn something and you elevate yourself even just a little bit. The way that you think shifts slightly and then you get to chapter 2 and the same thing happens. Well if you go back and read chapter. 1 chances are you are going to pull something from it because you have changed you have grown in your understanding and the way that you see things.
06:00.84
retailjosh
And you're going to pull something new out of it and so this list for me. It's 4 books. It probably is going to look different for you based on what you do based on what inspires you and resonates I I read think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill um I really believe in the power of our thoughts and. Really like the way that the hit attracts ah things into our life and that book is kind of the original of that thought I'm sure that some of you probably can tell me about something before that. But I love think and grow rich I read expert secrets by Russell Brunson which is really about like building a following and serving people. Ah. Really at scale and and how do you reach these people $100000000 offers by Alex Hormosey that's a book I would highly recommend for retailers that's about like how do you frame an offer to be incredibly valuable and I think retailers can pull a lot from that again. That's $100000000 by Alex for mosey. And then the road less less stupid by Keith Cunningham ah that book is like just gold. It's basically lessons learned ah the hard way and really put in really short chapters that you can consume easily I go through seasons where I'll read it every morning and read like. 1 chapter which is 2 or 3 pages which is awesome. All right? So that's thing that is group number one I am rereading books that I have read before um the next group is really, it's like something very tactical.
07:31.58
retailjosh
I'm I'm trying to learn a new skill or grow in some way. Ah, and this is typically my new book. Whatever that is so if it's leadership I'm going to read radical candor or if it is marketing I'm going to visit gosh I have a thousand books on marketing. Ah, that I like to go through if it's mindset I'll visit mindset honestly recently I have felt kind of stuck and there were some creative things that I was working on and I just felt stuck have you ever felt that way I imagine that you have and so I picked up the war of art. Ah. By Stephen Pressfield and it's about how do you overcome that? Ah, he calls it resistance. How do you get past this resistance to take on that creative endeavor and instead like act like a professional that just does it that does the thing it's about getting shit done. Sorry for the the language but ah, that's that's the theme and so that book has been incredible. So I'm reading a tactical book. So the first group I'm reading a book that I've read before that resonates and inspires and gives me a ton of ideas. The second group is is something new. This is something very tactical and a rule that I follow here and I if you leave with any reading idea. It's this if a book sucks or it quits serving me I don't keep reading if a book sucks or it quits serving me I quit reading it.
09:00.75
retailjosh
Don't finish books just to finish books and so honestly I probably read half to 2 thirds of most books that I read most of the time you kind of get the gist sometimes you'll make it to chapter 2 and get the gist the second group um is biographies I love reading biographies and stories. Um, right now I'm reading actually because of some trips and whatever I normally don't have 3 but I have 3 that I've kind of been slowly crawling through one is about Sam Walton um called Maiden America he's the guy that started Walmart because I've been obsessed with recessions and talk about someone who has. Made it through multiple recessions and grown in them. He's done an incredible job and so I wanted to learn from him I'm reading 1 on Winston Churchill I'm reading another on John D Rockefeller and honestly these are in a way. They're fun and inspiring so typically in the morning. I like to get up and before I go to the gym before I actually go to the gym which I realize a lot of you can't but this might also mean before the craziness of kids or whatever starts. Um I tried to sit down and read honestly, it's like 5 to 10 minutes at best. And here's where I'll read the new book that that typically is the the time where I'm like going through something new then in the evening I am going through the biography and that's kind of my like wind down I try I'm I'm trying to get away from Netflix and hulu and.
10:33.68
retailjosh
All of that believe me like we just finished we crashed and it's so freaking good if you would watch that shoot me a Dm on Instagram at Retail Josh just so we can talk about how great that show was again that was we crashed that one's on Apple. It's about the story we work. But that's not why you're here. But. The cool thing about biographies is by so by learning the stories. You don't just get to see what people did you also start to understand how they think and when we can understand how we think we could start to maybe model our decisions in a similar way and it can be people yes in the retail world there's plenty there um but even people outside of the retail world some of the great people throughout history and if we can start to understand the way that they think and the way they made they made decisions I think that can really have an impact on us. So I hope that this is helpful for you. Um I really do if I were to recommend any books right now. I would say so the war of art if you're stuck the war of art is unbelievable. Um, for biographies Sam Walton made in America I know that Walmart's kind of the and like bad guy in retail. Um, but we have a lot to learn from them. Um, and then if you've never read it. The book delivering happiness about Tony Shave from Zappos. Um, honestly, that is like a first must read for any retailer that I know it's about serving your customer and creating this like wow customer service. So that's the episode for today.
12:05.65
retailjosh
Ah, hope that it's helpful for you. My biggest request and a huge favor to ask if this is helpful. Please leave a review and subscribe whatever platform you listen on because that is one of the best and easiest ways that we are able to reach new people and share our message with them. So It's so helpful. Um, glad that you're here and I will see you next time.
