As children, we are taught many life lessons.

Some of these are good:

A penny saved is a penny earned.

The early bird catches the worm.

But others, like “Curiosity killed the cat” are an abomination.

What a terrible thing to teach anyone – especially a child.

Curiosity is incredibly important in business (and life).

Why?

1) This is how we learn and grow.

Is your business surviving or thriving?

Do your clients like your offerings?

What are other people doing?

How could you do better?

Why are you doing what you do?

Are your advertising efforts impactful or falling flat?

How could you shake things up?

What can you do to change the world?

Being curious about your business and industry is how you get better.

If you don’t ask questions – and seek out the answers – you are doing yourself (and your clients) a disservice.

2) People love to talk about themselves.

We are our own favorite subject.

And we should be!

We are all doing great things.

Asking people questions (and being genuinely interested in the answers) is key to building a solid network.

And this can be done in many ways.

You can ask in person at large networking events.

You can have one on one conversations.

But my new favorite avenue for this is Facebook.

If you are my friend on Facebook, I’m sure you have seen me ask regular questions.

They are short.

Some are thought provoking.

Some are silly.

Some resonate more than others, but they are getting a lot of traction.

Everywhere I go, people tell me how much they love these questions.

Even if they haven’t answered…they love them.

I have learned so much about my friends – and they have gotten to know each other.

Conversations have been started.

Relationships have been nurtured.

Knowledge has been gained.

And if I wasn’t a curious cat, it never would have happened.

So, get (or stay) curious my friends.

Until then…stay passionate!