One of the actions I encourage my clients to take is to spend time with people outside their area of expertise—those who are excelling in businesses different from their own. The opportunities for learning in these environments—if you observe, absorb, ask great questions and listen—is extraordinary.

Professionals get entrenched in their industry the way married people get entrenched in ONLY socializing with married couples whose family structure is somewhat like their own. What a huge loss.

Don’t make this mistake.

Get into communities where people are different from you.

For my own part, I spent the last 3 days in Arizona at Jeff Walker’s PLF live event—a community of people who share their products and services with the world through the online space. Holy shoelaces (as my sister likes to say….) What an incredible crowd.  It seemed at least a dozen times a day, I was thinking “Hmmm. Wow. Didn’t know THAT was possible…” or “Huh, didn’t know that existed…” or “Wow. Now there’s a business in a format I’ve never seen.”

All this expanded my own sense of what’s possible and how I might create new material and ways of reaching the people I serve…like YOU!

These were some of the smartest people I’ve ever met—and I never expected I’d be doing shots (SHOTS!) at the bar with lime and a tequila at the end of the conference. I think the last time I did that was in college. But I was laughing and grinning. What an unexpected world I walked in to.

So look around for a new opportunity to say yes. Surround yourself with smarties who are not in your world. And see what unfolds. Shots at the bar not required. But shots into the next growth phase of your business and life? YES.