Mastering the Art of Continuous Learning with Crystal Vilkaitis

We're thrilled to welcome Crystal Vilkaitis, the powerhouse behind Crystal Media. Crystal is a globally acclaimed social media expert and dynamic speaker, dedicated to empowering small businesses to thrive online. Since founding Crystal Media in 2012, she's been on a mission to help Main Street businesses shine, increasing their traffic, sales, and profits through strategic social media use. Crystal's influence has taken her around the globe, sharing stages with legends like Martha Stewart, Gary Vaynerchuk, Bethenny Frankel, and Brendon Burchard. She also hosts the insightful "Rooted in Retail" podcast.

🗣️ Conversation Highlights:

• Learning Addiction: Crystal shares her love for continuous learning and how it fuels her success. From podcasts and audiobooks during workouts and travels to nighttime reading of physical books, she dives deep into knowledge.
• Balancing Learning with Action: Crystal emphasizes the importance of not just consuming content but applying it effectively, sharing strategies for integrating learning into daily business practices.
• In-Person Magic: The energy of in-person events and conferences is irreplaceable for Crystal. She discusses the benefits of stepping out of one's environment to spark innovation and inspiration.
• Caution Against Overconsumption: A pivotal point in Crystal's journey was realizing the need to filter and limit intake of information to avoid burnout and maintain her own voice in her business.

🔗 Tune In: This episode is packed with actionable insights on mastering the art of continuous learning and leveraging it for business growth. Welcome to a conversation that promises to enlighten and inspire!

Visit us at jenniferannjohnson.com and learn how Jennifer can help you build the life you dream of with her online academy, blog, one-on-one coaching, and a variety of other resources!

Transcript

Jennifer Johnson: 0:36

Today, we welcome into the studio Crystal Vilkaitis. She is the owner of Crystal Media and she's a world-class social media expert powerful and a powerful speaker, who helps small businesses shine online and bring unique brilliance to the local and global masses. She's on a mission to help Main Street businesses thrive. She founded Crystal Media in 2012, where she works with thousands of businesses to increase traffic, sales and profits using social media. She's spoken around the globe and has shared the stage with industry giants like Martha Stewart, who is a personal favorite of mine, gary Vaynerchuk, bethany Frankel and Brendan Burchard, and many, many more. She also hosts the fabulous show, a podcast called Rooted in Retail. Welcome, crystal.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 1:21

Thank you, jennifer, I'm excited to be here.

Jennifer Johnson: 1:23

It's so great. We had you on last season and it was fabulous. Our listeners loved it and you just have a wealth of knowledge all around.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 1:33

Yes, I think so. Well, I love learning, and so I'm excited that we are talking about that today, because I feel like I just if I could just get paid to learn all the time, like I would love to do that. I just love learning.

Jennifer Johnson: 1:47

I agree with you and I'm so happy we're having this conversation, because it's all about continuing our education as business owners. There's many different ways to do it and how important is that? How important is that as a business owner, first and foremost?

Crystal Vilkaitis: 2:04

I mean it's critical and I think it's so important on many levels. I mean, I'm in the digital marketing space and AI is such a big part of what we do and teach and talk about now, and so, with how fast marketing and technology is moving, you've got to learn, you've got to stay on top of those things and then also just learning. You know, I'm convinced that no one really has it figured out Like when you become a business owner, you just start and you have to figure out so many things and one of the best ways is you start, you dive in, you'll start learning, but you can also fast track some of that through learning from other people and their experiences, studies and research and all of that Just finding really great sources to help you be a better whatever fill in the blank If you need to be a better leader or marketer or entrepreneur or whatever you're needing. There's just so much information out there. So I think it's critical and one thing I often say is the more you learn, the more you earn.

Jennifer Johnson: 3:08

I love it and my saying is ABL, always be learning. Yes, because you're never going to be the smartest person in the room, and you shouldn't be. It's a good thing, but how do you? What are some ways that you actually continue your learning as an entrepreneur?

Crystal Vilkaitis: 3:26

Yeah, I mean every single day. I am because I love so. For me my go-to is audio, so podcasts and audio books, and so every morning if I'm walking, if I'm doing my workout, if I have to drive to the airport, I am listening to a podcast or a book. When I'm on the plane I travel a lot, so when I'm on the plane and I'm waiting we're taking off and I can't be on my laptop yet to do my work, I'm listening to a podcast or book. So that I love audio.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 3:59

It makes it obviously so incredibly easy for us. But then I still do really enjoy the physical books and I actually feel like I get more out of reading a physical book, like I feel like I retain more information. So then that's more my lunchtime, after I work, nighttime, kind of reading time to really absorb that. And then, of course, you know throughout the day different articles. I subscribe to different industry outlets and newsletters, and so I'm reading those studies and learning about the data and new tech tools and things like that too, and that just comes up throughout the day.

Jennifer Johnson: 4:36

So, now that we're on the topic of podcasts and books, I have to know what are you listening to right now, or what are you reading?

Crystal Vilkaitis: 4:46

I want to know, I just started reading Jamie Lima Kern's new book, worthy, and I love her and this book it's just so good I feel like anybody should read it. She's got really good stories in there and just eye-opening information. And then I also just started this book, the Courage to Be Disliked, and that's my audio book and it's fascinating. I'm only in the first chapter and I'm already telling Dustin listen to what this author is saying Like it's pretty, um, it could be a little controversial, so I I like it. It's a. It's really good.

Jennifer Johnson: 5:28

Awesome, and what do you like to listen to in podcasts?

Crystal Vilkaitis: 5:31

Oh, okay, I mean my goodness favorite podcast. Uh, gary Vaynerchuk has been a tried and true for me for years. Um, the powerhouse women. I really enjoy Lindsay shorts podcast. Um, boss, babe, I get some good info from that one. Um, and I know I'm like totally forgetting some of my top ones here, obviously rooted in retail. I do listen to my own podcast because I don't know about you. But, like when you do podcasting, sometimes you black out and you're like what did we talk about?

Jennifer Johnson: 6:07

And then you're that, yeah, you're, you're struggling, but I love listening to it as well, because it it gives me actionable things that I could do different. You know, oh, I didn't like how I did that, or I need to change this. You've got to do it from time to time, absolutely.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 6:24

It's so true. And I also want to give a plug for the diary of a CEO. That's been my newest one. Oh my goodness, I think that might be top with Gary Vaynerchuk right now Really it's a little bit longer but he is an incredible interviewer and he brings on these amazing guests.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 6:42

And just to give you an example of something I learned on my walk yesterday, two quick things. One, he was talking about studies that are showing that a lot of companies will talk about the importance of culture and so you hire for culture, but a study was done that shows that you have to really have the balance of culture and talent, like people who actually have the skill, because the businesses that were studied that actually focused only on culture didn't actually make as much progress and weren't as successful and profitable as the company that had the balance. You can't have a bunch of people that are all similar and like each other. Yeah, it creates for a fun workspace, but you're not actually going to see that profitability and success as if you have that balance and it makes total sense. But I just feel like we often hear culture, build the culture, build the culture.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 7:34

And the other thing from that study is it was. He was saying, based on research, that people we actually come up with better ideas when we do them independently, so on our own. We brainstorm by ourselves, and then you come to the group with your ideas already established, versus as a group trying to brainstorm ideas. You're not as effective and people might not speak up or they'll vote for people's ideas. Of the highest paid employee, you know, the manager, the director, the owner, people are going to be like, oh yeah, let's just do that and they kind of rely on them for creating the ideas. So I think any of your listeners, if you've got teams, you know, empowering them to do some brainstorming on their own and then coming to the table with those ideas can really create some more, um, some just better ideas and better content.

Jennifer Johnson: 8:23

And I love. I mean, you learned all of that from a podcast, right? Yeah, from listening. And you know that's part of it is being open, being open to learn, not thinking that you know everything, that you've got it all figured out, because the minute you think you have it figured out, you don't Exactly who moved my cheese. All that stuff happens, and then what right? You have to go back to the drawing board, and that's why that always be learning something, always. You know, do you think and I guess it depends on everybody's style Books are better than podcasts or podcasts are better than books? I mean, it's personal preference, it's how you learn, it's how you absorb the information, right? Right, and you know, I'm old school, I like to highlight things in books and I write things down from books. It's just very cathartic for me, but everybody learns differently.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 9:20

Well, it's so true and I just think that, um, I enjoy both. I love learning so much that when I can't actually have that book, that's where I'm loving the audio aspect of it. Working out and driving it just makes it so much easier it.

Jennifer Johnson: 9:35

It's accessible right because, before we didn't have podcasts to listen to it, it was audio on tape. If it was that right, we had to pick up a physical book, and that's not for everybody. A lot of people have a hard time reading something and trying to digest that in their brain.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 9:55

Exactly Well, and I personally am a very slow reader Because I really want to understand what I'm reading and so sometimes I have to read it again like I'm not getting it. Or if you're really distracted, it's just hard to retain that information and focus on the words, so I'm kind of slower, and so if there's something I'm really hungry and I really want to get through that book, audio is going to be better for me to get through it faster. But again, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to be retaining as much if I was reading it. It's just going to take me a lot longer to read it.

Jennifer Johnson: 10:27

Right, what about attending conferences and masterclasses? What about stuff like that? It's not your traditional, but it's become more of that mainstream way that we're learning.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 10:41

Oh, I mean, I'm a big believer of being in the room, so in-person events, conferences I'm a part of a mastermind. There's just power in getting outside of your environment. There's studies that have shown that you actually come up with better answers and you can problem solve better and come up with new ideas and innovation when we're outside of our environment. And so the power of traveling, that's where, when you might be on vacation and a brilliant idea comes to you, it's because you're in a new environment, so I think it's really important's because you're in a new environment, so I think it's really important for us to put ourselves in new environments and find the right types of people that are. It doesn't have to be in your industry.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 11:26

I really like learning from people in other industries and learning what are they doing and how could I adapt that for mine. And it can create some uniqueness through learning, through other people's businesses and what they're doing. So I think. And then I also like the conferences, where you're getting a lot of information from a lot of different speakers and these amazing keynotes and getting that, even the inspiration.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 11:51

Maybe you don't necessarily learn something from a person, but you get that inspiration, that spark, that motivation that you're just like ah, you know, I've been really having a hard time right now Like entrepreneurship is hard and it's lonely and it's a lot, and just to hear somebody else like their stories, what they've been through, and then just get re-inspired and re-energized. We need that, you know, and it's just, you feel it a lot more when you're in the room with everybody else, versus like watching a Ted talk on YouTube and that could be great, I do that too, you know but like being in the room, power of conferences. This is why I also have my own conference and produce one, because I want to.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 12:32

It's called evolve. Yes, evolve Well, and I mean like, talk about the importance of learning, because we have to evolve. And so how do we evolve? Well, we learn new tactics, we learn new strategies, we stay on top of the technologies and the trends, and that helps us evolve. So that's why I created the conference called Evolve, and I just get so inspired by speakers and conferences that I had to create my own, and I'm glad I did. So what about you? How do you feel about in person?

Jennifer Johnson: 13:03

Can you pause the video? I know you, poor thing, you're like joking, I am getting over a cold. Oh no, and I thought I could make it through this whole podcast without doing that.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 13:16

Yeah, well, you sound great. This is the beauty of podcasting, though we get to edit.

Jennifer Johnson: 13:22

Oh my God, I normally don't do any editing. I know I'm the same but but wow, it like came out of nowhere. I'm like, oh my God, you saw me. Just like I never put this on camera, but I'm like, I'm human, it happens. So we'll pick that back up where you said I asked you what you, if you like to be in person at events.

Jennifer Johnson: 13:54

Yes, can I just pick it right from there, diana? Okay, I actually really love being in person because, like you said, it energizes me. I walk out of that room and I'm on top of the world. I can conquer anything, I can do anything. There's just that energy You're feeding off whoever is speaking to you and the energy of everybody else in the room. So 100% I'm an in-person kind of girl. Yeah, I love it.

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Jennifer Johnson: 14:47

All right, friends, we're back in studio with Crystal Vilkaitis, and she's the owner of Crystal Media, and we are talking about the importance of continuing learning. Continuing your education, whether that's through podcasts, books, masterminds, whatever that looks like to you, is the ticket right, that's your pocket, that's your space to be in, and learning is always a great thing. Your space to be in and learning is always a great thing. However, because we're bombarded with all of this stuff coming at us. There's always in my inbox, I'm sure with yours as well, because you're a learner like I am. Every day there's, oh, be part of this class, or be part of this mastermind, or join this or join that, and we pour ourselves into learning all of this stuff. But then what? Then what?

Crystal Vilkaitis: 15:43

Well, I've got a couple things to say about that. So the first one is I think you do have to be careful with how much information you're taking in and the sources of information, and you have to make sure that you don't lose your own thought and your own voice. So, for me, about halfway through I've had my business for 11 years and around that five-year mark, I just was just needing help, needing support, needing other entrepreneurs, and so I was just listening to so much and I was buying courses and I was going to events. And then you, I started to do stuff how they did do my launch, the way that they're doing it, and I start losing my voice. And then I start losing like, what do I want?

Crystal Vilkaitis: 16:34

I'm so caught up in what everybody else's results are and what, how everyone else runs their business and how they think it should be marketed, and the copy, and I was like whoa and I just burned me out and so I had to stop and like cut out and not and take a break and not listen to anything. And, to be honest, I think I took like a two week break. It was so hard because I just love listening and learning, but I was good about. Okay, I'm only going to pick two people, that I'm going to listen to those people, and that's it. And for me, don Miller and Marie Forleo are like my go to.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 17:12

I just I believe in their found. They're very foundational and so when you're brilliant at the basics you can grow a beautiful business, no matter what it is. We try so hard to search for the bigger, better thing, but really it's about being brilliant with the basics and so you got to be careful about how much you're taking in. The other thing that I do is when I'm listening to these podcasts and books and they'll have like a statement they say or somebody has questions that they ask themselves to get clarity, and if I really resonate with one of those questions or the phrase or the statement, I'll go to my alarm on my phone and I'll put the question in and that will then be my next morning's journal prompt, cause every morning I love journaling and sometimes you sit there and you're like well, what do I want to journal today? Like you kind of have that writer's block or you're not really sure, and sometimes I only write like one line or I'll just write what I'm grateful for. But when I have those prompts it helps me retain that information, use it. It's often given me podcast ideas and content ideas. It's helped me solve problems, and so that's a way that I really like to integrate the learning into you know applying it.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 18:29

And then the other thing I'll say is that I have a team, you know applying it. And then the other thing I'll say is that I have a team, which I'm, you know, lucky to have. I know, not everybody has a team, but when I listen to something I'll. There will be times where I'm like I know I'm not going to integrate this, like I'm just not going to, but my team, we need to, so I'm just going to send this to them, assign it as an action item. You got to listen. I want you to outline it and I want you to teach me what you learned. And then I want to know what pieces of this are we going to move forward on by when and really make it actionable for my team so we actually use the information that we're learning?

Jennifer Johnson: 19:08

And I love the fact that you're empowering your team to do that, because that sends such a message. Hey, I trust you to do this. I know you're empowering your team to do that, because that sends such a message. Hey, I trust you to do this. I know you're going to do this, so here you go, and then they can come back to you with all of the it packaged in a bow, with a bow. I love it. I really do love that. And I like the journal prompt because I mean, so many times do we down and read and I write stuff in a physical notebook because I'm like I want to remember that I highlight it and then I go back and I put it in a notebook and I don't journal on it. But that's a great idea.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 19:47

Yes, yeah, go try that. I think you'll really enjoy it. It just helps you really go deeper and, again, retain the information. It does really help you remember that question when you've sat down and you've asked that question over and over and over to yourself. And then you know, they often say, if you want to learn something, teach it. It's a really good way to actually learn, and so if there is something that I'm like, ooh, I really want to, like, really get this, I'll teach it to Dustin, my fiance, to my team, to my friends. Like it or not, people, I got some stuff I want to teach you. But really that's another way that just really helps us apply it and understand what we're learning.

Jennifer Johnson: 20:35

You know something? You had a thought popped into my head. You know, when we're watching all these masterminds specifically masterminds we hear the success that these other people have. And you said you know, I tried to do things how they did it because they had success. We have to be careful to not get caught up in that perception trap because they may look like they. You know, I've worked with all these people and I've done all of this. Have they Right? Because it's a perception thing as well.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 21:11

It's so a perception thing. Also, you have no idea how much money they spent on ads, if their wildly successful launch was even profitable, if they were like crying every night during this program cause they hated what they were doing and creating. Yeah, maybe they created amazing results, but were they? Did they enjoy the journey along the way? Like, did they lose team members sleep? Like? We don't know any of that stuff? How dare we compare to what other people are doing? But it's so easy because, as humans, we get so inspired by success that that helps us be like Ooh, I want to be like them. So it's a great sales strategy because you'll show what's possible for you. I did this, my clients do this and people latch onto that. But you have to make sure that that you're using it as inspiration and maybe a little bit of a guide, but not at all as a metric to compare where you are.

Jennifer Johnson: 22:11

And that's such a hard thing. I've fallen in that trap, but she made that much money and then, like you said, you have to find your space, you have to find where you fit in and do it with your own voice so that it's authentic, exactly Most important for sure. So how do we go about creating a kind of plan for ourselves going forward in how we're going to actually learn?

Crystal Vilkaitis: 22:38

Yeah, you know, I think, really knowing what works best for you. Like you might have a friend that's sending you all these podcasts all the time but you just really don't like listening, like you prefer listening to music or you just like quiet. You know I have a friend. She's very introverted and she hates any kind of sound on in the car, like piece of quiet is so piece of quiet, is that what it is? Piece of quiet? You say it quiet. I'm like that doesn't sound right. Um, you know.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 23:08

So finding out really what makes sense for you, so, is it in person? And if it is, that doesn't mean you have to be traveling all over the world to go to conferences. There's often great resources in your town through the chamber, through local networking events, through coffee meetups. Could you even establish one where you bring together a few people and the topic changes each week and you're having that connection and learning from each other and kind of your own masterminding. So really getting clear on kind of the channel that you like to learn in and from or the medium. And then, what do you need right now? Is it personal development? Is it professional development? Where are you weak if you're a business owner? Is there a challenge somewhere like leadership, marketing, technology, ai, and find those resources that really help support you in those areas. There's a very strong chance that learning AI and find those resources that really help support you in those areas, there's a very strong chance that learning AI and technology at some capacity is going to make sense for you.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 24:12

And so finding a good resource for that and then I think that if it's not habitual, like it is for me every morning or driving or flying then you have to create the habit of learning, and that really means you're scheduling it into your calendar, and for me, if things aren't scheduled, they don't exist, and so you have to put it on your calendar, make it a priority.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 24:36

Sit down for that 30 minutes to to read, to listen, to learn you know, watch those things. And I also want to challenge you listen to learn, you know, watch those things. And I also want to challenge you. Like, for me, I've really cut back on TV watching cause I love learning so much, and so, instead of being like what can I find on Netflix, I'm like what can I find on YouTube that I can learn? And the YouTube algorithm is it's you know, learning what you're watching. It's going to deliver new content that you're interested in, and then you can learn from that as well, and so that might be another medium for you that you love learning. But I think it's really getting clear on how you like to learn and making it a priority and finding the areas of the type of education that you need right now and then just doing it and make it happen.

Crystal Vilkaitis: 25:22

Exactly, yep, make it happen. Invest in yourself, like, invest that time. You know there's so many free resources now, like YouTube, for example. There's so much education out there. Um, and then I also would say, too, like you're going to find some people that you just don't resonate with. There's so much out there, you know, go to another creator, go to another educator and find kind of those people that you really do trust what they're saying and it resonates with you and that could be your tribe. You know they say that we are the, the sum of the five people we spend the most time with. You know you find those awesome people who you listen to every day and learn from. They're your tribe. You start becoming an average of those people.

Jennifer Johnson: 26:08

Exactly. I love all of your actionable tips and I have loved our conversation today. Crystal, If our listeners would like to get in touch with you, how can they do so?

Crystal Vilkaitis: 26:19

Yeah, well, the easiest way is my email address, which is crystal, at crystalmediacocom, that's C-R-Y-S-T-A-L. I'm also most active on Instagram, so we can connect over there. I'm crystalvilkaitis. If you just start typing crystal V-I-L, you should find me. It's a tough last name, but and I'd love to hear from you. You could DM me that you listen to the show and um, and would love to connect with you there.

Jennifer Johnson: 26:47

Fabulous. Thank you so much for being on today. Yes, thanks for having me, jennifer.