Life Skills Can Transfer to Business Skills
This is a contributed post and may contain affiliate links. The thoughts and ideas expressed may not be exactly what the ghostwriter Scott Sery believes. But he did read it, and signed off on it, so it’s at least pretty close.
If you want to be successful in business it’s not just about having lots of academic or industry knowledge and a good idea. You also need to have specific life skills to implement when it comes to getting things done and, more importantly, getting things done in the right way. Let’s take a look at some of the life skills you’ll need to run a successful business so you know if you’re on the right track, or whether there’s more to learn and improve upon.
Organization
Being organized is a massively valuable life skill; one you will rely on in your business time and again. Remember that running a business isn’t just about doing the one thing your business is set up to do – it’s about all the little, but very important jobs, that go along with it. To be successful, you need to ensure you get everything done when it needs to be done.
Unless you’re a highly organized person, planning numerous tasks and making sure they are seen through to completion is a tough thing to do. If ignored or improperly done, it leads to big problems down the road when your customers get annoyed and your suppliers don’t want to sell to you anymore. Some people seem to be naturally organized, but don’t worry if this is something you struggle with; you can use tools like Apache Airflow to ensure you have a schedule to work to and nothing gets missed.
Good Communication
Communication is essential in business, and is linked to negotiating better deals, leading a team, or even pitching to potential investors – not to mention keeping your customers informed about their orders and what you’re doing next. The fact is that the way you communicate directly impacts how successful your business is, making good communication skills critically important when you’re a business owner.
If you can communicate well, you will find it easier to create strong, long-lasting relationships, and you’ll always know the right questions to ask to get the best outcomes for everyone. Plus, good communication skills means you’ll have fewer misunderstandings, you’ll be able to manage conflicts better, and the overall working environment will be a more positive one.
Problem-Solving
In business, you’ll always come across obstacles in your path to success – that might sound like a really negative way to look at things, but it doesn’t have to be if you’re great at problem-solving – another life skill that’s bound to help you in your business. The fact is that no matter what you would like to happen, those obstacles are still going to be there, but if you can work out how to deal with them quickly and efficiently, they won’t be such much of a problem, and you can move forward more positively.
If you can learn how to approach problems while staying calm under pressure and thinking of challenges more as opportunities than anything else, you’ll be able to overcome most things that come your way. Each obstacle you tackle, you become stronger, wiser, and more resilient.
What life skills do you have that have helped with running a business? How did you learn them? How did you develop them? What can you do to improve even more?