We have seen all those guys, Elon Musk, Gary Vee, Jeff Bezos and the likes and then wonder, “Man, I want to be that!” If you think of yourself as an Entrepreneur or even want to be, you’re in the right place. The question then arises, “how do I build skills to better function as an entrepreneur?” How do I build skills to survive here?.
There are skills that as an entrepreneur, you need to develop. Skills like communication, financial management, empathy, personal branding, authenticity, sales and all that. While we are not going to be talking about how to develop each of these skills, we will be talking more on what activities to make a habit and engage more if you really want to successfully and effectively build on those skills you’d need as an entrepreneur.
Here are seven great ways!
1. You have to Read more – Books are amazing! Add this to your daily routine and feel refreshed each time you are done reading. It has an amazing way to force you to create a mental imagery of those texts you’re reading and that is magical. Because a saying goes, “out of sight (books), out of mind, and out of mind, out of reality.” Books build the entrepreneurs in us, as the entrepreneur is the visionary of any business. If an entrepreneur isn’t visionary enough and lacks in creativity, he is just a business person. No wonder people like Bill Gates, Oprah, Warren Buffet, Mark Cuban and all those guys are very wide readers, and thinkers, too!
2. Get a mentor – “The dwarf sees farther than the giant when he has the giant’s shoulder to mount on.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in The Friend 1828.
Having a mentor saves you from making a whole lot of mistakes you’d be making because they have gone before you and experienced some errors so that you don’t have to make those same mistakes. If you are not able to land a mentor, you should focus more on following the right people closely on social media. Digest each and every thought they put out and also reach out with pressing questions you’d like an answer to.
3. Start a business – No amount of reading, mentorship, and all other stuff I’d be mentioning would be worth anything if you don’t apply whatever you learn. Start a small business, understand the makeup of businesses and their functions. Have a firsthand experience for yourself, that’s the surest way you could facilitate growing your entrepreneurial skills. It’s no guarantee that you’d succeed, but failure is also a part of the journey as great business philosophies emerge from it.
4. Network – “Iron sharpens iron.” You should be very careful that you do not hang out with people with bad ideologies about business and money, and focus on hanging out more with people who you’d want to learn a great deal from. You could also do this online as there are many platforms you could interact with entrepreneurs, learn what they know and gather valuable information and knowledge in the course of your journey. On Facebook groups, Forums and the likes.
5. Help others – When you help others do something, do not think it is just a waste of time as could use that time in helping yourself. Most times, we gain a lot from helping out with things that give other people tough times. Be genuinely interested in people that you also want to help them with issues they are currently facing. You may pick up a skill or two around that issue that you may never have to suffer the same problem especially when you experience that same problem in your business.
6. Teach what you know – This is subtly different from helping others as this one encourages you to utilize your social media handles, website or blog to teach people things about what your experiences and how you dealt with them or even get a mentee and impart your knowledge. It may be online or off, but have the zeal to teach people more. This is really important as you strengthen core lessons you have learnt in your past and also help someone out there who may have just been waiting for your solutions. There, a win-win situation!
7. Attend seminars – This one is something you shouldn’t joke with. Here, you’ll meet a lot of thought leaders, and like-minded people that would often time even inspire and challenge you to want to do more. You want to meet people who are very successful at what they do, that it just spurs you to action. You will definitely learn a whole lot from these guys as a lot of them would be willing to teach you what they know, and how they got where they are. Be surrounded by positivity!
Building your entrepreneurial skills won’t be an easy task as it requires discipline, which is a really important factor that keeps you on your feet while working towards that goal or dream that you have for your life, career, and even finances.