If you are not getting better, then it means that you are getting worse. This is how the world is moving. People are now more educated and have more knowledge, information, and willingness. So we are in a competitive world, where the sky is the only limit for skilled professionals, and others are fighting against robots/automation.
Last year, when I was in Singapore, I met a Chinese young boy in MRT and talked a bit about IT career. He was a programmer and was developing software for the global market. He told me that he is taking tuition in Singapore to improve his English skills. He had a dream, and to achieve this dream, he had to be fluent in English.
That is called dedication and it inspired me to learn something new and also develop my existing skills further to achieve my goals.
In the last 7+ years, when I was running my own business along with supporting my clients, I have learned many things, which have helped my clients to grow their business as well as mine. In this post, I will share five of them with you.
1# Predicting the Future with Available Data:
To be a successful entrepreneur, one needs to have good prediction power. Prediction without having data is not the solution. You will need to predict where data is directing. For example, some successful entrepreneurs know that people will be more addicted to social networks; they will invest a good amount of time on those networks. That means advertisers might start focusing on those channels. They come up with products and services. The trend goes up. Marketers are keeping their budget for these channels. At the end, their business will grow.
So we will need to analyze data, compare them and come up with a prediction and build the action plan.
2# Develop Communication Skills:
In all parts of the business, we communicate. We communicate with our teammates, we communicate with our customers, visitors, leads, competitors and many more. Without developing communication skills it is hard to ensure the proper growth of your business. You need to express your thought in an easy way, so people can understand and remember. You will need to know, what to say and what needs to be avoided.
The easiest way to improve communication skills is by talking to more people. The more people you deal with, the better your communication skills. And that is why you will find most of the salespeople have good communication skills. The same thing happens with management and team leader positions.
3# Develop your Leadership Skills:
With the growth of your business, you will need to add more team members. You will need to know, how to lead them, how to make your team more productive and creative. You will need to know how to overcome objections, and how to make your workstation more friendly and enjoyable.
There are many books on the web which can help you develop your leadership skills. Here is a book I would like to recommend. These books helped me a lot in developing my leadership skills.
4# Keep Record of Everything:
Small businesses always suffer, because they have less time, professionals, budget and experience to move forward. And often they keep fewer data. But in this world, data is power. You should have a very clear idea of what is going on within your organization, and where you are investing most of your money, time and resources. Is it the right place?
What else can be done to save a single $. Saving 1$ means you are getting 1$ more in your account. Money is oxygen for your business. Without oxygen, your entire organization will collapse, so it is important for you to save money where possible so that your team can grow further and invest in the most important parts.
This is true for other parts of your business as well. To track your finance-related data you can use Waveapp. For tracking your team you can try Hubstaff. For an individual you can try RescueTime as well.
5# Not to Scare for A/B Testing:
Growth depends on A/B Testing. Whatever you want to do, in most cases you might have more than one option available. But you don’t know which one will do better. You can only come up with a smart decision by doing A/B testing.
For a quick example, most people run multiple email campaigns, lead collecting forms and place them on different places with a different formula. They do it so they can know which version works best. And then come up with a more detailed plan or action and move forward.
So as an entrepreneur, you need to invest 20% of your time in A/B testing which can ensure 80% success in later part by finding the best product/strategy/plan/audience, etc.
