USING HARD-WON BUSINESS SKILLS TO IMPROVE YOUR PERSONAL LIFE
by: Derek Goodman (Contributing Writer) | published: October 18, 2021
When you’re a small business owner, you wear many hats, from innovator and salesman to leader and coach. Furthermore, you need countless skills to keep your business going, from tangibles like financial literacy to intangibles like people smarts.
If you think about it, everyday life is a lot like running a business. You’re a part of a family or community, a different kind of organization. You wear many hats – like spouse, friend, and father – and constantly transact with people. Instead of business goals, there are personal goals to achieve. And instead of clients, you have to be on good terms with friends and family.
Why not apply your business skills to succeed in your personal life, just like you do with your business?
Below are some business skills that translate over surprisingly well to personal life:
Cutting back on expenses
Every small business owner eventually learns how to be a penny-pincher and budget effectively. Minimizing overheads is an important part of having a healthy cash flow and keeping the business going between client payouts, which tend to be erratic.
You can also use free resources online to help you cut costs. For example, if you need a new banner for your website or social media pages, avoid spending money on a graphic designer by utilizing a free online banner maker. There are other amazing tools online that can make running your business easier, which can help keep some extra money in your pocket.
You can carry your business financial habits over to your personal life for extra financial security. Cutting back on expenses and having a strict household budget, for example, allow you to live comfortably and save enough for big purchases without going into debt. Furthermore, you will have enough for a rainy day, the equivalent of building a business emergency fund.
Managing your time effectively
Business owners have a thousand things to do, meetings to attend, and clients to field. They tend to develop stellar time management skills, such as prioritization and scheduling, as a result. Making the most of your day ends up becoming second nature, and wasting time a strict no-no.
Just like with your business, you have limited time to devote to your personal life. Your business time management skills can come in handy. You can prioritize your family, schedule more free time, eliminate distractions and non-priority tasks, and stay organized to make the most of your day and adequately look after your many responsibilities.
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting is a core business skill. Rare is the day when you don’t run into at least one problem. Problems can be big and small. Some examples are irate customers, delayed payments, delivery problems, and employees at loggerheads. Business owners have to develop cool heads and learn to think on their feet to move forward. They need to innovate, be creative, and employ outside-of-the-box thinking.
You’ll encounter similar problems in other areas of your life, whether it’s your relationships or finances. There will be people problems, money problems, and logistic issues – just like at work. Identify the root cause of the problem, find a solution, and do your best to make sure it never happens again, similar to when you’re running a business.
Delegating to share responsibilities
All successful entrepreneurs understand the power of delegation. It shores up their weaknesses, saves time and money, and assigns the best resource for the work at hand, whether the task is internal or external. For example, instead of filing the paperwork for creating an LLC for the company by themselves, businesses frequently use formation services. It saves on the cost to start an LLC in California and generally allows them to concentrate on what’s important.
Asking for help and sharing responsibilities is just as important outside of work. For example, when you’re looking after your kids, you could have a rotating schedule with your spouse – or hire a nanny if you can swing it. You could share your chores with your family, doing the bits you’re most comfortable with, to get more done faster.
Being emotionally intelligent
Emotional intelligence is your ability to understand and manage your feelings and connect with other people. Successful businessmen recognize the importance of EQ. They use their EQ to get along with clients and colleagues, motivate, inspire, and build customer and employee loyalty. Emotional intelligence makes or breaks businesses, says the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Your EQ has a massive influence on your personal life and can be your biggest asset if used consciously. It allows you to empathize with friends and family and lend a supporting shoulder. It makes you an approachable person, letting you build more meaningful, deeper connections. Finally, it can reduce the friction in your various relationships.
Planning and achieving goals
Entrepreneurs are constantly setting goals, shifting gears, and looking ahead. Goals, like boosting your retention rate or generating extra net profit, give you something to hold on to and direct your energy toward. They keep the business momentum going and are a concrete measure of your overall success.
You need solid goals to be successful outside of work too. For example, if you’ve always wanted to go back to school to earn your bachelor’s or master’s degree, then you need to put that into motion. Research different universities, look into the enrollment requirements, and figure out what you need to do to get started. Online universities allow you to follow your own schedule and set your course load, which is a boon for small business owners who are already balancing a career.
Drawing firm boundaries
Entrepreneurs tend to get good at saying no and drawing boundaries. It’s what allows them to stay humble, avoid taking on too much, collaborate better with others, and generally keep the business on track. It’s also important for dealing with toxic people, whether that’s someone asking for a handout or a customer asking for an impossible freebie.
Your ability to set boundaries can be enormously useful in your personal life. It allows you to set expectations with other people, teach them how to treat you, and win their respect. You can be more disciplined and concentrate on the things that matter. Finally, you can keep control over who you let into your life and prevent people from taking advantage of your trust.
Everything is connected, and every true skill you pick up can be extended to every other area in your life. Your business skills, which allow you to free up more time and get more done for less, can similarly be used in your personal life. You can make it more productive, enjoyable, and find extra time for all the things you love.
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