College. A degree in business makes sense for any businessman, though you should research the industries you’re interested in before declaring your major. Some positions may prefer more specialized degrees, so do your homework. [2] X Research source Trade schools. If the business you’re interested in specializes in a particular trade, you might be best off immersing yourself in the trade. Lectures and seminars. Listening to the advice of those who are successful in their field can be enlightening. Check the schedule at local colleges for speaking tours, or search online for industry-related speaking engagements in your city. Staying up-to-date on what the top minds in the industry are saying is essential, even if you already think you’re at the top of your game.
Many employers nowadays are prioritizing the skills a candidate brings to the table over their GPA or higher education. [3] X Research source Research example resumes for positions you’d like to hold, and put effort into developing those skills in your free time. The extra mile shouldn’t come at the expense of every other aspect of your life, though. Finding time to reward yourself for hard work will instill better habits in you for the future.
If a coworker or friend of your parents works in a profession you’re interested in, ask your parents for their email address, or to arrange a meeting. With a local business owner, you might just try walking up to them in their place of business and asking! Introduce yourself as an aspiring businessman and admirer of their accomplishments, and ask if they have any time available to speak with you on the subject. At school, you might find a mentor in a professor. Never neglect the wealth of knowledge which exists in a university, and don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re only allowed to learn during class. Approach your professor for advice during their office hours. Some companies employ on-the-job mentoring programs which pair recruits up with experienced workers. [4] X Research source Take advantage of these, and look to them not as a burden but as an opportunity to learn and excel.
Do balk at unpaid positions which don’t present themselves as pathways to success, either within the company or by opening further doors to you.
Make lists. Enough can’t be said about the anti-procrastination benefits of seeing your work in front of you, and crossing it off as you finish it. [7] X Research source Each list should be long enough to keep your workload in perspective, but not so long that your day feels paralyzingly demanding. One tactic is to divvy your seemingly unmanageable task into manageable chunks, then sprinkle those less-enjoyable aspects of a task into that other stuff that you really like. Stick to a schedule: physically writing out to-dos and calendars isn’t necessary for everyone, but establishing a regular schedule can help you efficiently take care of business. Scheduling the work you dislike for a specific day—and then pushing it out of your mind to avoid stress on other days—might help you conquer unhelpful procrastination habits.
Sometimes you’ll find yourself bogged down in work that seems, now that you’ve toiled away at it for a week, misguided in its goal. If the project has a projected timeline that will take up a great deal of your time moving forward, it’s sometimes best to reassess whether you’re spending your time well (see above, about “high-value” tasks versus “low-value” tasks). So how do you know when you should drop a project? Honest introspection, and self-awareness. If you find yourself thinking this often—and you’ve got a string of unfinished projects in your wake—it might be a sign you need to buckle down and see this to the end.
Diving too hard into work without giving yourself a break will increase your stress levels and decrease your effectiveness. [9] X Research source Set boundaries on your workday, and take frequent breaks to recharge your batteries. Don’t confuse your work for who you are. Finding time and space away from our work—even if it is our life’s passion—can often provide insight on that work.
Find a balance in your work that satisfies you, your boss, and your client without causing the rest of your life to suffer. Employers prize those employees who can deliver solid work dependably over those who occasionally produce great stuff… but repeatedly miss their deadlines. [10] X Research source
If you’re starting a business, don’t equivocate. Talk about your new business as you would any other. Refer to it as “work,” and even when you work from home a certain room can be “the office. ” It’s alright to have a sense of humor about it, but don’t undermine your efforts.
Definitively end relationships only when it’s absolutely necessary. When you leave a job, resist the temptation to gloat, slack off, or tell your boss “how you really feel. ” When you tug on a thread in your network, you never know who’ll be feeling its reverberations down the line.
Everybody else in your industry understands how crucial networking is, so don’t think you’re the only schmuck out there advertising your skill. Self-promotion is, to some degree, the name of the game.
Make it a point to appreciate the work and input of others. Practice active listening. This means acknowledging what other people say by repeating it back to them in your own words, as you understand it to be. Pay attention to others. Be proactive about noticing others’ feelings, words and body language. Connect people. A successful business owner is a hub through which other interpersonal connections are made. Promote an environment that brings people together by treating people equally and fairly, and encouraging them to work together. Take a leadership role when it comes to resolving conflicts. Act as the mediator, rather than involving yourself personally.
Homogeneity should never be prioritized in an effort to have your employees mesh well. Diverse viewpoints offer myriad advantages to your business as a whole, in both innovation and experience. [14] X Research source Be careful if you’re in a situation to hire family members and personal friends as employees. While connections are the #1 way in which many jobs are found, nepotism can reflect poorly on you. Ensure your hires are qualified for the position,
The heart of all businesses, even those with altruistic, selfless ownership, is making money. The goal might be modest (just enough to allow your business to survive and grow) or enormous (to attract additional investors and satisfy shareholders), but this is true to some degree for every business. You will never achieve that goal of, say, providing mittens to all of the underprivileged kids in the world through your new mitten shop, if you don’t focus on keeping that coffee shop in business and thriving first. Long-term goals are important, but shouldn’t come at the expense of sustainable short-term ones.
Avoid exorbitantly expensive ties and jackets, company cars, and huge offices you really don’t need—but don’t take it for granted that nice things are automatically exorbitant. Image is an important component of success in business, but not just when it comes to the superficial. Having an enormous office you can’t fill or work you can’t pay for punctually (on account of that enormous office or company car lease) will feed into other companies’ perception of you as well.
An idea’s failure isn’t always indicative of having the wrong idea—sometimes it’s simply the right idea, pursued ineffectively. Don’t scrap everything you’ve been trying all at once and or totally restructure. When working within a company or partnership, for example, the issue could be solved by better understanding each member’s accountability. [16] X Trustworthy Source Harvard Business Review Online and print journal covering topics related to business management practices Go to source
”Failure,” as Henry Ford put it, “is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. ”[18] X Research source
