There are ton of qualities an entrepreneur can embody that will set them right on their path to success. Jason Guck has been in entrepreneurship for the past twenty years and has learnt quite a lot on his entrepreneurship journey. He has relentlessly worked to become a sales expert, particularly direct sales, and has achieved major success over the years. Jason narrows down 3 fundamental skills that have made him the successful entrepreneur and businessman that he is today. Here are his takes on the 3 most underrated skills in the world of entrepreneurship:
- Focus
One of the most underrated skills in entrepreneurship is focus. Focus means paying close attention to what you are doing. When all your efforts are concentrated on one task, you are likely to be more productive and achieve more success in your tasks than usual.
Additionally, with focus, you can easily work on difficult tasks or big projects with time. Let’s be honest, most people tend to gravitate more to work that is easy and will not require much effort like checking emails. However, with practiced focus, you will find an ease to getting difficult tasks done, which tend to be the most satisfying to finish. Gaining focus is a gradual process but can be coined with continuous practice. You can try blocking out a segment of your day and commit to doing a task with zero interruptions: no notifications, no calls. You can even set your phone to ‘Do Not Disturb’ to ensure that you focus on the task.
- Openness to feedback
Yes, this is a skill, and a skill that needs to be grown. This is one of the most invaluable skills for anyone who wants to do better. It is easy to deliver feedback, and even deliver it appropriately, but it takes a lot to receive feedback, especially if contradicts with what you think and feel. It is easy to be defensive when someone disagrees with you, but you need to be patient and listen intently to their feedback. This could end up saving you a ton of future mistakes or elevate your perspective on your work. Active listening goes a long way in inspiring creativity or even getting to the root cause of problems. Mr. Guck also added that giving an ear to feedback has helped him made adjustments to his businesses that saved him from dire losses while others even attracted more clients to him.
- Execution
Entrepreneurs are dreamers and have an elevated vision of their ideas. However, without any actions, it remains just that, an idea. Executing plans till the end is also a skill that needs to be mastered. It is so easy and comfortable when ideas are in your head but it takes discipline to actualize them. Setting smart and timely goals needs to be followed through with actionable steps in seeing them through. It is also important to learn how to gauge how much time a task will take. This will allow you enough time to do the work well without incurring fatigue, exhaustion or unnecessary steps. Plan for the worst and factor this in to allow for any mishaps or unanticipated tasks.
Final words
Entrepreneurship can be a tough but one of the most satisfying journeys. Looking back at the 20 years that Jason Guck has been an entrepreneur, he says he would still do it again. It is definitely difficult and humbling, but very much worth it. There is definitely a lot to be learned. However, honing these skills might seem like a pain and bother at first, but once learned, they are extremely valuable. Think of these skills like your boat on sea, that whether calm or storm, they will take you through them all, as you try to get ashore.
For more tricks and tips on entrepreneurship, take a look at https://jasonguck.com/.