leadership

3 Skills To Increase Your Value

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No matter what your goals are, there are certain skills that will help you to excel. It doesn’t matter if you want to find a nice spot at a large corporation, get paid as an artist, or start your own business. These 3 skills will help you to be as successful as possible. Now, these are definitely not the only three, but I feel these to be of utmost importance because they are useful in all situations. Whether it’s professional development or personal development, it’s all about increasing your value to others.

Leadership

It is very rare to find someone who is a true leader, this is why I’ve place this skill at the top of the list. If you can learn to be a good leader, everything else almost follows of it’s own accord. A leader is someone who has a focus and a vision. They are confident and able to stimulate others to accomplish goals. They inspire others to do their best. Leaders don’t rely on outside motivation. They also do what is right, regardless of if anyone is watching. Anyone can learn to be a leader and the first step in that direction is having confidence in yourself.

Sales and Marketing

These are two terms that have gaind a bad reputation over time. This is because a lot of salespeople and marketers have used the wrong techniques in the past to get the job done. Many have also run into unsavory characters who run scams under the guise of sales and marketing. With the proper sales training, you can learn to build long-term customer relationships and increase your numbers.

Whether you like it or not, you are always involved in a sale. It doesn’t matter what your business is or even if you’re in business or not. Every conversation ends with you selling someone, or them selling you. The best sales people can close you without you ever even realizing it. Marketing is closely tied in here because it simply involves getting your brand out there. If no one knows about you, you can’t make any sales.

Money Management

Finances are pretty boring. I’m not implying you need to be an expert in accounting to make money, but you definitely need to know how to make your money work for you. This could be as simple as being able to calculate how many pieces of business you need to do to stay in the black. Depending on the size of your business, you might even seek some corporate finance training to help make sure you’re profitable. There are too many people in business making no money simply because they don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to finances.

The End

Personal development is the key no matter what you want to do with yourself. If you have the ability, take some classes, find a learning coach or get a mentor. No matter what they say, it is always possible to increase your value to others. The knowledge is out there. Taking the steps to seek it out already puts you ahead of the game.

…But by the Content of Their Character

Success is not based on who is following you on Twitter. Success is not based on how much traffic you get to your blog each day or how many people are subscribed to your RSS feed. Success is not the measure of how many people appear to be watching your content online. If this paragraph makes you frown in confusion, you most certainly need to read on because you are in need of some help.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Aug. 28, 1963

(Thanks to @boycaught for reminding me of the full quote)

This quote by Dr. King not only applies to race, but to any other insignificant or material characteristic of a person. You can’t judge yourself or anyone else based on the statistics surrounding your online presence. Darren even breaks it down into an equation for you and shows how detrimental it can be to your success.

In my post, A Leader Doesn’t Care What You Think, I give a few examples of some characteristics that most leaders share. The overall idea is that someone who is successful, a leader, is one who is always looking ahead. These are people that are always trying to learn from those smarter than themselves.

Is Scoble a success because he has the entire Social Media Militia following him, or are they following him because he often leads to something new and interesting?

Scoble has said on a few different occasions that he seeks to talk to someone interesting and/or learn something new everyday. He doesn’t base his life on what others think about him. This is the attitude you should have if you want to have anything close to the status and respect he has.

Just recently, Twitter users lost huge numbers of their followers and the community was (still is, actually) in an uproar. Their ability to broadcast to hundreds and thousands of listeners was taken away. Cyndy is actually depressed that some Social Medialites are more focused on broadcasting than actually having a conversation, while Corvida writes that this is a golden opportunity to reach out and expand your horizons.

These ideas extend well beyond the realm of the Social Media community, past “The Internets”, and right into your own home:

• You are not the center of the universe
• You must become a comet, a moving target
• No one can follow you if you’re standing still
• No one will even notice you

Make sure you are not so full of yourself that you can’t take  in anything new. Allow yourself to grow. People will start to listen to you. Your prestige will rise. The followers, the traffic, and all the numbers that some obsess over will eventually follow suit.

A Leader Doesn’t Care What You Think

Do you find yourself worrying about how others perceive you? Are you often embarrassed or anxious about others judging you? If so, you definitely have some work to do. Your success in life is contingent on your ability to ignore others and focus on “doing you.”

In her post, What People Think of Me is None of My Business, Samsara offers details on why some people tend to worry so much about the opinions of others. She also offers various methods you can apply to avoid this type of thinking.

What does this really have to do with being successful? If you are focused on what others think about you, that small voice of intuition that nudges you toward your goals may be ignored. You will take actions based on what others expect of you rather than what you feel is right. You have just become a follower. Congratulations! I’ll be taking your leadership badge now. Get back in line, please.

A leader leads. They move on, unerringly, toward their goal. They don’t look back to see if anyone is coming with them or to conduct a poll on what to do next. A leader is too busy achieving things and covering new ground to worry about what people think of them.

Do you care what others think?