7 Skills Needed to Create Your Own Position

Over the years I have noted the necessary skills needed to create your own position in business. Some can even be considered skills for life as well. I will let you decide which ones work for you in life but all seven are needed in business.

No. 1: Accounting and Bookkeeping

For most people this is a boring subject to learn and others eat it up like candy. Wherever you stand on the issue, accounting and bookkeeping are the two top skills you must have in order to create your own position. Don't fret if you are not a whiz with numbers because there are programs you can get that will help you kepp track of all the numbers step by step as you keep track of your finances and growth. You can also hire an accountant and/or bookkeeper to handle it all for you but I am more partial to knowing how to handle it yourself. How else are you going to control you destiny?

No. 2: Written and Verbal Communication

Superior communication skills are essential in business, specially in today's instant information driven society. The person who can clearly get their information through will win every time. Writing can take time to develop and even professional writers take time to learn better ways to spell out their information. If you are having a tough time with writing do your self a favor and take a course either at a college or online. A well developed writer is a value to any business. The next equally important form of communication is verbal. Being able to present your idea's verbally has sometimes been lost in business today with the advances in social media which means it will take that much more effort to get your point across in a timely and professional manner. Public speaking can be intimidating for most and in my experience even the most seasoned public speakers still get butterflies before a presentation. It's only natural. What you need to do is practice and even join a public speaking club.

No. 3: Marketing and Promotion Techniques

This is not only for you to use as a service to provide but also as a tool to promote yourself. In order to create your own position you have to promote yourself effectively. Attend mixers and business social functions as often as your schedule will permit. This is one thing I am still struggling with to develop in my own business because I am excellent at marketing others but have had a hard time over the years marketing myself. What I have found is that the use of some specific marketing techniques in social media as well as within the organic community can be very simple and effective. General marketing 101 material is the starting point and creativity takes over from there so develop the right side of your brain a bit and be creative with your self promotion as well as with what you offer to the public. In todays information driven world the more creative the better.  

No. 4: Social Media Management/SEO

You will be missing out on more than you can possibly imagine if you discount the power of social media. It may not be necessary to sign up for every social site on the web but the ability to promote you and your abilities at the least cost possible is the best bet in ant book. My top choices are LinkedIn and Facebook to mingle with people and introduce yourself without ever leaving your home. Saves a ton on gas. This is not to say you should not mingle in public. As I said before, you should always attend functions in the organic community in order to work on your self promotion. It also helps with your public speaking.

No. 5: Goal Setting and Time Management

Zig Ziglar has one of the best takes on goals. I recommend his teachings on witting your objectives down, setting a deadline, identify the obstacles, identify the people and organizations you need to work with,  make a plan of action, spell out what you need to know, and write down what is in it for yourself. It is a proven method to success. Of course your attitude must match your intention to accomplish the goal or there is no reason to even set the goal in the first place. So, always have a positive attitude about the outcome throughout the whole process. Some goals are harder to attain than others and you must realize that ahead of time. There are courses and seminars on this topic as well.

No. 6: Leadership and Customer Service

In order to be an effective leader you must be an effective listener. The same is true in customer service and I don't mean as in a waiter at a restaurant, although that is a noble profession I was never good at. Customer service is in every job and in every company. A customer is anyone you engage with that you do something for. Most of the time money is exchanged but other customers can be your office manager, or the payroll clerk that needs you to fill out your time card correctly. The way in which you communicate with all of your daily customers will help develop how well you are as a leader. There is a great seminar called "The Internal Customer" that covers customer service in great detail.

No. 7: Experience and Sound Judgement

This is the hardest skill to measure and teach because it is a scale only you can control. What you learn from your decisions will dictate both the value of your experience as well as how good your judgement is. Be sure to always remain a student in life and do not be afraid to not know the answer. Part of learning sound judgement is the ability to know when you need to learn something in order to succeed. Experience is taking all that you have learned and putting into action.

I will go over all of these seven skills in more detail, as well as share my stories of success and failure with creating my own position, in my book "KungFu Marketing". Continue to check back daily for more information about creating your own position and I will share more details that will help you as we dive into 2011.

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