How to Level up in Business and Life
5 Practical Lessons to Improve You and your craft
I used to struggle with balancing the demands of running a business and living a fulfilling life. There was so much I didn’t know, but I’ve always had this drive to figure it out.
My business journey was anything but straightforward. At times, I spent too much time theorizing, too much time chasing trends, and platform hopping to figure out where potential clients were the most engaged on.
Early in my journey, I obsessed over what I lacked in business instead of working to build a business around my strengths. I thought the only way I could be successful as a writer was to become a salesman. I couldn’t fathom a way to succeed beyond just learning the skills.
Looking back, it wasn’t until recently I realized how my previous jobs helped me better understand what really matters in business. Five skills that helped me to better service clients included working in sales, social media marketing, project management, volunteering, and staying tech curious.
Failing At Sales
One of my first jobs out of college was working in sales. I wasn’t naturally gifted at the art of sales. I struggled.
I didn’t fear calling people.
I feared the unknown.
What if they don’t respond?
What if they…
My mind began to wander. A part of me was terrified by how badly I could mess this job up. I worked with a small team and I had no clue what I was doing. In that moment I had to remind myself of the lessons my mentors taught me.
“Look for opportunities in the problems around you.”
While I kept failing my way through sales each day I’d eventually learn how to solve customers problems by listening. As I noticed social media started to become more popular at work I dedicated my time to learning how to use social media to eventually generate more sales off of web traffic.
I found out early that I was no good at sales, but I was determined to keep going.
Brand Building thru Social Media
When I finally got into the world of social media I used to hear constantly how you had to build a brand, whether you worked for a well-known agency or you managed a series of accounts for celebrities. I knew nothing about digital marketing, how technology could be used to build trust among customers, or how these platforms could be used to shape our relationships with one another.
Some of my most valuable lessons came from failing.
Before we had scheduling tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, and others I had to spend hours of my day coming up with original content. Eventually, as more companies started noticing the value of being able to talk directly to consumers instead of relying on traditional channels, I started to see how online writers were changing their strategies as well.
When I was younger, writers just had to work a traditional job and maybe author a few books on the side, and if you were good enough, you’d get access to more opportunities. When social media appeared, the playing field changed, and more opportunities were now available to regular people who didn’t have built-in audiences to promote a book, film, or an obscure project.
Eventually, all those late nights of studying different platforms, trying to understand what content works and why something started to change. My mindset slowly began to go from “I’ll never figure this thing out” to “Why did this work?”.
While working on a side project, I started learning new skills. For a moment I felt like I achieved a win I could only dream of. This feeling lasted briefly. Within a few months of work the opportunity that once felt like a dream come true turned into a waking nightmare.
My workload started to increase, I faced communication breakdowns, my goals started to stagger, and my technology failed me. I’d spend my days and nights trying to figure out any trend I could use for my current strategy. Nothing I tried worked. I gave my everything to this project, and it cost me everything.
I’ll never forget what it felt like to be let go.
I felt so sudden.
I took a day or two to collect my thoughts.
While I was mentally recovering I had to put my energy into something else. I couldn’t stay stuck. I asked around if anyone needed help with any projects, and I got a chance to help a friend with their project.
Adventures in Time Management and Client Relationships
During this time of boredom, I learned how to talk to customers, how to do pricing, and how to add value without having to use unethical sales tactics.
One lesson kept ringing true: honesty
Some days were better than others.
We spent our days servicing clients, doing website maintenance, launching e-commerce projects, and even doing event promotions. Our nights were spent figuring out how viable “content creation” would be for the business.
Some nights I’d wonder:
What’s the next pathway?
Is content creation real?
How big is the creator economy?
Those were just a few of the questions I found myself asking as I kept learning.
Volunteering
Over the years, I had the opportunity to learn from a variety of different teachers some were practicing professionals who went on to become published authors, while others were others were embarking on new chapters fueled by their creativity. It dawned on me one day that if I could just help one person avoid some of the mistakes, then hopefully, they could help someone else.
Those mentors showed me better ways to write, edit, and communicate. One thing I wanted to do after I learned how to improve my craft was to help others who aspired to either write or build something new.
I was working two jobs at the time so I couldn’t volunteer my time at a high school or go to a community college to teach someone else how to build a website in under an hour or how to host a Zoom webinar for your local organization. I started looking for local events and started creating content to help others get started on their self-improvement journey.
Staying Tech Curious
Each day, we’re surrounded by so much information that it’s almost mind numbing. I found out the hard way that I couldn’t stay on top of every tech trend, help clients solve their problems, and reskill without a strategy. I used to spend my nights and weekends trying to learn new ways to build coding projects on a few hours of sleep because I knew nothing about coding libraries and I thought I had to do everything alone.
I used to believe the hype around being the smartest in the room to prove you were indispensable in a company. It wasn’t until I started talking to actual business owners that I started to see that just because a tool or product is well advertised, it doesn't mean that it is the ideal tool for them.
First, don’t let the gurus, trends, or hype mislead you on your journey. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the options available to you, but try and have fun.
It was having multiple conversations with people smarter than myself that I realized the joy in being a novice. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to find new ways to not just learn but new ways to unlearn what I learned.
If you found any of these tips helpful, please share this newsletter with a friend.