This 1 skill can take your business to next level!

I used to think about doing business all the time. I don’t remember how did this thought come to me, but the last thing I remember is that I always wanted to be a businessman.

So when the first opportunity knocked, I grabbed it immediately.

I was only 20 when I started my first real business ( I had been doing some stuff here and there before, but this was the first full fledged business). It was a small fabrication unit, or an export unit you can say. I had borrowed some money from my mother and had setup 10 industrial sewing machines. I kept a some workers, and we were ready to roll.

I had no idea about the business and the skills required to run the show, and only thing I knew was that we got to provide a product or a service and we shall be paid for that. I have to get more than I paid out to the workers and whatever that is left, will be my earnings.

I went to bigger export houses and started taking orders. Most of the people were really helpful and the orders started pouring. Everything was going good, I got bigger orders than I could handle, I got advance payments so the money was not a challenge. So what was it that I was anxious about? Why did I not succeed? What was I lacking which was affecting my business?

Yes, this is that 1 skill that can change the face of your business.

The one thing that was missing in me was People Management skills. I failed miserably at managing my team. I had high expectations from them without even realizing that they might not be the right people for that. I failed to realize the simple rule of demand and supply. I thought, my team will never go away and I was so wrong. People started leaving me earlier than I could even imagine, and my reputation followed me everywhere. I was unable to hire new people in time as well and thus, I learnt my lessons the hard way.

By the end of the year, I had already burnt my fingers and my money. The orders were not getting completed and I had no option than to return the orders. I winded up the business in less than a year and all my dreams and hopes came crashing down. The business was over, but the lessons remain. I knew that there’s more to business than just the idea and execution. I knew that there’s more to business than just monetary transactions.

So what went wrong? Here’s my list

1. Never underestimate the power of demand and supply — I always thought that these workers need me and not vice versa. I never realize that there’s competition in the market or some other company might poach my workers away. And when I realized this, it was already too late. Most of my workers were taken away be competition units, or other factories.
2. Praise in public and criticize in secret — This age-old rule has always been valid, however, we always forget it. I also did the same thing, I forgot to follow this rule. I used to shout badly at my workers and never appreciated their work. Your team might forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
3. Processes and Metrics keep the teams together — Always make sure that you build processes for the people to follow. In the absence of proper processes and metrics, the workers will not know if their performance is being tracked or not? Building right processes and metrics will help both the workers and companies. I failed badly at this too.
4. There are things which are bigger than money — I always thought that as long as I am paying them money on time, there should be not a problem. This might be true in some aspects, but when it came to my company, it backfired badly. They also wanted intangible things, like praise, respect, understanding and other social recognition which I failed to provide them for.

So remember this, the biggest skill that you need today to succeed in any kind of business or any kind of role is People Management. This is because, anything you do in life, you are managing people.

This blog is a part of #100dayschallenge and was originally posted on my blog here