Skills = Security
St John Craner
?Rural Sales and Marketing Training & Trainer ? Rural Marketing /Agribusiness Agency Owner ? Podcaster ? Author ? Sales Coach & Speaker ? Media Commentator ? Kellogg Scholar
AI, automation and algorithms means your future as a rural sales or marketing professional isn't going to get any less complicated.
Computers will be machine learning, creating the efficiencies and consistencies humans can't.
If you're selling a rural commodity product, computers may soon do that job.?
Auction sites, farmer buyer clubs or Amazon could soon see to that.
Skills are your security if you want to stay relevant and remain remunerated.
So what specific skills are you talking about St John??
These are my suggestions:
Notice the human nature of these skills.
Soft skills will be as important as hard skills (although they'll be a ton of computer/coding jobs to run the robots).
If you can market and sell yourself, you and your family will never go hungry.
If you are highly skilled and continue to train, you are an incredibly valuable asset to any company because you can do the many things others can't.
You'll be the one they keep if times get tough.
Skills give you security -?and?they give you competitive advantage.
No one can take those skills away from you either.
As Benjamin Franklin said;
“If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
You'll have them for a lifetime.
They are yours to keep so long as you keep sharpening your saw.
Those skills get?you outcomes for you and your employer.
They create your professional reputation.
Your track record.
You can then leverage those strengths to negotiate a better deal because of the skills you have.
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But what happens if you don't have those skills?
Well that's when you have to settle for what you're given.
You won't be in a position of power.
You'll rely on others to determine your fate and earnings.
Maybe you'll hop from one job to another as your coping mechanism (for employers this pattern is all too easy to see and sends massive warning signs...).
It's not a place you won't to be in because you're not in control.
You need to be the driver of your career, not the passenger.
You can still start to up-skill now.
It's not too late.
All you have to do is take action.
If you want security and more income, you need more skills.
You?know where to find me when you do ??
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I am on a mission to help rural business owners, managers and reps get the respect and results they deserve.
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