If you look the word ‘savvy’ up in the dictionary, you will probably find a definition along the lines of ‘good at judgments; pertaining to a shrewd and practical knowledge.’ As you can see, being savvy is something that you can’t really learn at school. People usually have it, or they don’t. And that is especially the case when it comes to business savvy.
Business savviness is what all employers look for when they start recruiting new staff. But it isn’t only company employees who need to have this high acumen for business. It is even more sought after in entrepreneurs and company owners. If you can’t think in a business savvy way, you will find that business decisions are easier to make, and you will be able to successfully adapt to almost any situation that gets thrown at you as an entrepreneur.
Unfortunately, as I’ve previously mentioned, not everyone is blessed with a natural business savviness. So, what can be done if you need to improve in this area? Well, thankfully, there are a few different ways you can improve and work on your business savvy. Here are some ways to get sassy with business and improve your business savvy!
Always educate yourself
It is very important that you continue to learn and educate yourself. Just because you run your own business and are at the very top of the hierarchy doesn’t mean you can just give up because you are top of the mile. This is what most business owners think and simply concentrate on steering their business in the right direction. Sure, that is important, but it is also crucial that you continue to read up on different business theories and take various courses, such as a good copywriting course. That way, you will be able to take on any task and responsibility, no matter how big or small. And no matter what part of your business it is related to. It is important that the boss of any company can do the job of any of their employees. By doing so, you are not only showing good business acumen and leadership skills, but you will also find that you gain the respect of all of your employees.
Be positive
Developing a positive mental habit is very important for any entrepreneur as it will help you deal with whatever situations you may be faced with, no matter how problematic they may appear to be. You will also find that a positive mindset can help you build momentum for your business, especially if it is a startup. That’s because you will find it a lot easier to move forward with your various ideas if you are sure that it will succeed. If you aren’t 100% convinced and positive about your business idea, you may find that you struggle to sell it to any potential clients!
Work with your fear
We all get scared at times. Even the most confident entrepreneur who has had endless success will feel very scared at some point throughout the life of their company. But you shouldn’t be scared of being scared! In fact, there are plenty of ways you can utilize this fear for good and success in your company. And that’s because fear can be a great fuel. If you are able to manage it correctly, you will find that fear can drive your motivation and help you achieve all your professional goals. And by managing fear, I just mean that you shouldn’t let it stress you out, as this can cause you to panic and make some pretty rash decisions! So, harness your anxieties and make sure that they work to your advantage!
Let your clients teach you a thing or two
If there is one thing that is a dead certain, it is that your clients will know their own business inside out. They will also know a whole lot about doing business and striking deals in general. And they can teach you a lot of what they know. Most businesses are happy to share details with their suppliers and clients – just as long as their competitors don’t hear a word of it! It’s a great idea for companies to share ideas about aspects of their operations, and it can often lead to some collaboration. Whether you want to share operational strategies or marketing tips, you will find that being open about the workings or your company can help you stay afloat and help each other achieve a lot more success in the future!
Keep a note of everything that you learn
It is ever so easy for all the information that you learn to go in one ear and straight out the other! It is super important that this doesn’t happen with any of the knowledge or skills that you pick up. So be sure to make a note of everything that you learn. Whenever you acquire any new business acumen, write down the ideas and concepts that you have learned. You might even want to transfer all of your notes into a slideshow so that you can create a presentation with which you can pass on all your new knowledge to your employees.
Think about a formal education
Of course, you could consider going back to school and getting a formal education. There will be a few considerations to consider before you decide on this option, though. It can be a very expensive way of developing your business savvy, so it’s a good idea to work out whether your company can afford this extra expense before you commit to it. However, there are a lot of advantages that do go along with a formal education. For instance, you will learn a lot over a very short period of time. It will be a lot quicker than teaching yourself. Not only that, though, but you will be getting schooled by some of the best experts out there!
Embrace mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes, no matter how high up they may be in a company. So you expect to make a fair few of your own, no matter how educated and business savvy you may think you are. But there is one great benefit of making mistakes. And that is that it can help you improve your business acumen even more. That’s because each mistake and failure gives you the chance to learn and follow a great learning curve. So rather than playing it incredibly safe as an entrepreneur, you should embrace risks and experiment a little. Not all your risks will pay off, but at least you can use each mistake as a useful learning tool to help you work on your business acumen and get even more business savvy!
Always be objective
As a company owner and entrepreneur, you are going to be very biased towards your own ideas, and will likely think that they are the best options for your very own business. However, this is a very subjective way of thinking. It is much more beneficial for entrepreneurs to be objective as often as possible. This will help you view big business decisions with as much neutrality as possible. It is always important that you don’t let your heart get in the way of your head when making crucial business decisions. So try to be as objective as often as possible when it comes to your own business so that you can act with as much business acumen as you can muster!
Outsource rather than multitask
Many entrepreneurs and company owners tend to multitask whenever they have very busy periods of work. This is especially the case for those who are in charge of startups. Very new startups won’t have a high number of employees working for them at first, so the boss will have to carry out a lot of various tasks that wouldn’t normally fall into his or her scope. However, there is one very obvious downside to doing all this multitasking. And that is that the quality of each job might not be quite so high as if it had one person solely focusing on it. For this reason, many entrepreneurs decide to outsource all the various tasks that they need to carry out. One of the great advantages of outsourcing is that it gives you the chance to improve your project management skills, as you will need to stay on top of all the various freelancers who you hire. And as these skills improve, so too will your business savviness! Not only that, though, but it also gives you a chance to get on with all the jobs you should have focused on in the first place!
All entrepreneurs and business owners need to be extremely business savvy and have plenty of knowledge and skills under their belt. So, as you can see, it is extremely worthwhile to take your time to build on yours. You never know where furthering your business savvy may take you! Hopefully, it’ll lead to many more success stories!
