4 Essential Skills for Every Entrepreneur

 

Hey, everybody, welcome to our weekly broadcast of Business, Money, and Christianity. We’re—pause, restart—hey, everybody, welcome to our weekly podcast, excuse me, Business, Money, and Christianity. We’re a financial podcast that looks at everything from a Christian faith perspective.

Today we’re going to be talking about the attributes that help us become more successful. So often when we go into business, we design things based on what we want, rather than on what the consumer wants. And this affects every area of business—whether you’re in sales, retail, or any other field where you’re trying to meet someone’s needs.

I was listening to someone talk about their business the other day, and they had a potential client. But everything they said to that client was negative: “Yeah, I don’t do that,” “No, I don’t offer that,” and so on. Instead of solving the customer’s problem, they prioritized what they preferred to do. And because of that, they weren’t going to make the sale.

I wrote down four critical things we must develop in business if we want to be successful.

Number one: Effective communication.

There’s a reality in the world today: people often cannot truly hear. I’m not talking about sound waves reaching their eardrums—I mean that they struggle to understand what’s being communicated.

Just today, as I’m recording this, I was in a business conversation. Someone was given a piece of paper, and I explained precisely how to fill it out. It came back wrong. I asked why it was filled out that way, and the answer was, “Well, I didn’t think it went there, but I figured I’d try.” I said, “But I told you exactly what goes there.” Still, they decided otherwise.

There were three lines for a three-part number, and the person inserted the same number multiple times. I explained: “If you put the total on one line, leave the others blank; if you want to break it down, then put the breakdown across the three lines. But you can’t duplicate it.” It came back again incorrect.

The point is this: even when we think we’re being clear, it may only be clear in our own minds. In someone else’s mind, it may be confusing—or even delusional. So we have to verify comprehension.

How do we do that?

By asking questions:

“Explain to me what we’re going to do.”

“Do you understand what I said?”

“Do you have any questions?”

“So you understand that this and this will happen—correct?”

I’ve heard people say, “Nobody told me,” even when the instruction was plainly written right in front of them. People often don’t read. I’m guilty too—I’ve responded to texts after reading only the first line, then realized later it was a two-part question.

Effective communication is declining. Can people understand it? Can they decipher it? And can they carry it out? This is the number-one thing we must accomplish.

Number two: Critical thinking.

Many people today lack the ability to think through a process. In the United States—we are the most marketed-to society on earth—the messaging constantly targets how we feel. As a result, many people make decisions based purely on emotion, and emotional decisions are temporary.

There is also a growing difference between short-term and long-term thinkers. A long-term thinker takes today’s problem, thinks critically about a solution, and then considers how it will affect the future. A short-term thinker just wants the immediate discomfort removed and often trades one problem for another.

So as business owners, we face the challenge of managing people who may not think long-term or critically. Business requires communication, strategy, and foresight. If someone lacks these abilities, we must recalibrate—ask guiding questions:

“What will you do if they say no?”

“What will you do if this scenario happens?”

Earlier today, I was booking hotel reservations for an international trip. In the U.S., we have something called “park and stay”—you stay one night, then leave your vehicle parked for a small charge while you travel.

I checked a booking website, then called the hotel directly to see if I could get a better deal. Their price was higher, so I said it was outside my budget. The representative asked whether I’d let him check other nearby properties. I told him my budget. He went to work.

He came back a few minutes later with a price still slightly above my budget—but much better than the original one—and it was a better hotel, closer to the airport. So I took it.

He demonstrated critical thinking:

“You want to walk away? Let me try again and solve your problem.”

That’s the kind of thinking needed to make sales happen.

If someone lacks critical-thinking skills, we must ask questions that guide them into it.

Number three: The power of silence.

My wife and I talk about this often—she doesn’t naturally have it. Silence is powerful.

Have you ever been in a moment where you ask a question or someone makes a statement, and just remaining quiet becomes the strongest move you can make?

I once had a conversation where a person was trying to set me up. They kept talking, presenting their assumptions about me, and I simply stayed silent. After 10 or 15 seconds, they couldn’t handle the silence and began talking again. We passed right through the trap without addressing it.

You don’t have to fill every silence. In direct sales they used to say, “He who speaks first, loses.” You make an offer, then you go quiet. Most people cannot handle that silence—they will speak, and you maintain control.

Number four: Confidence.

Many people lack confidence in what they’re doing. And in business, lack of confidence shows up in two ways: either you discount your price, or the customer loses trust in your expertise.

I was listening to a business podcast recently. The host was a business coach with a large operation. I charge $350 an hour for coaching. He charges $4,000 an hour. That’s a massive gap.

It made me evaluate my own confidence. Could I confidently charge $4,000 an hour? No, I couldn’t. Not because my work isn’t valuable, but because I don’t believe that specific price is fair for the service I provide.

But what about $500? $600?

I have a client who has been with me four years. Every year her business has doubled. She earned an extra $150,000 one year. She paid $1,000 for ten sessions. Was that worth it? Absolutely. I could have charged more, and it still would have been worth it.

So now I must evaluate: do I believe in the value I bring? Confidence determines pricing. Without confidence, we drop our price the moment the customer hesitates.

The man who booked my stay-and-park didn’t drop the price. He solved the problem by finding a different facility. That’s confidence.

Finally: teamwork.

Many people believe, “No one can do it as well as I can.” That may actually be true—but you still only have 24 hours in a day. The only way to expand what you can accomplish is to expand your time, and the only way to expand your time is through other people.

Teamwork is essential. And with a team comes the need to delegate.

People struggle with delegation. Ronald Reagan famously said, “Trust, but verify.” Build a team you can trust, but verify that everything is being done correctly. Sometimes a team member hits an obstacle and makes the wrong alternative decision. Effective communication, again, becomes essential.

All of these elements—communication, critical thinking, silence, confidence, teamwork—are personal skills. They can all be learned. They can all be practiced. And they can all be integrated into your life.

Thank you again for joining us on Business, Money, and Christianity, a financial podcast from a faith perspective. Come back next week. Leave a comment, ask a question, like, subscribe—whatever your platform allows. We appreciate being able to give you tidbits to make life work better.

I’ll see you again next week.