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Success Advice

5 Steps To Becoming An Influential Person

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Charismatic individuals who have mastered the art of influencing others not only find the road smoother for their daily conquests, but they can easily convince others to collaborate and communicate more openly. Without influence, you cannot be a good leader, yet few people pay much attention to this valuable skill.

If you want to grease the wheels for your next business venture, now is the time to start cultivating a wider influence with others around you, whether they’re your colleagues, business associates, employees, or customers.

Here are five simple steps to help you start gaining traction with them:

1. Project confidence

Self-assurance and confidence put other people at ease. There is nothing worse than hearing someone stumble over his or her words or try to shake your hand with a weak, sweaty, palm. To project confidence, practice assertive body language and posture, either alone or with someone.

In the book Silent Messages, the studies conducted showed that 55% of all communication is nonverbal. Only 7% of messages were relayed through the actual spoken words. When you’re engaged in a conversation, make sure to convey confidence by speaking clearly, smiling when appropriate, and keeping eye contact. Another technique that will add to your boost of confidence is keeping a positive mental attitude.

It will charge you with positive energy others will respond to. If you have a hard time practicing these tactics, try imagining a successful, confident persona and play that part. It takes a lot of practice and devotion, but as you persist, it becomes second nature.

“Confidence comes from discipline and training.” – Robert Kiyosaki

2. Really listen

It’s always pleasant to be the center of someone else’s attention. So the next time you speak to someone, really pay attention to what they’re saying and stay present as they’re engaged in their story. Don’t just wait for your turn to speak or drift off trying to come up with an appropriate remark. Ask questions if you need clarification on the message.

You can even rephrase their message and repeat it to them to show that you have indeed listened and are interested in what they have to say and to make sure you understand correctly. Besides paying attention to the verbal message, follow the nonverbal cues as well. If you mirror the stance of someone talking to you, it will convey rapport. This increases the perception that the speaker is being heard.

 

3. Show respect

Respect tends to be a mutual exercise. If you disrespect someone, they are likely to scorn you. However, if you show respect, they will feel safe and trust you more. To show respect, it’s important to understand the social customs of the group or an individual.

For instance, if you go to Japan on business, you must learn intricate social cues and perform them well, like bowing to gain respect. However, for business done in America, you can simply show respect by remembering the names and details of the people around you. If they’ve achieved something, make note of it and congratulate them sincerely.

Ask them for advice when appropriate and this will ingratiate you to them as someone who values their opinion. They may also take your opinions more seriously since you had the good taste to acknowledge their value.

 

4. Take the initiative

It’s easy to sit back and blend in with the crowd, safely getting by in your comfort zone. However, successful leaders blaze their own path, they are proactive and aren’t afraid to take the initiative. You may need to work on developing self-confidence if you find it hard to take the initiative. In that case, follow some of the hints elucidated in the first step.

Once you get the hang of this, you will be able to express opinions, ask questions, and make decisions even when they may not seem likely to be accepted readily. If you learn the art of influencing others, those ideas will still be considered seriously. Nothing will be thought of as trivial.

 

5. Stay informed

Nothing degrades influence more than being seen as ill-informed. It pays to read the news and stay on top of current events, in particular if you want to be considered an expert or an authority figure. By being informed, you’ll not only be able to conduct an intelligent and meaningful conversation with your peers, but you’ll be able to form your opinion on matters and stand your ground, even if others don’t agree with you.

Make it a daily habit to catch up on the news and current events. If you don’t know the answer to something, you can always say you will give an answer once you’ve thoroughly researched the matter.

“I think we risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of ignorance.” – Ruben Blades

Practicing these five steps will help you establish credibility, which in turn leads to a myriad of opportunities to influence people around you. You gain their respect, as well as their willingness to collaborate with you, regardless of the circumstances. Work on your skills until they become second nature and watch your influence grow naturally. It will do wonders for both your personal and professional life.

Which step are you going to practice to become an influential leader? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

Lisa Michaels is a freelance writer, editor and a striving content marketing consultant from Portland. Being self-employed, she does her best to stay on top of the current trends in the business world. She spends her free time trying out new recipes or reading Scandinavian crime novels. Feel free to reach her @LisaBMichaels

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Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

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altering business approach
Image Credit: Midjourney

Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

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Success Advice

Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success

These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds

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Creating legal boundaries
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The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)

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Motivation

From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone

By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality

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How to be motivated
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Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)

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Success Advice

10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind

The World Economic Forum still reports that half of U.S. adults lack financial literacy

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micro financial habits
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You’ve heard about developing financial habits, but what about micro-financial habits? Micro habits are the tiny things you can do every day with minimal effort that, together, transform your future. (more…)

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