My friend Kelly Curia-Schmidt is an incredibly successful businesswoman who now works with a range of companies to help them achieve their goals. I found this incredible that she was able to help so many businesses across a range of industries and still be effective in what she does, and so I asked her how she was able to do this. The answer is having a core skillset of fundamental business principles which can be applied to any type of business anywhere in the world and within any type of sector or industry, and these are what it consists of.
Processing Information
The way in which customers operate is the same all over the world, the only differences are the specifics of the industry which you are working in, especially in terms of customer trends and and the products which the company sells. With this being said however it is the ability to find and process the information required for each business which enables people to be able to work in any environment. Kelly for example can take some data, spend a day reading up, and just like that she understands the market and the customers in it, this is business acumen at work.
Managing People
Good business leaders understand how to put together a team and how to manage them to achieve results, regardless of what industry this is in. People don’t change much from country to country, business to business and this is why those who are capable of management are so effective no matter where they go. This is a skill which you never lose and which works no matter who you are leading.
Finances
One skill which so many who go into business lack is the ability to see everything in dollars and cents, be it sales or spends. All of the very best business minds are able to see their business in this light and no matter what industry the company operates in, money is everything. This is where no business in the world differs from the next, they are all in business to grow, to sell and to make money, the essence of business. Those who are built this way can apply this logic no matter what industry they are working in, another core principle of business which is transferable.
Marketing
All of the very best business owners understand the importance of marketing their business, and how best to go about it to see the strongest results. This again makes no difference whether it is in the construction industry or the retail sector, businesses must find ways to tell the world about who they are and what they do. This is not to say that business leaders understand exactly how to market to customers, but they do understand the need to do it and how best to approach it.
If you have these 4 principles of business then you can turn your hand to just about any company on the planet.
