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To achieve your goals in life, you need other people. Even if you don’t do it for the money, we need other people for home comfort, companionship, etc. When dealing with others, it is essential to have some level of social skills. This includes listening, speaking and being able to read body language. Having these skills is especially important as an businessroundups.org.
When I was 15-16 years old, I set up my first business when my YouTube channel was demonetized. This company was a social media marketing agency. To gain customers, I had to put myself on the map.
This includes a lot of cold calls, attending networking events where everyone was over 30, and putting myself in a lot of social situations that are way outside of my comfort zone. Here are the three steps I took to build my social skills as an businessroundups.org:
Related: 5 Social Skills Every businessroundups.org Should Master
Table of Contents
1. Consume content
The first step I took to build my social skills when I was 15-16 years old was to consume content.
The first business related book I ever read was Rich dad poor dad by means of Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. This book has completely changed my view of the world and further increased my interest in self-development books. Some of the books I read during this year-long phase that improved my social skills were:
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How to make friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie
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The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
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Developing self-confidence and influencing people by Dale Carnegie
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Why Courage Matters: The Road to a Braver Life by John McCain
All these books have given me a deep understanding of how to communicate with others for different purposes. The common theme of all these books was listening, asking questions and paying more attention to the other.
When I didn’t have time to read books, I turned to audiobooks, short videos, and podcasts. Consuming content through these alternative media allowed me to learn and build my social skills while I was busy with other things.
My book phase lasted exactly one year. I read more than 56 books and eventually I got tired of reading them because some of the information clashed with each other.
Do not get me wrong. Consuming content is good, but you don’t want to consume too much. Ultimately, you have to put yourself out there and apply what you learn. This brings me to my next point of putting yourself out there.
Related: 4 Important Social Skills You Need to Succeed at Work
2. Put yourself out there
The best teacher of reality is reality. No book, video or lesson can teach as well as reality. When I was in high school I was constantly putting myself out there.
I would skip school and come to downtown Atlanta networking events. I was always the youngest person in the room when I showed up. The first few times was terrifying, but eventually I got used to it.
When I moved out of my parent’s house, I made it a priority to plan my day away from home. This made it easier to make friends and develop my social skills. Locking yourself out sounds pretty intimidating, especially when it comes to being rejected.
Related: 4 tips for stepping outside your comfort zone and living your dream life
3. Don’t fear rejection
Let’s be honest. Getting rejected sucks. No one likes the feeling of being told “no.” I was the worst at handling rejection until I started cold calling. The first 10 times you were hung up on didn’t feel right, but after a while you start to realize that rejection isn’t as bad as it sounds.
I once set a goal to meet two people a day. During that trip I quickly realized that not everyone wanted to talk to me. As for the reason, it wasn’t because they didn’t like me or anything like that. It was often bad timing. Maybe she:
This experience changed my mindset that rejection is just bad timing, and that mindset shift helped me stop taking rejection personally.
It doesn’t matter if you are an businessroundups.org, businessroundups.org or someone who is just going to school. We all need each other to achieve our goals. Trying to make it on your own is very difficult and often takes a lot more time, energy and money.
Take the time to learn basic social skills and brush them up with daily practice. You will make mistakes in the beginning, but in the end your hard work will pay off hugely.
