Upskill Thyself!
Learning new skills is one of the best - and smartest - things you can do to not only make yourself more marketable, but also keep yourself sharp. I always make sure that I offer my employees the chance to learn new skills – take classes, try new software, experiment with new time management tools. So, what stops us from doing new things? Fear? Laziness? Apathy?
I started working on a new project a few years ago with some women who taught me a lot about an audience-first approach to launching new projects. Of course, I’ve always considered the target audience, developed personas, used data to make assumptions, but it was the first time I started to consider ecosystems, use business canvases, and employ a minimal viable product model when building something new. It was a revelation. And at the same time, it was daunting.
Learning new skills on the job can be tricky and confronting. And that’s why people often don’t pursue new skills because it’s intimidating.
With the ladies, I often found myself feeling insecure, working hard to keep up. It added a lot of hours to my day, and I wasn’t loving the experience, if I’m honest. But I knew something good could come from it, so I stuck in there. I’m so glad I did because I was able to apply so much of what I learned to a new business venture. It’s helped me see the value of not building an entire product before I can test if anyone would even be interested. It’s emboldened me to consider how to create scale through a DAO – decentralized autonomous organization.