file:///C:/Users/User/AppData/Roaming/PhotoScape/anigif.html

Building on Your Weaknesses

Kamis, 10 Desember 2009 , Posted by JASTIKA at 22.17

Knowing your strengths is one thing, but knowing your weaknesses can be just as important. Everyone is good at something and it is easy to expand in those areas. And the things that you are good at seem to dictate what business you will go into. But alongside of all the strengths you may possess, you are certain to have weaknesses as well. Understanding and learning what you are not so good at can be vital in determining your overall business success.

If you are like most of us, you are probably weakest at the things you do not enjoy doing. You likely tend to focus on your interests and expand in those areas. This causes your weaknesses to get even weaker because those areas get neglected.

As an example let’s say that you have a business involving construction and your weak area revolves around completing paperwork and bookkeeping. Your forte seems more focused on the ‘doing’ end of your business, so you tend to let that uninteresting other part slide. Of course, this can be a big mistake in that you can lose a lot of money and production by not keeping up with the necessary paperwork. Suppose there are accounts from customers that are due and you are not aware of it. Maybe there are bills that you need to pay that are past due. Perhaps you may be missing appointments because they are not properly recorded. All of these can lead to the eventual destruction of your business.

Of course, that is only one example and you may have different problem areas. You may lack certain technical skills that may help you improve your business’ services. You may lack people skills that would allow you to attract more customers. You may not be computer savvy which could allow your business to grow and expand over the internet. There are many other areas where you may need to improve (and this is not taking away from the areas where you are probably an expert).

The first thing you need to do is to acknowledge that these weaknesses occur. Once you get past this hurdle, you can begin to work on the problem areas.

If you really do not want to correct your weaknesses yourself, you can explore other ideas to get around those weak areas. You may be able to hire someone to fill in the gaps. You could hire a bookkeeper, for instance, to take over that chore (if that is your weakness) or hire a ‘techie’ to help you gain computer knowledge or set up a website for you. Using experts to help you can overcome many obstacles.

You can also self-teach yourself in areas where you may need help. There are many self-help books to help you. Or possibly you can take courses, classes or attend seminars to help you get better in your weaker areas.

You may even want to hire a consulting professional who may be able to offer you advice on how you can improve in your weak areas. Sometimes they may be able to direct you towards a simpler solution in your problem area. With an easier way to do the chore in your weak area, you may be able to save time or it may not seem like such a daunting task after all.

Whatever you do, it is never a good idea to ignore the task you are weakest in. This could lead to problems in the efficient running of your business. Not only would the task be neglected, but you could lose money which could lead to the eventual downfall of your business. And, without your business running smoothly, you also may lose incentive and excitement for your business which again could lead to its demise. It is a good idea to try to focus more on your weaknesses and find ways to improve in those areas.