When I decided to jump into the never-ending sea of business, the first ever skill I had to practice was the skill of persuasion. Every single move of life involves convincing and as a growing business man you need to be highly trained on the skills of persuasion.
Back then, I strongly believed I could do wonders in business and make good money, I thought business was way too easy – it gives a person freedom, money and luxury. I should say I trusted myself very much; if you had ever seen “The Wolf Of Wall Street”, I felt the way Leonardo DiCaprio felt on his first day in Wall Street as a stock broker. I was just a teen overexcited with the thought of making money through business and becoming a millionaire but truly I didn’t have a clue on how.
What a shame! I was not even able to convince my family – no one, not even my Mom stood by my side. That was the day when I realized the importance of the art of persuasion.
All the great leaders, historians and millionaires were great persuaders – they were just too sure on how to convince others to work for their ideas and their dreams. From Mahatma Gandhi to Abraham Lincoln great personalities always knew how to persuade others to their ideas and only because of that they succeeded greatly.
Now was my turn, I remember that day when I went to my Mom and started persuading her. I said, “I’m sorry. I know am not making you happy, I know you have started to think that am not respecting you any more, I know am going to leave your expectations unattended but I want to work on my own Mom, I need your support. I’m sorry, my goals are big and they are stubborn making me sleepless” I said holding her hands and looking into her eyes.
I wanted her to accept my choice, so she did. In business, family always comes first, keep this is mind, the first person on earth you need to persuade is always one of your family member. If you ignore them or never try persuading them your business life becomes hell because they are ones doing the real sacrifice, it’s not you. All those late nights and early mornings may pay you… but certainly business doesn’t work with the support of your loved ones.
If I had failed to persuade on that day; the strength and courage that I needed to move forward would have become less. It’s that inner thought that insists you to do justice to the loved one who had always stood by your side and supported you – That alone can always helped any business man sustain and strive. So, persuade your loved ones, say that you are sorry and they will support you to achieve your business goals.
The picture of persuasion is wide and large it almost happens everywhere in every moment of your life. Understand this, when you are attending an interview, when you stand before the crowd giving a speech or even when you want your father to agree with your idea of college education – You Are Selling; you need to mentally prepare yourself for this challenge. The convincing skill takes years of experience to expertise, it’s truly not a one day show; but you know what you can train yourself for it.
As business owners, you are the vision creators of the organisation and it’s your sole responsibility to convince all your employees to accept your visions and goals as theirs. Just because you started business and you have a product or a service to the market doesn’t mean customers will buy it from you; you got to convince them to buy.
As the FUTURE CEO your third most important step is to be prepared for persuading. Like I said before, Understand Your Purpose, Know Your Standing Power and Work On Your Persuasion Skills. Your life will take you on a long wild journey where at the end you will get the fruit of success.
Good Luck!
Nithya Prasanth
FUTURE CEO 