The Two Most Important Skills You Must Know…and One of Them is a Four-Letter Word!

We are approaching our 19th year in business as Elite Force Martial Arts. We opened on June 1st, 2003. Back then I was an eager 26-year-old kid who had a dream of being successful.

Fortunately, I had a mentor that gave me some very good advice. One of the best things he ever encouraged me to do was to commit to personal development. He influenced me to read for 30-minutes per day when I wake up in the morning and to listen to inspiring/instructional audio programs every chance I got.

This advice changed my life! It was back in 2005 that I came across best-selling author, Robert Kyosaki, talk about the two most important skills that you must have. I have to admit that they were much different than I thought they would be.
Kyosaki said that as long as you master these two skills, you will always do well regardless of what industry you are in or what stage the economy was in.

I was all ears! What is the first one?

The first one is having the ability to sell. I’ll bet that is not what you thought he might say, but it is true. The reality is we are all in sales. Parents sell their kids on developing good habits, doing their homework, and being kind to others.
Doctors and people in the fitness industry sell you on taking care of your health and exercising regularly. Your Pastor, Priest, or Rabbi sell you on the idea of living a spiritual life.

I have a mentor who is a 15-time best-selling author. In fact, he wrote the best-selling book on sales of all time, called “The Little Red Book of Selling”. He says that in order to sell effectively, you must be of help to the person you are working with.
That’s right – you can take out the word “sell” and replace it with the word “help”. In order to sell effectively, you must be helping the other person.

Selling is nothing more than influence. You are influencing another person to take an action, or in some cases, not to take a certain action.

In the dojo, we influence kids to be respectful, disciplined, and focused. We sell people on the idea of eating the right foods, training regularly, and giving their best effort. Our intentions are to help them grow to the next level.
Think of some of the most successful people and companies that you can think of. Maybe it is Apple, Starbucks, or Google. They influence you to use their products because they add value to your day and life. They make your day and life better.
Best-selling author and speaker, Dean Graziosi, says this about selling. He said if you love your product or service and it truly helps people, you have a moral obligation to help people get involved in it because it will make their life better, easier, and more enjoyable. If it does not do that, you should not be selling anything because that would be lying and manipulative.
The reality is that everyone is in sales, and if you are truly adding massive value to people’s lives, then you should get out there and influence people into action.

What is the 2nd most important skill? Managing money!

That’s right! Once you get some money, you have to be great at knowing how to look after it.

The public schools do not teach anything on this topic. They don’t teach kids how to balance a checkbook, how to pay themselves first, or make emergency plans if they deal with a financial crisis.

Every year, people spend massive amounts of money on gifts for the holidays. They get excited, and in many cases, exceed their budgets, leaving them with massive amounts of credit card debit.

Instead of entering in the New Year with a renewed excitement for what is possible in the coming year, they enter into the New Year with higher levels of stress, worry, and anxiety because they have too much month at the end of their money.
How much more enjoyable would the holidays be if everyone put a small amount of money aside from each paycheck to pay for holiday gifts?

What would happen if everyone adapted the idea of “pay yourself first” and they had money set aside for unexpected bills, emergencies, and savings for retirement? I’ll bet their stress levels would drop drastically!

Suzie Orman is a best-selling author on money management, and she says that everyone should have an emergency fund set aside of 8 months of expenses in case of an emergency, such as job loss, injury, etc.

Money is certainly not the most important thing in the world, but it is right up there with air. You need it to survive. Why not learn how to manage it to make your life easier and better?!?!

If you want to learn more about these skills, check out Jeffrey Gitomer and Dean Graziosi to learn about how to sell the right way. If you want to learn more about managing money, check out T. Harv Eker and Suzie Orman. I’m not an expert, however, I have learned a lot from their writings and trainings.
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As Jim Rohn says, success is not something you pursue. It is something you attract by becoming an attractive person. Learning, applying, and growing will help you become that person!