Alessia Citro 0:02
Welcome to the corporate dropout podcast. I'm your host Alessia Citro. If you're sick of the corporate hamster wheel and looking to feel inspired and empowered to live a high vibe life as your own boss, you're in the right place dare to drop out in 321. Before we start the show, I want to tell you about the business I'm launching. Starting a business can be hard work, but it doesn't need to be confusing too. And that is why I founded Theia collective a learning community for entrepreneurs. Learn from experts across law, finance, tax operations, marketing, sales and more and get the blueprint on how to set up and run your own business. Text biz, that's BIZ to 949-577-8709, or head to Theia dash collective.com to learn more.

Alessia Citro 0:51
Hello friends. So I am back today with Jasmine Suazo. If you did not listen to yesterday's interview, make sure to go do that it is one you will not want to miss. And Jasmine is a business owner, a business coach and a podcast host leading savvy career women as they transition from employee to entrepreneur and ultimately fire their boss, she is pioneering the great resignation by creating a community where high performing women can confront their fears, find their purpose and implement actionable steps to achieve their goals. And her podcast girl fire your boss is a perfect blend of Forbes meets Happy Hour meets Essence magazine. So today, Jasmine is back with us to teach us the four soft skills that you need to build a business. So with that, Jasmine, thank you for being back on.

Jasmine Suazo 1:36
Awesome. My pleasure. My pleasure. So I'm so happy to share with you guys these four skills because I think sometimes we place too much of an emphasis on skills that are related to perform a certain job or a function, right. So I want to talk about skills that are transferable in any industry and honestly skills that can set you apart and help propel your success, especially as an entrepreneur. So the very first one is time management skills. Okay, time management is the ability to use your time productively and efficiently. But learning how to prioritize what needs to get done. And also what can be delegated or postpone for a later day is really critical to the growth of any business. For me, I live by my calendar. If it's not on my calendar, I can do it. Okay, literally, I have like gym time on my calendar, I have lunch on my calendar, I have administrative hour on my calendar, right like there, there's no such thing as an wasted hour for an entrepreneur. And so learning how to maximize the productivity of every single hours how you can start to compress time and reach your income goals faster. Number two problem solving skills. Yes, this is a soft skill. And let me tell you, that pays you a lot, a lot of money. If you listen to yesterday's episode, I talked about the how this is where my how people, my structured people, this is where we shine, problem solving skills help you determine why an issue is happening, and how to resolve that issue. Can I repeat again how much money people pay for that skill. And it's a soft skill. Like sometimes people don't articulate well enough on a resume, how good of a problem solver they are. Here's the problem identified, here's the system or process I put in place to solve it. And maybe you can even codify that system that's when you really get get into making money right and sell it trademark copyrighted, etc. So you can begin with again, identifying the issue coming up with solutions, implementing those solutions, and then evaluating their effectiveness. And so just because the way that you solve the problem and 2021 it may not be the way that you can solve that exact same problem in 2022. So be flexible, and just, you know, be open to adapting and change it with time. But yes, problem solving is a huge skill that people pay a lot for number three sales and marketing skills. sales skills are needed guys for everything, okay, let's just be honest, if you are an entrepreneur,

Jasmine Suazo 4:15
you need to learn how to sell. I don't know like that is probably the most important skill, I think, that any entrepreneur can have. And it is a soft skill, right? Because it's not one of those hard skills that it can while it can be tied to you meeting metrics or numbers, right quantifiable but selling is one of those things that requires a different level of personality, persuasiveness, vision, clarity, you have to sell to get financing and inspire and motivate your team, collaborating with others, you know, and attracting customers. And here's the secret and maybe this is why I have it as a soft skill as well because You can learn how to sell any product or service, you first got to learn how to sell yourself. Right? How you show up? What value do you bring in the marketplace? Sure, there's a million other people who do what I do but But you haven't met anybody who does it like I do it. Right? So how do you stand out in the marketplace and among your competitors, you got to find that competitive advantage when it comes to sales. Marketing, on the other hand, is important because it helps you get the word out about your products or services so that you can sell them to more people and make a profit. So sales and marketing go hand in hand. My advice, I mean, there's so many incredible free resources right now. But if you just want, you know, a course or curriculum, go check out a local community college and sign up for a six week sales and marketing course go buy a book from Amazon on sales and marketing, right? There's so many incredible resources today. The fourth and final soft skill that I believe all entrepreneurs need when building a business is leadership skills. And leadership encompasses so much okay, vision, commitment, consistency, discipline, but the way in which I always measure leadership is your ability to create more leaders, right? It's why it's how I measure leadership. as your business grows, you will likely need to hire people and also be able to provide them with a vision, as I mentioned, a mission and you know, have concrete goals to achieve. That's the role of a leader. Leadership is often strategic in nature, it also requires you to understand how to offer your team, an actionable plan. And also, you know, give them those measurable metrics so that they can achieve that plan. So leadership is one of those, I think skills that eventually you grow into. Because you need you need experience being a leader, right, and a lot of that experience can come from failing, failing forward, failing, fast making those mistakes, and then being able to create processes and different ways to inspire and motivate your team not to duplicate those mistakes to help them compress time. So those are the four skills that I believe for soft skills, every person who wants to build a business will need

Alessia Citro 7:26
so good and the sales piece, like just underlining that people have such a aversion to that word. And they, I think, imagine like someone on a used car lot trying to sell a lemon or something like, like, No, we're all selling all the time, like convincing your kid to pick up their mess that is selling right like convincing your partner that you know, they should join you to go to dinner at the place you want. Versus like all that is something right? We're all selling everyday. So just embrace it, have fun.

Jasmine Suazo 7:58
And think about it this way, you know, any all of the companies that we are that we love to support, whether its target, think of your favorite restaurant, guys, every single person that you know, every company that you support is selling right? Think of the NBA entertainers, celebrities, artists, everyone is selling you on why they're better than the next or selling you on why you should be a part of their community, your employer sold you on why you should work for them. When you showed up for the interview, guess what you did? You sold yourself on why they should hire you. And so the reality is that I understand because that five letter word used to literally like give me anxiety. But when I looked at it, and I said holy crap. And in the world, you're either in one or two positions. Right? In any given hour of the day, you're either being sold or you're the one doing selling, but Jasmine, honey, you have experience with selling. So if you're still thinking that you you have never you don't have any experience with selling if you have ever been in a relationship with someone guess what you sold yourself and why you're better than the other person.

Alessia Citro 9:10
Yeah, like honestly, if you go through your day and like the different tasks that you do the amount of selling that we do is Yeah, it's so just use a different word use sharing or serving those make it a little less scary, I think. Yeah, educating. Yep. I love it. Well, this was so great. So where can listeners find you connect with you? By the way I just have to plug your Instagram really quick because we weren't following each other on your personal account and your headline is Chief firing officer which I wouldn't corporate drop out but I think I like that better.

Jasmine Suazo 9:45
Yes, I have to Okay, perfect. Now we are officially connected on all platforms. Okay. Yes, you can connect with me at girl fire your boss on all social media platforms. Sorry. take two seconds and subscribe to our email list because our email lists our email subscribers get a lot of great, great resources, as well as our private Facebook community. But my personal page where I love, love, love to connect and engage with everyone is @iamjasminesuazo

Alessia Citro 10:19
I'm so glad we are IG official on all. This was wonderful. Thank you so much for the time and for just sharing your knowledge and gifts with us and I can't wait to collaborate in the future. Yeah, this was so much fun. I'm looking forward to it. This episode was brought to you by Theia collective the learning community I found it for entrepreneurs text biz, that's BIZ 29495778709 or head to Theia dash collective calm. That's THEIA dash collective.com to learn more. Thanks for listening to the show. If you enjoyed today's episode, please help me get the word out about the corporate drop out by screenshotting and sharing this on social. I would appreciate it so much if you would subscribe and leave a five star rating and review as well. And I do the show for you and I want to hear from you. So tell me what is it that you want more of text me at 949-541-0951 or slide into the DMS at corporate dropout official or Alessia Citro with two underscores until next time