11 helpful resources for improving your business skills

By lkolowich@hubspot.com (Lindsay Kolowich Cox)

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It doesn’t matter if you’re an entrepreneur, founder, director, or an employee working within an organization, knowing how to improve business skills will greatly impact your career success.

There‘s a lot that goes into becoming more business-savvy, whether it’s learning the “softer” skills (like people management, communication, and public speaking) or mastering the “hard” skills (like accounting, operations, and finance).

A lot of what I know about business has come from working within an agency, working with a wide range of businesses, and learning from people who are further into their careers than me.

Here are 11 of the best resources out there to help you become more business-savvy.

1. A Mentor With Business Experience

Having a career mentor (or a few career mentors) with business experience is a crucial part of your professional development. Opportunities are attached to people. Your mentor can provide you with support and advice when you need it — and, if you choose wisely, they’ll learn how to deliver that support in a way that makes sense to you.

One key to finding a great mentor is to have some clear goals in mind for the type of experience you want your mentor to have. Are you looking for someone who works in an industry you‘re interested in learning more about? Someone with experience in raising capital for a new business? Someone who’s senior to you at your current company?

Once you have a goal or two in mind, there are many ways to actually find a mentor. Don‘t just go straight for the most visible and well-known (and probably busiest) people. Instead, take a look at your own network and keep an eye out for folks you respect who have relevant experience.

You can search your network on LinkedIn — which means you’ll first want to update and clean up your own LinkedIn profile. If you find someone who isn’t a direct connection, send a personal message with your connection request, or ask for an introduction from a mutual connection.

Mentors are really important for learning how business actually works. When I started my own business, I had a mentor who supported me greatly. He helped me manage my rates, which was transformational. I also have an intentionally small network of trusted founders who act as mentors. It helps me to discuss challenges, hear other ways of handling situations, or get some feedback on my own business.

My last tip here? Keep it local. While online mentorship is great, relationships grounded in quality, in-person time are usually a lot more effective. Even better, get out of the office and into an environment that’s more conducive to relaxing and candid conversation, like a coffee shop or a lunch place.

(If you’re on the other side of the mentor-mentee relationship, read this blog post to learn how to be an amazing mentor.)