One of the hardest truths that I’ve had to face – especially as small business owners – one of the hardest truths is that the skills that got us here are not the same skills that are going to carry us forward.
We are living in a new digital based marketing economy. And if you are looking around and seeing what I am seeing, everything feels like it’s shifting and moving. And I’m not just talking about technology coming in or social platform algorithms shifting and moving. I’m talking about the way that people find and connect with businesses has changed.
If you want to stay relevant with your business, you have to learn how to reskill and keep learning.
Whether you’re staying in your current role in your business, looking at a new career path or you’re finally moving your side hustle into your full time job, you have to keep learning.
And that’s where reskilling comes in. In this economy, the businesses who see success are the ones who will adapt and add reskilling tools into your marketing strategy.
So what do I mean by reskilling?
That word is confusing because I think a lot of people mix up the word reskilling with upskilling. Upskilling is more like sharpening tools that you already have rather than learning something new.
Let’s say that you are really good at editing your Instagram reels. Upskilling is you getting a new program and learning how to take your editing skills to the next level. That’s upskilling because it’s a skill that you already have and you’re just using this new program to make it better and for you to be more efficient.
Reskilling is different. Reskilling is about picking up new tools, new habits, new skills for the next chapter that you are moving into. Whether it’s your business, whether it’s your new career, whether it’s new services or products that your business is going to be putting out.
We are ALL moving into the next chapter
The next chapter might look like leaning into using AI tools when you’ve been using traditional sales. Or reskilling could be figuring out how to manage working remotely because maybe you’ve always gone face to face and now you’re finding more and more people are wanting to meet on Zoom, even if you live in the same city with each other.
The world of work that we’re in right now, it’s changing, it’s constantly changing.
And this constant evolution requires us, especially those of us who are business owners, to be more adaptive than we have ever been. To be more agile and to learn new skills.
I believe it all started with COVID when we had to deal with the changes in the way we worked during the pandemic. It really accelerated these changes to a place that we didn’t even know even existed.
It brought home the realities of increasing automation. The challenges of working remotely and the need for flexibility for everybody, not just the clients themselves or the customers, but those of us who are managing our marketing, those of us who are managing our businesses, we need some more flexibility.
So reskilling is about preparing yourself for the future work for your business, moving forward into your what your business will look like, not just improving upon what’s going on right now.
So why should you reskill for your business now?
Let me tell you, my friends, the speed of change is not slowing down. I see it all around me. Companies are shifting their expectations. Customers are looking for new ways to engage with our businesses and there are so many opportunities out there that you could be missing.
Opportunities are opening up for businesses who are willing to reskill themselves and to adapt because the businesses that are going to thrive in this environment are not the ones who are clinging to “That’s just the way that we’ve always done things.” The businesses that are going to see success, the ones that are going to see results are the ones who say, “What do I need to learn next to keep moving forward?”
Here’s the good news about all of this: You don’t have to just start from scratch and just throw everything you know out, because that’s where you started your business. You do have this experience, whether it’s experience from another position and then you started your own company. Whether its experience from being in business for 20 something years like I have or whether you have been doing this kind of work as a side hustle for years.
Reskilling is not about getting rid of all of those things that you already know.
It’s about adding new layers, new skills, new habits, new understandings of things that are going to compliment your experience. And when you add these new skills to the work that you’re already doing, it sets you up for success in the next chapter of what’s going on in your life or what’s going on with your business.
Your next chapter starts with curiosity.
Because if you’re feeling like everything around you is just moving so fast and you can’t keep up, you are not alone. Because the very fact that you’re here reading this blog post right now means that something is triggered inside of you.
It means that you are already curious. You already know that there’s a next chapter waiting for you.
So maybe the question isn’t, should I be reskilling? Maybe your question is, “what’s the first skill that I want to build upon that’s going to help me move my business forward? So what does this look like?”
What does this look like in real life? Let me give you an example here.
So let’s say you’ve been making money with your business through word of mouth referrals. That’s how you’re getting all of your customers. And because you’re just such an amazing business owner, this has worked for you for years, but now, you’re starting to see the shift.
You’re starting to see things change and you’re noticing that these referrals aren’t coming in as steadily as they were before. Or maybe, you’ve only relied on in-person type of networking, but now your ideal clients are connecting online. So things are shifting for your business about how you connect with your clients.
So reskilling is you taking what you’ve learned from in-person or referrals and learning how to build authority on a business-to-business platform like LinkedIn. Your reskilling could be about how to use the LinkedIn publishing feature to reach more potential customers. That skill directly translates into growth because it increases your visibility and it builds trust with new potential connections.
You’re not just adding a new trick for your marketing toolbox – you’re opening up a pipeline of leads, options and opportunities that don’t depend on you waiting for somebody else just to refer you.
It’s not just the skill itself that is upleveling your business. The skill itself is allowing your business to make more money and to increase your profits.
So what’s coming next for your business?
I think that this post right here is just the start of a bigger conversation that I’m going to be leading with other small business owners. I believe this idea of reskilling is really important for us to figure out which skills matter most for our future, as well as how to find time for learning, how to find time to apply what we’re learning.
It’s not just signing up for a bunch of courses and then they sit in your inbox. It’s about understanding how reskilling is going to help you, not just improve your business, but improve your income and grow your customer base.
Every chapter of growth in my business has started the same way: by learning something new. Sometimes it was out of excitement, sometimes it was out of necessity but every time, that skill became the bridge that carried my business forward.
And I believe the same is true for you and your business. Reskilling is how you write the next chapter of your story, instead of getting stuck in the last one.
That’s why I created a new freebie for you: ChatGPT Prompts to Start Your New Chapter.
These aren’t generic prompts to write posts. They’re built to help you uncover the skills that matter most for your business right now, so you can stop spinning your wheels and start moving forward with clarity.
I want you to use these New Chapter workbook prompts not as another thing on your to-do list but as a way to reignite your ideas and uncover fresh opportunities. Think of ChatGPT as your brainstorming partner – it won’t replace your expertise, but it will help you see new angles, map out skills that matter for your goals and create a plan for the next chapter of your work.
