The idea of entrepreneurship is gaining more grounds everywhere in the world, as many people think of starting their own businesses and becoming their own boss, rather work for someone else. Job insecurity is becoming the norm and unemployment rate is growing everywhere due to, amongst other things, the lingering COVID crisis and increased automation in many industries.
Increasingly more African-Australians are embracing entrepreneurship and the number of Afro-led businesses in Australia has been steadily growing over recent years. A lot of African-Australians entrepreneurs operate businesses in industries such as child care and disability services, transport, beauty products and hospitality. While many of these businesses remain relatively small, some are showing signs of growth and starting develop beyond the traditional family business with 2 or 3 employees.
As a minority community in Australia, African-Australians need to follow the example of the African-American community in the US where there is increased commitment from to support black businesses by buying and hiring black, to educate and coach emerging entrepreneurs and to build useful business networks that go beyond simply sharing business cards at various business meetings.
Starting a business in Australia is relatively easy. With a little bit of savings in one’s bank account or a good job with a clean credit record to get finance from a bank, anyone can come up with some innovative business idea or sign up with an existing franchise group and launch into business. However, becoming a successful entrepreneur requires more than just money, a good idea and hard work.
One important element that contributes to entrepreneurial success is the ability to convince people to get excited about your vision and work with you. While it is perfectly possible to be a successful solopreneur, quite often you will need to work with a team and your ability to persuade, motivate and inspire others to buy into and run with your business vision is very crucial.
John C. Maxwell, a business coach says that “ As an entrepreneur and leader, one needs manpower and these people take care of your business when it comes to keeping your customers satisfied and happy with products and services.” One word encapsulates everything that is needed for successful interpersonal communication is: charisma. In business charisma is very important. The word Charisma is defined as “personal attractiveness of leadership that arouses special appeal, enthusiasm and loyalty from others”.
Some people are born charismatic and don’t need any effort to become attractive leaders and get others to follow them in achieving common goals. However, charisma can be learned and developed simply by paying attention to how we project ourselves and the way we communicate and relate to others in various circumstances. It requires using both verbal and non-verbal tools to connect with others in meaningful and impactful ways.
Charisma is very important in business. You will need it not just to bring people together in a team, but also to land investors for a project, establish a customer base, build trust with business partners and anyone who may add value to your business. All of these things will not happen just because you have a good business project, a great business story, a fancy business website. You need to work on your charisma and you will need to develop the ability to combine your confidence with warmth, genuineness, authenticity and empathy as you interact with people to connect them to your vision. Here are 3 practical tips experts recommend to help you develop your charisma:
- Be confident and project your confidence in your dealings with people
A Charismatic person is one who displays a powerful personality that inspires and motivate others. Charismatic leaders are able to infect others with their own enthusiasm, self-belief and confidence.
Being confident doesn’t mean you need to be perfect in everything. You don’t have to have or to know everything, the key is to project an image of someone who has no doubt about the success of what you are doing and that you will be able to address any challenge because you are invested in your vision and the people who are part of your journey.
You cannot be charismatic if you show doubt, overtly or covertly, or don’t believe in what you are proposing to others to help you with or follow you for. Build confidence, breathe confidence and project confidence.
- Nurture your relationships
Charismatic leaders care about people and always they genuinely display it in everything they do. They don’t’ just say it, they show it, because they know that people can see through hollow charm and they can recognise when they are being used or conned.
When you embark in business with people, you need to build relationships with them, nurture your relationships proactively and invest in others by showing care, compassion and empathy. You need to listen to people appropriately, ask questions to capture their deepest feelings and desires, pay careful attention to recognise what is beneath the surface.
Nurturing relationship means building a connection with people and not just rely on or lead by “authority”. Find out what people are interested in and see how you can add value to it. Think of their comfort, their passion, their fears, their hesitations and attend to them in a caring and empathetic way with the intent to help them grow as individuals.
- Have a strong commitment to goals
Charismatic leaders know how to project a vision and inspire others to follow by leading by example. They are people who are committed to a dream, which they can articulate well and raise enthusiasm for. They don’t just talk about things, they get their hands dirty to get the job done and do so with passion and hard work.
When dealing with people, a charismatic person is always connecting activities and communication with the goal(s) at hand and how everyone’s contribution is needed to achieve success. If you want to be a successful entrepreneurs you not only to have clear goals that are part of a well-articulated vision, you need to break that vision into goals and be able to mobilise your team and partners to help you get there.
African-Australian entrepreneurs who want to survive and thrive in business need to work on their charisma as an essential personal asset that will help them to achieve business growth in an increasingly complex and insecure business environment.
Clyde S. Sharady
Entrepreneur | Communicator| Author
