5 Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self

[Julio Gonzalez]

I often get asked the question “If you could give your younger self advice, what would it be?” While there are certain lessons that I feel like it was important to learn along the way to truly make me a successful, resilient and strong leader, there are definitely things that could’ve helped propel me even more. Here are the five that I think would’ve had the greatest impact.

1. You need to prioritize your Human Resources department and employees. Having a strong HR department with the right tools and resources to help train and retain your employees can help build strong teams within. They can also help create policies and procedures for both employees and employers that are crucial to the longevity of the business. Don’t be afraid to invest time and money into building a strong and effective HR strategy.
2. Have a deep understanding of the operations of your business. It’s critical in a company to be able to streamline your processes, but in order to create efficiencies, you have to first have a deep understanding of how the current processes work. From there the goal is to increase profits and reduce expenses. You should understand everything from resource allocation, production processes, customer service protocols, to inventory and more.
3. Continuously work to improve your people skills to enable you to become a better leader. Knowing how to lead a company, how to motivate people, how to have empathy, etc. are necessary skills to have. Be able to understand your employees’ strengths and weaknesses and what motivates them.
4. Gain an understanding of social media and don’t doubt its capabilities for assisting with your company’s growth. Learn to leverage the power of social media to propel your business even further. While posting content regularly is important for the algorithm, what’s even more important is to ensure that you are consistent in your message and that it aligns with your company’s mission, goals, values and is an accurate representation of your company.
5. Know how to make smart investment choices. You need to understand how to invest your capital in a way that is maximizing returns and minimizing risks. A process to analyze and create future projections for each scenario is very helpful. And knowing when to call on experts to help further educate you and assist you in making these crucial decisions is key.

What are some things that you wish you could tell your younger self?