6 Things Every Entrepreneur Learns While Teaching Others
Entrepreneurs wear many hats and, sometimes, they're teachers. Not the chalkboard kind, however, but the kind that's always showing people how things work. One day, you have a new hire and you need to explain the sales process to them. Next, you're walking a client through onboarding. Then there's that workshop you said you'd run and the 'quick' demo that somehow turned into actual training.
Your focus is always on making sure the other person understands what you're saying, but you're actually learning just as much as they are. Just in a different way, obviously.
Skills and Insights Entrepreneurs Get By Sharing Knowledge with Others
If you're creating training materials, you're bound to use elearning software a lot. While learning online, you can discover some really powerful new skills that go beyond the lessons you'd be forced to learn at college/university. You get to choose what you want to learn and better your skills and knowledge in a direction that suits your needs.
And these aren't your abstract 'soft skills' but practical abilities that can impact the future of your business.
Here are some of them.
1. Mastering the Ability to Make Complex Ideas Simpler
Just because you understand how something works doesn't mean you'll be able to explain it to anyone else so they understand, too. You have to make the ideas simpler, meaning break them down into small, clear steps without losing their definition. That's not as easy as you might think. The process forces you to understand your own material better because you can't hide behind jargon and shortcuts.
For example, let's say you have a messy workflow that you need to turn into a clean, step-by-step guide for new hires.
This can make you see where your processes are too complicated or which steps are not necessary. By the time you made it simpler for others, you did the same for yourself.
2. Improving Active Listening Skills
Teaching isn't just talking.
You also need to pay attention to what other people are telling you, even if they're not being direct. You learn to watch for cues, read body language, and respond to questions in a way that keeps people engaged. Sometimes, you have to completely change your approach based on what you're hearing.
Delivering the same training to a group of professionals will look different from delivering it to beginners.
Active listening helps you pinpoint those differences early and make tweaks so your message sticks.
3. Becoming a More Confident Public Speaker
Confidence is key when it comes to public speaking, and repetition is what builds confidence. The more you deliver a topic, the more comfortable you become with your voice, your pacing, and even your presence in a room. You start to understand the difference between keeping attention in a workshop and pitching an idea in a meeting.
Over time, you figure out how to use pauses, gestures, and eye contact to make your points stick.
Public speaking makes many people nervous, and even if you're one of them, if you teach repeatedly, you can turn that anxiety into a skill you can rely on in any setting.
4. Strengthening Leadership Presence
When you're the one teaching, people look to you for guidance and not just on the subject matter, but in how you carry yourself.
That dynamic naturally builds your leadership presence. It's not so much about being the 'boss' as it is about being the person people trust to help them grow. Each time you lead a learning session, it's a chance to reinforce your company's vision and values without having to explain what it stands for.
Your actions, your patience, and your clarity do the work for you.
5. Refining Communication for Different Formats
One of the most valuable skills you can pick up is learning how to adapt your message to fit different formats. The way you explain something in a live session won't be the same as how you'd write it for a guide or record it for a video.
You'll learn to be intentional with what you say and use structure and clarity to make sure the core message stays the same regardless of the medium.
Not only will this improve your teaching, but it'll also improve your business communication, whether that's in terms of client updates or meetings with your team.
6. Building Patience and Empathy
Everybody learns in different ways and at different paces.
There are some people who get it right away, but there are also others who need more time or maybe a different example. Teaching will make you aware of these differences and help you find ways that will work for everyone. This process will build your patience and empathy, which are core values every good leader should have.
If you can understand where someone is coming from, you can connect with them in a way that will make your working relationship stronger.
Conclusion
You'll most likely go into teaching and think you're just sharing what you know with others, but, whether you're aware of that or not, you'll pick up invaluable skills on the way.
The best part is that these will stick and, each time you create a new guide or walk someone through a process, your new skills will get even sharper.