Business owners are at their best when they know their numbers and are communicating well.  Communicating effectively comes into play with employees, customers, vendors, banks, your advisory board, and literally every aspect of your business.  If you have a clear and influential message with integrity, you will increase your chances of success. 

The best way to improve your communication skills is by joining a Toastmasters Club.  There are over 10,000 clubs in the US so it is very likely there’s one near you.  Toastmasters should cost no more than $100 per year and in many instances a lot less.  At Toastmasters, you not only learn about public speaking but also overall communication skills.  By joining Toastmasters, your vocabulary will improve, your ability to put sentences together will improve, and most importantly you will learn how to make sure your communication is understood. 

A good communicator is responsible for both the sending and receiving of communication.  You cannot be a good communicator if you are only going to be responsible for what you send out.  You must also be responsible for what you receive to make sure what the other person is saying is understood. 

Where communication starts to break down is when one of the people engaging in the  communication does not like someone else in the communication loop.  This dislike gets in the way of agreement and understanding, which undermines what is being communicated.  On the other hand, you can have people who like each other in the communication loop but who do not agree or understand each other and that results in another breakdown of communication.

As a business owner, you need to make sure your communication is solid in order to avoid misunderstandings and breakdowns!