Running any business requires a wealth of knowledge. Simultaneously, having a good set of poker skills can help you come to grips with the essential requirements needed to run a business.
There are lessons to be learned when starting a new business. Sometimes these come easy, but more often, we learn things the hard way. We continuously need to evaluate how we address snooty clients, manage cash, or tackle our setbacks. Considerations such as getting to work on time, coordinating tasks, and a surfeit of other processes that can make business ownership challenging are also vital.
While many entrepreneurs seek additional coaching to help them hone their skills, poker can help you master basic knacks when it comes to running a business. Below are four ways poker can equip you with the right aptitude to reach your business goals.
1. Money Management
The first thing that poker can teach us is the value of money. When we say value, we don’t just mean how much you should aim to make, but also how you deal with loss-incurring situations. This could be through circumstances like losing a significant shareholder, a reimbursement for a service, or a sudden increase in rentals costs.
Even though you can never truly prepare for such scenarios, money management is vital if you want to recover from losses as quickly as possible. Poker players must act as their own financial advisors, bosses and accountants when deciding how to position their stakes in a game. During a single round of hands, they could make more money than what your company is worth.
You don’t have to be penny-pinching with cash. However, you need to assign money to the right places and have a contingency plan if things go wrong.
2. Assessing the Risk
Assessing opportunities and dangers is something we do each day. When you own your own business, you’ll be doing this regularly, constantly evaluating if it’s worth employing more workers, whether you can meet the requirements of new clients, or if you should really make 10,000 orders of that dessert brand because the market just crashed. There is a lot to consider when analysing the pros and cons of any business move. It is precisely the same in poker when you’re evaluating which cards to keep or discard.
3. Patience and Planning
There are numerous occasions when poker players end up folding countless hands one after the other. After hours spent at a game, boredom sinks in, and gamblers begin playing weak hands out of frustration. This often leaves them in a vulnerable position, with their entire stake put on the line. However, others use this downtime to their advantage and feel they can better perceive their opponents’ behaviour.
In business, patience and planning are crucial elements of success. You wouldn’t execute a campaign without assessing how much resources and time you’d need, nor would you wait long enough to miss critical opportunities in the market or a chance to promote your services.
4. Controlling Your Emotions
A player’s poker face can define their success in a tournament. They only have to squinch slightly for other players to catch a drift of what they’re holding. If it’s a look of desperation or disappointment, they can kiss that round goodbye. Some players are so put off by the idea of being constantly analysed that they wear masks, oversized hoodies or sunglasses, in a bid to conceal their facial expressions.
While you wouldn’t show up to a client meeting dressed like that, there will be situations where you might become upset or angry at an outcome. It’s imperative to keep your cool when confronted by these scenarios because it could be the difference between losing or closing an important deal. Not being in charge of your emotions could also cost you the respect of your staff, peers and customers — potentially resulting in litigation if you’ve reacted to something inappropriately.
