This is a guest post from Melissa Pallotti.

Chances are you learned way more than how to flip a burger– here’s how those lessons help you now:

First jobs are rarely glamorous, but they’re very, very important. Whether your first job was working in your family’s auto repair shop, folding t-shirts at the mall, or waiting tables, chances are that experience taught you a lot. And no, we’re not just talking about the restaurant’s secret french fry recipe or how to balance softball practice, piano lessons, and a part-time job.

Even if you decided to take the road less traveled and start your own business, those early brushes with the working world can help you be better at your job today.

Not convinced? Keep reading to find out how your early job experience can help you:

  • Keep your startup or small business’s team organized and accountable
  • Maintain a growth mindset even when the going gets tough
  • Create the kind of company culture that attracts and retains talent

1. Scheduling software is every business owner’s best friend.

Whether you own a fast food franchise location or have just launched your own small business, keeping track of your team’s efforts is an absolutely essential part of keeping your company running.  

Downloading a scheduling software is a great idea, especially if you need to organize workers’ shifts. The best options on the market make your life easier by providing features like:

  • A single, simple interface for managing employee shifts, departments, and positions
  • Tools that help you to notify employees of upcoming shifts or of changes to their schedule
  • Automatic caps on the time the can be spent clocked in, which prevents headaches when employees forget to clock out at the end of the night

2. Assuming the customer is always right gives you endless opportunities to grow.

At some point, everyone has heard the same discouraging adage from their manager: the customer is always right. Now, maintaining that mindset isn’t particularly helpful if your customer is being a jerk for no reason– which can certainly happen– but if you look a little closer at customer frustrations, you’ll probably discover opportunities to improve your business based on their pain points.

Whenever you have the opportunity to get feedback from your audience— regardless of what kind of business you’re running– consider it carefully before you scrap it. What seems at first like a silly complaint or an unreasonable demand may just open up a new door for your company’s growth.

3. Learn from others’ successes and failures.

Maybe everyone wanted to work at the movie theater in high school because employees got to take home all of the popcorn left at the end of the night, but more likely than not all of the snacks in the world couldn’t keep good employees if that movie theater also treated its employees well.

When it comes down to it, we’ve all had good bosses that made going to work a great experience, and we’ve all had bosses who weren’t so great at motivating the troops. Some leadership strategies are more effective than others, and learning from the other leaders you have encountered over the years can help you be the most effective leader you can be for your team.

Whether you went the family restaurant route or the chain restaurant route– whether you worked in retail or filed papers for the local doctor’s office or did something else entirely for your first job– an entrepreneur’s early job experiences are extremely important because they laid the groundwork for their future success.

What’s the most valuable thing you learned from a high school job? 

This is a guest post from Melissa Pallotti.