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You’ve decided that you want to get out of the corporate rat race and be your own boss. You have realized that there are many benefits to being an entrepreneur.
As you begin planning how to start your own business from home and launch a successful startup, you begin listing down what you want to do and, what you can do, what you like and do not like in a business. You start to assess what you can do well; maybe you can do research, design a website, write content, and have ten years of experience in legal and administrative support.
But then, you ask yourself, “What skills do I really need to have to succeed as a home-based entrepreneur?”
If you are considering starting a business, you will need many entrepreneurial skills to succeed in today’s competitive market. You must possess the basic skills necessary to enable you to start, develop, finance, and market your own home business enterprises. There are a number of qualities and skills you need to have, including personal attributes, business skills, and management capability. While you may not have all of them right now, there are five basic skills you really must have to run any business.
The SIX (6) skills that every entrepreneur needs to succeed are:
Table of Contents
1. Ability to see things through
Successful entrepreneurs are visionaries, always a step ahead in the game. They can see opportunities that normal folks do not see. They have a clear idea of what they want to do. But more than this, successful entrepreneurs have the ability to transform that vision into reality. They don’t just dream; they dare to make those dreams a reality. They work hard and smart to see the dreams in their heads to fruition. They don’t just think that they want to achieve something; instead, they do everything they need to do to achieve what they want.
Successful entrepreneurs don’t shy away from the challenges, fear, and sheer amount of work needed to get things done. They navigate the complexities of innovation, manage risks, and learn from every setback. Remember, it’s not about having a vision but about making it come alive.
RELATED: Starting a New Business: From Vision to Implementation
2. Sales and marketing skills.
Have you ever wondered what makes certain entrepreneurs not just survive but absolutely thrive in the cutthroat world of business? It’s not just about having a great product or service; it’s about how they sell it and market it.
Sales and marketing are the two most important skills you must have when you plan to start your own business. A business is nothing if it has no customers. You may have the fanciest computer with the latest graphics software, but if no one is knocking at your door to hire you as a graphic designer, then you better rethink why you are in business in the first place. Maybe you are better off being employed by a firm. To have revenues and profits, you first need to have customers. To get customers, you must be able to market your business and possess the skills to close the sale.
As you plan your business, you must begin to think about how to reach your target audience and the people who may need your products or services. This entails understanding the marketing concept and using the tools your budget permits. You must have a knack for understanding what people want, listening to their needs, and interacting well with other people. Successful entrepreneurs can spin a yarn and understand the power of stories to make their product the hero of any tale.
Successful entrepreneurs’ sales and marketing skills aren’t just about slick tactics; they’re about connecting, understanding, and innovating. It’s a wild ride, but that’s what entrepreneurship is all about, right? So, go out there, apply these gems, and watch your business soar!
RELATED: Discover Your Sales Strengths: Advice from the World’s Best Sales Managers
It would be extremely helpful if you possess excellent written and oral communication skills to help you sell your products and services (more so if you are a solo entrepreneur who will be doing everything by yourself). For instance, you can sign up for public speaking classes on thought-leader.com, which will definitely enhance your communication abilities. You need to create a buzz about your business by talking to people and presenting to them your business. You must write ads, press releases, and story ideas about your business. Starting a business is a time to get out of your timid self and begin to market your venture aggressively. That’s the only way you can succeed.
3. Financial know-how.
You are in business to make money. Therefore, the most important skill you must have is handling money well. This includes knowing how to stretch your limited start-up capital, spending only when needed, and making do with the equipment and supplies you currently have. You also need to identify the best pricing structure for your business to get the best kind of return for your products or services.
RELATED: Do You Know How Your Business is Doing?
Success in business is not limited to those with tons of capital initially. Look at the failed dot-coms in the 90s with as much as $100 million in funding. Even if they are awash with cash, they still end up as a failure because they are not able to manage their money well. They lavished themselves with high-tech office furniture and gave their CEOs fancy jets to fly, only to deplete their cash flow in less than a year.
If you can manage your cash flow well when the business starts to run, you will be able to survive the ups and downs of self-employment. The important thing is to always focus on the bottom line. For every spending, always ask yourself: “How much will this contribute to my bottom line?” If it does not give your business anything in return financially, you better think twice before opening your wallet.
4. Self-motivation skills.
As an entrepreneur, you do not have the luxury of bosses and bureaucracy to tell you what needs to be done. Everything rests on your shoulder from thinking where to get the money to fund the business, to develop the product, to determine how to reach the customer, and so on. Only you will create the plans and change them should the situation shift. You need to be smart enough to know when you need to go ahead and when to stop.
RELATED: How to Develop Your Creative Thinking Skills
To succeed in business, you must be a self-starter with a clear desired goal in mind. You must have confidence in yourself and your ideas (how can you sell them to others if you do not believe in them?). More importantly, you must be willing to focus your energy and work hard toward each and every step that will make your enterprise successful.
Especially if you work at home, it is doubly hard to get into the work mindset: sometimes, the television is just too tempting that it is hard to get out of your pajamas and begin typing on your computer. You, therefore, must have that extra drive and commitment to make sure that you are taking the necessary steps to make your dream of a successful business a reality.
5. Time management skills.
The ability to plan your day and manage time
is particularly important for a home business. When you wake up in the morning, you must clearly know what you must do for the day. Especially if you are running a one-person operation, you must have the ability to multi-task be the secretary at the start of the day typing all correspondences and emails, become the marketing man writing press releases before noon, make sales calls in the afternoon, and become a bookkeeper before your closing hours.
Imagine if you are selling products and you still have to create the products, deliver and fulfill the orders, and rush to the bank to cash the checks. Lots of jobs for a simple home-based business! No, you don’t have to be a superman (or superwoman). You have to know how to manage time and prioritize your tasks.
RELATED: Creative Ways to Manage Your Time, Reduce Stress and Get More Done
One difficulty of working from home is that you can never seem to stop. There are too many things to do as if work never stops (and it doesn’t!). Part of having good time management skills is knowing when to stop and when to leave work and begin doing your other roles in your family as the husband, wife, mother, or father. You must know how to keep your home life separate from your work life and ensure a balance between the two exists.
6. Administration skills.
If you can afford to hire an assistant to organize your office space and file your papers and emails, lucky you! However, most start-up entrepreneurs cannot afford such luxuries. Over and above the tasks of managing, marketing, and planning your business, you also need to possess many administration skills. You need to file your receipts so tax time will not be a trip to Hades. You need to do all the work regarding billing, printing invoices, collecting payments, and managing your receivables.
RELATED: Persuasion Skills: Key Element of Leadership and Success
Starting a business is never easy, even if you have the perfect background and possess all the above skills. Having all the needed skills and qualities will not even ensure your success. But having these basic skills will, at least, lessen the pain of the start-up process, giving you a greater chance of seeing your business grow and prosper.
Conclusion
The entrepreneurship journey is both challenging and rewarding, requiring a unique set of skills for success. Visionary thinking enables entrepreneurs to see beyond the present, envisioning what could be possible in the future. Effective communication and listening skills are vital for engaging with clients, investors, and team members, ensuring a clear understanding of goals and expectations.
Critical and creative thinking and strategic planning allow entrepreneurs to navigate complex business landscapes and devise innovative solutions. Learning and adapting to every situation, including failures, is fundamental in this ever-evolving business world.
Finally, skills like resilience, leadership, and time management are indispensable for sustaining and growing a business in the face of adversity and competition. As Becca Pike, Founder and owner of Hell Yes Coaching, said:
Success as an entrepreneur isn’t just about mastering tangible skills; it’s also about honing the art of resilience. Embracing setbacks as opportunities for growth and staying true to your vision are the secret ingredients that turn skillsets into thriving businesses.”
By cultivating these skills, entrepreneurs can significantly enhance their chances of success, making a meaningful impact in their chosen fields.
RELATED: Trait of a Successful Entrepreneur: Knowing When to Listen and Get Help
Recommended Books on Skills Every Entrepreneur Need to Succeed:
- Entrepreneur Unleashed
- Making Sense of Business: A No-Nonsense Guide to Business Skills for Managers and Entrepreneurs
- Building a Successful Business: The entrepreneurs’ business plan and management skill instruction manual, tip sheet, and workbook
- Quick Skills: Skills For Entrepreneurs
- The Top 10 Distinctions Between Entrepreneurs and Employees
- Harvard Business Review on Succeeding as an Entrepreneur (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series)
Article was originally published on February 4, 2013. Updated on January 11, 2020.
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