So you have decided to leave the rat race and work for
yourself, and in your own sweet time. The possibilities are endless thanks to
the years of experience you have had working odds and sometimes thankless jobs.
All of them nevertheless increased your contacts and skills. But do you have
entrepreneur skills that will help you succeed in your new arena?
The business world has become very competitive so you will
need specific skills even if you decide to venture into a home business. As an
entrepreneur, you need to have organizing and management skills that will take
your business plan to the next level. But more than that, you need to have that
thirst for accomplishment which could only be satiated once you have
established your business.
Here are some of the entrepreneur skills you would need to run
your business successfully:
1. Jack of all trades
This figure of speech may leave a bitter taste in the mouth
nowadays but this is exactly one of the skills you would need to start your own
business and to see it grow from scratch, minus of course the "master of
none" part. The original meaning of the phrase referred to being a
generalist, not a Renaissance man like Leonardo da Vinci who was exceptional in
a variety of disciplines, but someone who is flexible enough to know the
business fundamentals and how each independent aspect works. Among all the
other entrepreneur skills, this one gives you the capacity to see how things
are interconnected and allows you to run the show.
2. Managerial and administrative skills
Most of the multinational corporate ventures employ hundreds
of people with their own specializations. Forget about that if you are starting
small like most entrepreneurs. Even hiring an assistant is a luxury you would
not be able to afford, so basic entrepreneur skills in the administrative
department would come in handy for posting in your daily income and expenses,
making your receipts and even for making sure you pay your bills on time. On
top of that, you need your managerial skills to be at the top of the situation
when you business starts to operate. It means making a sound decision about
approving a certain account while answering the phone as part of your customer
service.
3. Planning skills
Planning is one of the entrepreneur skills you should arm
yourself with especially if you are starting a home business. Better yet, hone
your time management skills so that you do not waste your time puttering in the
house when you have loads of unchecked emails in your mailbox. Your planning
skills would make sure you have, not only an idea of what you have to
accomplish for the day, but you are bent on sticking to your plan. The hardest
thing for a one-person business, much more a home-based one, is the overwhelming
task ahead of you every day. Multitasking is clearly the name of the game and
you have to be really good at it to accomplish things
4. Financial skills
Since you are in business not only to render service or to fulfill
a dream but also to make money, you need to brush up on your financial skills
to make ends meet. One of the most essential entrepreneur skills you need to
have even for small business ventures is the ability to manage your finances so
that at the end of the day, you have money to pay for your business and
incidental expenses and have some left for your profit box.
5. People's skills
Establishing a business will require you to deal with people
from all walks of life and this is one of those entrepreneur skills that will
take your business far. Every successful entrepreneur has people's skills and
those who do not have it hire someone else who does. You will always deal with
people at any phase of your business so make sure you are inherently interested
in people and how they work.
Entrepreneur skills are the abilities, inherent or learned,
that will make or break your business. Having these skills from the start will
reduce the challenges of starting a business but being able to use them
strategically will ensure that your business stays on even when competitors
come in.
