Welcome to this post about skills every entrepreneur should have!
If entrepreneurs were a paint palette, they would be covered by a wide variety of different colors making a beautiful, final piece of art. If you haven’t guessed already, the “colors” are their skills and the final art piece is their business. To explain this simile more in-depth, entrepreneurs have a wide variety of skills that they use to help succeed in their business. The colors, “skills,” may not be similar by any means, but when they are blended together, they create a masterpiece.
That whole paragraph above may have been the cheesiest thing you’ve ever heard, but the reason I started off with that was to emphasize how important skills are for entrepreneurs. Hopefully, you get the point. We all know entrepreneurs as successful individuals who have a huge contribution to helping their business soar, but their skills helped them make such a significant contribution.
Becoming an entrepreneur, running a business, being your own boss… all of this is no easy feat. Many entrepreneurs, when starting out, may have asked themselves, “Do I have what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur?” Well, do you? While entrepreneurship is also about mindset, perspective, and personality, skills also fall under the umbrella.
This blog is all about skills every entrepreneur should have, so if you are an upcoming entrepreneur, you’ve come to the right place. It is important to keep in mind that no one is born with skills, they work hard to cultivate them. For example, some may have the skill of writing, but that’s only by practicing multiple times. If you aspire to be an entrepreneur in the future, now is the time to start building these skills into your daily life. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to implement everything below into your daily routine. So, read on to see the skills every entrepreneur should have!
1. Communication
If you want to become an entrepreneur, your voice needs to be heard and you need to speak with purpose. The way we communicate with people around us informs everything from their opinions on us to the way our businesses are able to function and operate. The people who communicate effectively are the ones who people listen and look up to. Our words are everything, but we need to know how to use those words in a proper manner.
While the use of digital technology has become the one thing we rely on the most, communication is just as important. Whether you are speaking through a screen or through the air, you must speak with just as much passion and purpose. Successful entrepreneurs know the value of communication, so they are aware of how they want to convey their message. It’s not necessary to give a TED talk every time you speak, but it is important to know what you’re saying, and make sure you are being deliberate, succinct, and thoughtful of your message.
2. Time Management
Deadlines, meeting times, presentations. Time is a crucial part of any entrepreneurship and business. When you are an entrepreneur, things will start piling on top of each other if you don’t take control of how you spend your time. As an entrepreneur, you must understand which tasks come first, and how much time to allocate for each task. You must be able to limit the amount you spend doing unnecessary acts, and make more time for important work.
As teenagers, many of us spend much of our time on social media, watching TV, and hanging out with friends. While it is not necessary to stop doing either of those times, it is important to reduce time for those things so that you have time to do more useful tasks. If you don’t start now, then when?
3. Efficiency
Efficiency is a must in entrepreneurship. How can you turn your resources into helping a business run smoothly and profitably? Being efficient doesn’t mean cutting corners; it means doing things smartly, which leads to things being completed faster. What is the best way to do something without using up a lot of resources?
In a business, you have to know what’s your top priority, what your responsibilities include, and what tasks you need to get done. Answering these questions is the base to the start of starting and doing things efficiently. Some tips include using the 80/20 rule, break tasks into smaller sections, and limit distractions.
4. Productivity
All successful entrepreneurs- Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk- If you think about them, they didn’t get to be where they are today if they weren’t productive. Sure, they had a brilliant idea and long-term vision, but how were they able to make that idea and vision a success? The answer is that they were productive.
When it comes down to being an entrepreneur, you must come up with a method of staying productive and sticking to it. Some tips include writing down your tasks in to-do lists, limiting distractions, using the Pomodoro timer, or getting apps to help you. Speaking of which, check out the Best Apps to Improve your Life in 2021. Whatever your method is, be sure to stick to it.
5. Finance
“By definition, an entrepreneur sets out to make a profit. To do this, entrepreneurs need to know how to handle money in a business. This often involves taking risks with capital, or securing the right investors and investments. Though it is possible to hire other professionals to handle this task, it is still best that the entrepreneur at least has basic financial knowledge in order to ensure their business is making the right monetary decisions.” (freshbooks.com)
Finances are a huge part of business, and something that needs to be taken care of all the time. If you are a beginner to finances, check out our blog on Investing in Stocks 101, with advice on where to start, examples, terms and more!
6. Strategic Thinking
In entrepreneurship, you MUST be able to think strategically. Business is all about strategy, strategy, and strategy. By being strategic, you can manage and align priorities, set goals and streamline operations. When you think ahead a business, you must have a plan on what you want to do, when you will initiate the operation, and how it will be successful.
By having the skill of being a strategic thinker, you can determine your business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. All this help will help your business soar in no time! What are you waiting for? Start coming up with a strategy for whatever it is you want to succeed in!
7. Sales
An undeniable part of being an entrepreneur is selling. You have to sell not only products and services, but also yourself and your ideas. About 90% of all business is sales and negotiation, even if it doesn’t appear to be sales. But that’s impossible to do without mastering the art of selling, and that first takes mastering the psychology of selling.
Applying the psychology of marketing to your entrepreneurial tool belt will enable you to sell yourself and your ideas no matter where you are or what stage you’re in. When you apply psychology to the way you operate as a business leader, you learn not only more about your audience, but you learn more about yourself as a human as well.
Learning to sell and negotiate like a pro will serve you well on your entrepreneurial journey, and allow you to bring you innovative ideas to life. Don’t neglect your sales pitch and don’t abandon your ability to close the deal. As your business grows, your need to negotiate will only increase. Focus on this skill and don’t lose sight of what’s at the heart of all business: sell, sell, sell.
https://medium.com/swlh/7-essential-entrepreneurial-skills-a6e66e245d47
8. Leadership
Leadership is not only about leading your team to success, but working with them as well. When you are working and leading a team, you must have the ability to inspire, influence, and motivate the rest of the individuals to achieve the goals that have been set. You must provide structure, stability, and organization. All successful entrepreneurs do not command their team to do something, instead, they lead by example, work, and help them get to the position they want to be in in the future. Get to know your team better, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and lead by example!
9. Ability to relieve stress in the midst of chaos
Often times in entrepreneurship, you will run into problems and issues that may hinder your road to success. However, as an entrepreneur, you must be able to relieve stress in the middle of chaos. For entrepreneurs, stress is inevitable, but that’s not what matters. What’s important is how you deal with the stress; do you let it take over your mind or do you handle it with maturity and understanding?
Most entrepreneurs have a habit of biting off more than they can chew, so if you’re an upcoming entrepreneur, you’ll learn better and more effective ways to do work. Besides that, find habits for yourself that will burn off the stress and help you stay calm and cool. For some, it may help to do yoga, work out, walk outdoors, and relax.
10. Undeniable personal vision
The ability to formulate and pursue an extremely vivid personal vision is one of the most important skillsets a successful entrepreneur can possess. When you have a clear vision of who you are and what you want, it’s that much easier to do the same for your company or business. Entrepreneurs who possess vision are successful ones, but they didn’t get that way overnight.
Start with a niche and allow yourself the ability to work fluidly within it, pivoting where you need to pivot and adjusting where you need to make adjustments. Don’t become overly focused on one area, but allow your passions to guide you. Consider your opportunities and make a decision once you’ve got enough knowledge to do so.
Forming this sort of personal vision allows you to elevate your strategic thinking and identify doorways that were previously unseen or unconsidered. Know your market in and out and know not only what it takes to succeed there, but what you would have to give to make it there. Don’t limit yourself to the possibilities that exist in the future, but have the courage to commit to the now.
https://medium.com/swlh/7-essential-entrepreneurial-skills-a6e66e245d47
The Takeaway
As said in the introduction, no one is born with skills; they work hard to be able to use them to succeed. Don’t get discouraged if you’re not skilled at any of the skills mentioned above, as if you start now, you can be an expert at them sometime in the future. For example, if you’re not good at communication, practice speaking with a purpose more! This is just one of many examples you can do to cultivate the skills mentioned above. Speaking of which, here are 10 skills every entrepreneur should have:
- Communication
- Time management
- Efficiency
- Productivity
- Finance
- Strategic thinking
- Sales
- Leadership
- Ability to relieve stress in the midst of chaos
- Undeniable personal vision
Sales are a huge part of any business, so if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, I highly recommend checking out the book: The Art of the Sale: Learning from the Masters About the Business of Life. Along with this, check out this video on Mark Cuban’s 10 rules to master the art of selling.
You may have gotten overwhelmed with all the skills and information thrown at you, but don’t worry. Take things one step at a time (or one skill at a time) and you’ll be at the level you want to be in soon enough! As teenagers, we sometimes go too deep into things that don’t really matter; however, it is important to remember that we can be the next generation of successful entrepreneurs!
“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.” – Robert Greene
Good luck!