Entrepreneurship is the idea of owning a business or a brand. The profession as a whole is all about embracing risk, having big ideas, and making major innovations that change how others do business.
While anyone who starts a business has a bit of the entrepreneurial spirit but true entrepreneurs are distinguished by a certain visionary quality. Take Steve Jobs, for instance, he renovated our interactions through phones and computers, or Mark Zuckerberg, who transformed how we stay connected with friends and family and absorb the news.
Most entrepreneurs know the importance of investing in themselves and building valuable skills which would improve their strengths over time. Your business plan should include growth targets to achieve, products to launch, new markets to enter, events to participate in and relationships to build. If you have these types of clear targets and milestones built into your plan, that’s a great start. However, it is equally important to have certain soft skills that will ultimately only help you become more successful in your business. Whether it’s setting aside time to improve on your weaknesses, or hire a coach to help you push into a new playing field with one of your strengths, investing in your skills is never a bad move. So, the next logical question you should ask me is which skills do I need to be the game changer?
Here are the top 7 skills entrepreneurs will need to master to be able to make a name for themselves:
1. Personal Branding
Everything is moving towards the gig economy where entrepreneurs, freelancers and even career professionals now jump between ideas, startups and employers faster and more frequently than ever before. Tenure hardly matters, and what matters the most is your personal brand, a name and identity for yourself. The overarching message about yourself, as gleaned from your online presence, professional reputation, circle of influence and the trust you command from peers, followers, customers, employers and general public. You wouldn’t want to enter the market without a strong personal brand, and you definitely afford to loose the good brand image who created to negative comments. Bad online reputation will definitely damage the business. So bear in mind, create a good impression without trying too hard.
2. Authenticity
Authenticity has become a minimum requisite for providing morale and trust and also to achieve excellence in today’s world of business. Especially among millennial and across social media channels, being true to yourself without trying to be someone else is the main objective. Being labeled duplicitous isn’t something you’ll be able to recover from anytime soon. So, it important to always be creative and come up with new and exciting contents and ideas for your business rather just replicating what is already out there. Also, remember to take every opportunity that you can to connect with your audience and show that you’re genuinely in the game to help.
3. Persuasive Writing
While visual contents like images, infographics or hi-resolution videos are becoming staple contents for website and even more to most social media platform, written communication still reigns its wow factor. Written documents are extremely handy when it comes to highlighting your leadership thoughts, crafting compelling copy for sales pages and inspiring people to take action. Without persuasive writing skills, you won’t stand out from other skillful and media-savvy professionals. Plus, your own written article about your brand or your business would give you more confidence in selling yourself and also the reader would feel more engage and have a better image of you than of you sharing something irrelevant. Moreover, you will need an excellent writing skills for email marketing, blog posts, on-page copy, business proposals and more. So, brush up your grammar, learn new vocabulary and start writing!
4. Sales
Sales is what keeps the business alive. It is how the cash flows in, which is what you run the business for. A company that cannot sell its products or services Will for sure is quickly going out of business. Regardless of your craft, even artists, software developers, writers and just about everyone needs selling skills to get by in the business world. If you need funding, you have to sell your idea to investors. If you want to be a successful painter, you must compel people to buy the aesthetics of your craft. Whether you’re a job applicant or hoping to close a new freelance client, you simply have to sell yourself. It is crucial to have sales strategies and proper sale planning before even venturing into the business. You cannot expect people to invest in your product or brand without you trying to convince them into the idea of buying.
5. Stress Management
Stress is a common problem in all industry. To be honest, though it is not good to stress over things but nothing worth pursuing in life is easy. So, expect episodes of disappointment, struggles and stress. The are going to be pitfall along the way but the key is to remain calm and push yourself further. Stay afloat and win your game by learning how to manage stress and re-channel it towards a positive outcome. Whether you do that by being more organized, changing your mindset, or through prayer and meditation, learning how to deal with stress will keep both your business and your health in excellent condition.
6. Sharing and Collaboration
The willingness to commit yourself to achieving your goals will get you a step closer to that. Business partnership with competitor is rapidly growing in today’s business. It’s no accident that information sharing, crowd funding and open source are key terms describing pillars of the new economy. Wikipedia and Shopee is a great example of how sharing and collaboration have created industry-changing products and services. As an entrepreneur, sharing your goals, progression and challenges on different channels can lead to surprising solutions, strong relationships and groundbreaking business.
7. Financial Management
Knowing how to manage and grow your finances is key to success both in your business and in your personal life. Lack of the ability to manage finances exposes you to the risk of becoming unsustainable, which often leads to bankruptcy, regret and going back to a full-time job. Develop discipline and prudence, especially when it comes to purchases for personal and business purposes. Learn both technical and practical techniques that’ll help you increase your income and re-invest in the right strategies to keep your business pushing forward into the future.
