Skills required to be a successful entrepreneur

An entrepreneur's success requires more than hard work and being an expert in their field.  Over half of new businesses fail because the owner is unable to translate their expertise and passion into practical business skills.

Running a small business requires you to understand the necessary business skills needed for your business to be successful.  Without having the essential skills, your business is likely to fail.  You must become a proficient jack-of-all-trades or hire people with the required business skills. 

Let’s start with some of the business skills that are needed to be successful. 

Strategic planning.  Developing strategic planning starts with a well-defined and achievable business plan and is a process of creating your company’s strategy and making decisions on allocations of capital and people.  If you lack the required knowledge or experience, it may be necessary to hire a consultant.

Sales and marketing skills.  Establishing successful sales and marketing methods are essential for growing your business.  The key is knowing how to create a compelling message to the right target audience.  This requires monitoring different methods of advertising to determine the return on investment.  Without monitoring, you won’t know which is the most effective method. 

Financial management skills.  Timely budgeting and reporting of financial performance are critical.  This also requires planning and monitoring your cash flow.  Cash flow is the life-blood for your business survival.  Without adequate cash funds, your business can quickly become doomed. 

Analytical skills.  Analytical thinking is the ability to evaluate the current state of your business effectively and choose future goals, which will lead to success.  Additionally, you will need to determine what you need to do to achieve your future goals.  The key is being able to evaluate information and formulate the necessary steps. 

General management skills.  This involves directing a group of people and activities that will accomplish the desired goal.  Additionally, it is necessary to develop a system that will manage daily operations and support business growth.  Many people are experts in their field but lack management skills.

Time management skills.  This is a set of common-sense skills that help you use your time in the most productive and effective way possible.  Learning this will enable you to take advantage of your time wisely.  It is essential to focus on activities that deliver the most value to your business.  As an example, you should have someone clean your business if it enables you to provide a service to your business, which is more valuable.

A business owner must be aware of the skills that are necessary to be successful and be able to evaluate his skill set.  Any essential business skills which are deficient must be determined and quickly developed or delegated to an employee or consultant with the required expertise.

David Zubler is a tax accountant in East Tennessee, the author of four books, and a philanthropist.  All of his proceeds from the books go to a charitable foundation he created for underprivileged children.  He is also the founder of Your Tax Care which provides tax education. David can be reached for questions and consultation at yourtaxcare.com.