Article by Mark Palmer
Many individuals have toyed with the thought of entrepreneurship and starting their own business, some even grapple with whether or not they should pursue a nonprofit business or a for-profit venture. Nonetheless, whichever route they decide to take starting your own business requires five basic skills that every entrepreneur needs today. Whether you’re a new business or you’ve been at it for a while, the following are some areas that you should take to make sure you’re good at, relevant and profitable within your prospective industry.
- Communication
As a business owner, one of the main entryways into your organization is through communication. Because most people’s initial means of contacting a businesses is through online research prior to making business decisions, it’s imperative that you effectively communicate with clients, potential clients and other people of interest within your marketplace. Your channels of communication should be clear, well-written content for those searching online for information that is related to your business. You should also have strong verbal communication skills by both phones and by the use of emails. That way you can properly represent your business and increase the chances of taking on more clients.
Additionally, you need to communicate well internally with staff members, independent contractors, and suppliers as well to run your business effectively.
So in essence, reading, writing, speaking, and listening are the core areas of communication that you need to have as a business owner.
- Business Development and Strategizing
Although many business owners think about the present and what’s currently going on with their business right now, being able to strategize and set short term and long term goals will allow you to strategically develop steps that lead directly to those goals.
Part of that planning, development and strategizing will also consist of setting up action items, monitoring and dealing with issues such as barriers to entry, identifying your target market, your market segment, and your market niche, determining your pricing as well as checking out the competition. Planning and strategizing is a very important element for making sure your business gets and stays on course.
- Accounting and Finance
It’s so important for business owners to have a basic understanding of how accounting and finance work. While accounting has to do with keeping records of financial activity that has already taken place, finance has to do with making sure your business has the funds it needs to function properly.
The best way to track your accounting and finance activities consists of the implementation of either a for-profit or nonprofit accounting systems that allows you to process and evaluate the financial state of your business. This is also important for financial management, recordkeeping and making those important managerial decisions about running your business.
- Sales
As a business owner, as busy as you may be, at the end of the day one of the most important aspects of your business is making sure you’re making sales. Although the way a business owner go about generating sales is one of the primary differences between a for-profit and a nonprofit entity, it is still exceptionally important to learn how to generate a steady stream of income for your business.
- Marketing and Branding
Marketing and branding are by far one of the most important skills that a business owner can have. It is the lifeblood that is needed to establish yourself as an expert and bring an awareness to your business within your specific industry.
This area has to do with getting good at putting your marketing messages on as many social media platforms and other media distribution outlets as possible. This way you can get the exposure you need to capture the right clients for your business.
To sum up, although you may have learned to get good at effectively delivering the product or service that you offer, enhancing your skills with these five additional areas will help you keep your company relevant and stable as you launch and operate your business.