More people than ever are starting their own businesses. They are trying to bring to market a product or service that they think fills an existing gap and take a chance on themselves. More entrepreneurs and start-ups mean that there are more resources and support available and, in theory, success is easier than it might have been in the past.
One such resource is the Abundance program, which gives budding entrepreneurs access to support and mentors, helping individuals double down on their strengths, challenge limiting beliefs, and find new opportunities to grow. Click here for an early sneak peek and review of the Abundance program. Unfortunately, however, many new businesses fail, and many prospective entrepreneurs find themselves once more seeking employment. Not everyone has what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. It takes certain skills and knowledge, but also characteristics and personality traits to do well.
What is an Entrepreneur?
Entrepreneur is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but what actually is an entrepreneur? The dictionary tells us that an entrepreneur is “a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit”. Anyone that starts any kind of business is an entrepreneur, whether they are a sole trader working alone, or they own multiple businesses across different fields.
How Do Entrepreneurs Measure Success?
The dictionary’s definition implies that success is all about profit, but actually, this isn’t always the case. Some entrepreneurs measure success in the difference their business makes to the world, the environment, their local community or anything else. Even if success is measured in profits, there’s not a specific amount of money that marks success from failure, and the goalposts change all of the time.
For the first few years, success is likely to be survival but, as your business grows, what you see as success will also change. However you measure your success, here are some of the things that you need to achieve it.
Organisation and Time Management
To succeed as a business owner, especially in the early days when delegation might not be an option, you are going to need excellent time management and organisation skills. Fortunately, there are plenty of time management apps for business owners nowadays.
Passion and Enthusiasm
To make your business work, you are going to have to put in long hours, make sacrifices and give it your all, possibly for a long time. This will be easier to do if you love your business. However, by doing this when you first set out, you can enjoy all of the perks that come with being an entrepreneur down the line. For example, if you own a home health service, you may have the opportunity to look into these franchise opportunities home health care ideas, so you can provide high-quality care to a wider community. Individuals that are successful are those that believe in themselves and their idea and have plenty of passion and enthusiasm for their work.
Commitment to Your Business
You’ll also need to be committed. If you are the kind of person that moves from job to job, never sticks to hobbies and struggles to commit to a project once the initial excitement has worn off, ask yourself why your business is different? Struggling with commitment in the past doesn’t mean that you can’t be a successful entrepreneur, but it might be worth giving it more thought before you leap in.
Continued Learning
The world is changing faster than ever. As an employee, changes to technology, social media and the processes of business might not affect you. But as a business owner, you need to stay on top of the latest learning and changes to stay at the top of your game.
There are many entrepreneurs who have been successful for years, who suddenly start to struggle because they’ve failed to keep their knowledge up to date. But there are also entrepreneurs with no formal qualifications who are very successful because they are committed to continued learning and advancement.
If you’ve never studied business, business degrees can be a great idea, no matter where you are on your journey. Looking at online business degrees from Aston University means that you can learn while you work and keep your knowledge up to date.
Excellent Communication Skills
Communication is one of the most important skills for any business owner or manager. You’ll need to be able to communicate with staff, suppliers, and other businesses. You should have excellent written and verbal communication skills and even positive body language. It’s worth brushing up on your English and finding ways to improve your confidence if you struggle to speak to strangers or in front of other people.
An often overlooked but critical aspect of effective communication is understanding the difference between debate and dialogue. You can read here about debate vs dialogue and after appreciating this distinction, you can enhance your ability to bridge gaps, build strong relationships, and cultivate a culture of collaboration within organisations. Engaging in dialogue allows for greater openness to diverse perspectives, ultimately fostering innovative solutions and empowering businesses to thrive in the face of challenges.
Basic Related Skills
As a new entrepreneur, you might have to do a lot for yourself. Later on, you might hire an accountant, and as your business grows you might choose to invest in a marketing team or an in-house expert. But in the early days, you might do the basics yourself to save money until you can afford help.
Having basic accounting skills means that you get started on the right foot, without risking getting into trouble with your tax return or missing out on savings by failing to file the right expenses. You can learn a lot online, ask other entrepreneurs for help, and even take a free course to get the skills that you need.
Basic marketing skills mean that you can start to grow your business and make money straight away. Social media, SEO and other online tools mean that even with absolutely no marketing experience, you can get started on your own using the skills and knowledge that you’ve probably gained as a customer and social media user.
An Ability to Recognise Your Weaknesses
Entrepreneurs are often jacks of all trades. They do their own marketing and accounting, they design products, they recruit staff, they manage their team and run their business day to day. They are the people that come up with new ideas, products, and services, conduct market research, and make important decisions.
You might not be good at all of these things. No one is good at everything. To succeed as an entrepreneur, you need to be able to recognize your weaknesses, to know what you can do yourself and what you need to get help with, and where you need to learn more.
Resilience
Few entrepreneurs achieve success on the first go. Most get knockbacks, face setbacks, and experience criticism and failure. To succeed you need to be able to learn from these setbacks, to take what you can from them and to move on stronger than ever.
More people are starting businesses than ever before, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy. It takes a lot to succeed as an entrepreneur, but if you’ve got some of these skills and traits, you should make it.
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