Top 10 Skills That Will Make You A Successful Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship is a system that gives back to society, improves the lives of millions of people, and generates employment in a nation to boost its economy. 

It is not just about starting a business, developing a product, and making money. It is a way of life that requires near perfection in all areas of life and an intricate combination of your hard and soft skills conjoined delicately to form the perfect personality required to be a successful entrepreneur.

Were you always looking for a medium through which you could showcase your truest talents and interests, where the sky’s the limit and it offers you complete autonomy? 

Most of the answers you will find will be: Become an entrepreneur and kick-start your business with a specific niche and a never-giving-up attitude to keep growing.

Now you might think, “Why doesn’t everyone leave their jobs to start a business and be successful?” In reality, only about 25% of startup founders are able to sustain their businesses for the next ten years.

So the question arises: How can we reach that 25% and become truly successful entrepreneurs? Don’t worry, this article will introduce you to the top 10 skills that you must possess to become a successful entrepreneur so that you can introduce these skills into your life and accomplish your higher dreams with ease.

Importance of entrepreneurial skills

Entrepreneurship skills are vital for you as a business owner to successfully guide your business through adverse challenges, keep facing them with courage, and provide you with the right expertise to enhance your decision-making skills. You must check these points to get an idea of the importance of entrepreneurial skills:

• It targets an audience in millions and gradually improves their lives.
• Boost a nation’s GDP with the creation of employment opportunities.
• Provides an opportunity for personal as well as professional growth.
• Improving the standard of living for a large number of people.
• Even encourages philanthropy by the leading people, which helps the poorer sections of society.
• Creates idealism for many youths who aspire to be successful leaders one day.
• Cultivates leadership qualities for the employees as they learn to coordinate and lead a team.
• Continuously brings innovation to the lives of people and further improves it. 

What are the top 10 entrepreneurial skills

1. Problem-solving skills 

A great leader is capable of coping with problems rather than complaining about them. They are fully aware that nothing is perfect and understand how to deal with failure. They have that creativity, which allows them to tackle problems with ease and, at times, gives them the chance to turn it into their strength. 

How to acquire this skill: The key to success here is practice, because the more you fail, the more you learn. The experience gained during the process will help you a lot and prepare you for your future.

2. Wisdom and decision-making skills

“To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe,”  says Oprah Winfrey, who frequently speaks about the power of wisdom and lets us know how wisdom shapes with time and enables one to make the right decisions for the company and make upward growth with the team. Decision-making skills go hand in hand with rationality and analytical thinking.  

How to acquire this skill: You must read some biographies of great leaders like Benjamin Franklin or some philosophical books like Marcus Aurelius’s ‘Meditations’ in order to shape your wisdom and enhance your decision-making abilities. Reading these books will make you think about your decisions from their perspective and help you make better decisions.

3. Leadership skills

As a leader, you must be capable of inspiring colleagues, empowering the workforce, and creating harmony in a team. You must be able to influence your peers and get them to work efficiently for the company, which further leads to the growth of an organization.

Accountability and responsibility are the foundations of a true leader. Entrepreneurs with great leadership skills are most likely to grow their businesses and create a positive work culture. 

How to acquire this Skill: If you are a student, you must take on administrative roles like being in the student council and feel the true essence of being a leader. As an adult, you can sign up for some leadership courses, start treating everyone with due respect, and keep an open ear for their problems.

Some great books on leadership:

• A Leader With No Title (Robin Sharma)
• Start With Why (Simon Sinek)
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen R Covey)
• The Art Of War (Sun Tzu)
• Zero To One (Peter Thiel)

4. Communication skills

“Great communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity”. A person with great communication skills has the special powers to influence others and get the best out of them, along with making them feel special and giving them due credit. It also leads to fewer conflicts in the team and builds empathy for different roles by sharing problems and issues.

How to acquire this skill: Books are the best tools to enhance your vocabulary, which leads to greater self-esteem so that we can communicate freely without hesitation. This is also one of those skills that grows with time, and the more you converse, the better you get at it. There are also many YouTube channels, where you can enhance your communication skills and vocabulary:

• Charisma On Command
• Ted Talks
• Brian Tracy
• School Of Life 
• English Speeches

5. Creative thinking 

A creative person has the ability to turn a flaw into a strength through a tactical approach, In the same way, you can use creativity, which is critical for a company, to manage obstacles and find solutions. Your creativity helps a team find solutions to complex situations and resolve them with ease.

Creative people have the ability to be optimistic even at the most depressing times, which uplifts everyone around them. This trait of yours will foster business innovation, allowing it to rise to prominence through the unique value it provides to clients.

How to acquire this skill: Nothing in this world is original; you must steal like an artist by replicating the best of the ideas by presenting them from your perspective, combining multiple ideas, and creating a unique fusion idea. Also, you can use idea generation and validation tools for creative thinking.

6. Marketing and networking skills

In today’s competitive world, it is extremely challenging to grow a new company. With thousands of rivals and new ideas coming every day, it is almost impossible to grow your business. Marketing skills come to the rescue and will help you and your organization capture the audience’s attention with captivating stories and creative visuals.

It will help your company capture their target audience with promotions flowing out to markets and innovative tactics to boost sales and engagements. As Anthony Robbins says, “My Network Is My Net Worth”, networking helps build connections and solidify your social impact. Through this skill, you can also gain access to more information. 

How to acquire this skill: There are many great online courses related to marketing and networking abilities that will help you grow your business. You can also buy some great books on marketing, which are available at the stores. For example

• Seth Godin’s “This Is Marketing”
• Robert Cialdini’s “Influence”
• Donald Miller’s “Building a Story brand”
• Chan Kim’s “Blue Ocean Strategy”
• Adam Grant’s “Originals”

7. Finance skills

You must possess strong financial knowledge and business acumen to grow your company by making decisions like how to budget the company’s revenue and how to maximize profits for a financial year. Finance assists businesses in increasing cash flow, reducing debt, and generating revenue. This skill will also help you analyze potential risks, giving you a chance to prepare for a tragedy in advance and prevent losses in the company.

How to acquire this skill: There are some great books on finance that are easily available online as well as offline. You can also enroll in some online finance courses to help you develop this skill. This skill also increases gradually over time and its effectiveness compounds.

8. Perseverance

Entrepreneurs who persevere assist their organizations in continuing to move forward in the face of obstacles and challenges. Without a firm decision to keep moving, even at times of acute adversity, a business can crumble easily with shattered hopes and dreams.

This grit helps entrepreneurs get ahead of their problems and also motivates their teammates to keep grinding and moving ahead. It is the essential “never giving up” attitude that is essential for entrepreneurial success and fame. 

How to acquire this skill: In order to master this skill, you must step out of your comfort zone and tackle the real obstacles and failures, but with time and experience, you will develop perseverance. Just like Steve Jobs, who was desperate for success and came to India to learn the purpose of life.

9. Sales skill

This entrepreneurial skill will help you boost the sale of your product through effective persuasion and great communication skills. Self-confidence and creative thinking are stepping stones for the development of this skill. Through persuasion and innovative thinking, you can assist your business in gaining even more customers. This skill will even improve your company’s dynamic and facilitate team building and harmony.

How to acquire this skill: This skill will compound with more and more rejections. The more rejections and failures you receive, the better your sales skills will become. It may be difficult at first, but it has a profound effect on you after a while. Here are some great books for you to learn sales –

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
• To Sell Is Human by Daniel H. Pink
• The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer
• Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini

10. Motivation

Last but not least, motivating yourself first and then your colleagues is one of the most important skills you must master in order to get the best out of them and uplift them during times of distress. To be a great leader, you must learn to sell dreams and hopes and inspire the masses with great storytelling and interaction. 

How to acquire this skill: There are many great self-help books available in stores, through which you can gain some extraordinary insights to inspire your team and boost their energy and creative output.

Some additional tips to become a successful entrepreneur

• Be decisive and don’t hesitate
• Face your own weaknesses
• Do not be afraid of failure
• Do what you are best at
• Don’t let emotions weaken yourself
• Clever in delegating tasks
• Put into action immediately

Conclusion

By implementing the above-suggested skills in your everyday life, you can become an even more effective leader and develop these entrepreneurial skills to grow your business at a faster pace. By far, executing these 10 skills will have a drastic impact on your career and enable you to reach stellar heights. Entrepreneurship skills will also improve your non-professional lives with better understanding and wisdom. 

To summarize, developing entrepreneurial skills can lead to more opportunities, higher earning potential, and personal development. It also provides people with a sense of purpose and satisfaction.

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