If you want to be an entrepreneur, you’ll need to learn at every turn. as business owners, we must be willing to learn about the many aspects of running a business. We’re constantly learning new business skills like finance, human resources, and marketing.
In this article, I am going to look at the key business skills you will need to develop in order to be an effective entrepreneur. I will also suggest some excellent online learning resources that can help fill key gaps in your knowledge and ensure you are better equipped to steer your small business through a post-Covid environment.
Financial management
Sound financial management is the backbone of any business.
It’s not a nice thought, but who said entrepreneurship was all fun and games? Learn the basics of accounting to help your business stay afloat.
Business owners and entrepreneurs have one ugly nemesis—cash flow. Managing finances can be a nightmare for their little business. They live from paycheck to paycheck, constantly worrying about how they’re going to pay their bills. Fortunately, advances in technology are widening the horizons of possibilities for small business owners.
Cash flow is the lifeblood of a company. Without cash, the cycle stops. But with the right business skills, cash flow can remain steady and healthy. When managed well, cash can be a powerful tool. Think of it as oxygen for your business. It’s what keeps the business alive and healthy without drowning in debt.
Discover ways to cut down your business costs and discover ways to increase your profits. Learn to see the big picture by viewing your firm’s financial statements in different ways.
Key Takeaway:
Monitoring, protecting, controlling, and investing your company’s cash is the key to success and strength.
Marketing
In today’s fast-paced business climate, it’s essential for your business to have a well-devised marketing strategy. Customers can only be persuaded to spend if you offer them products they care about and services that meet their needs
The ability to analyze your competition, the marketplace and industry trends are critical to the development of your marketing strategy. Marketing your business involves setting up and implementing a variety of sales and promotional techniques based on what is most appropriate for your business and your customers.
Without a clear message, businesses are blind to opportunities and will fail to generate new sales. The key is to know how to craft and communicate a compelling message to the right target audience that generates new business, and in turn, builds profitable revenue streams.
While you don’t need to be a marketing expert in order to have a successful business, it can be helpful to have an understanding of the basics behind the strategy. Marketing is how we get potential customers to notice, recognize, and make use of our offerings.
Communication
So, let’s say you’re a small business owner and want to get better at communication skills. You’ve identified the fact that you struggle most with written communication and public speaking. Where do you go from here?
Once you’ve identified this, the next step is to understand how and why it impacts your productivity. For example, if you hate communicating via email, this may be because you feel awkward or anxious getting into a full-on debate with someone that you don’t know well. Perhaps you’d prefer to have a face-to-face conversation in-person to help build rapport and trust as well as gain an understanding of the other person.
The Muse CEO and star public speaker Kathryn Minshew suggests practising by copying TED talks or forcing yourself to talk to strangers more often. Or maybe heading up meetings is your jam, but you’re less comfortable with casual networking.
Yes, we know that professional communication can be hard. Sometimes it’s challenging to write a business email, or be persuasive enough with your clients, or have difficult conversations.
The success of your business will depend on your business skills to communicate well. You need to be able to write and speak effectively as this will help you build good working relationships with suppliers, employees, potential investors and customers.
Communication is key. You should be able to present your ideas with strong reasoning behind them and in a clear manner. Your presentation should be engaging, informative, and welcoming.
Leadership and Delegation
If you have employees, effective leadership is a must. Otherwise, you’re just pushing paper around from the iron throne.
If you employ people, you have employees. There are times when your staff will not be motivated. Rather than blame them, take the time to mentor and coach.
You heard that right—the best business leaders are also coaches and mentors. And you know what? People take advice from people they like and trust. You’ll be able to lead more effectively if you’re likeable.
Starting a business means you will have to manage a range of projects, such as setting up a website, arranging the fit-out of your premises and developing a range of policies and procedures. Knowing how to effectively manage your resources, including time, money and staff will help you to achieve your goals.
Leadership is a process of getting things done via people, where you use a combination of authority and influence to motivate a group of people toward a common goal. Leadership is also the ability to take charge, inspire others, listen to concerns, and delegate tasks. Obviously one the business skills you should ficus on.
Delegation
Failure to delegate is a trap many business owners fall into. The trap for the business owner is that they don’t have the time to manage everything personally, and want to retain complete control of their company.
Many of us are guilty of not delegating because we think the work is too much for someone else to handle. It may be a case of feeling uneasy giving up some control as we may feel that the work will not be performed as we would want it done, but by giving someone else an opportunity to do something for you and then assessing how they do it, allows you the time to improve your skills in performing tasks.
Top Take away
Delegation enables other people to grow and is ultimately good for everyone involved.
Our Top Picks for online `Courses.
One of the best ways to grow your business is to gain new business skills and knowledge. Our selection of online courses will help you develop the skills and information you need to increase your profitability.
To help you get your business growing, we’ve gathered together a variety of learning opportunities related to some key subjects. These courses cover a range of business skills that can help you maximise the potential of your company.
When your work schedule and family commitments make it difficult to get time to dedicate to personal development, online learning gives you the freedom to structure your course around your commitments.
Create your own vision and discover your passion! Take a course in web development, copywriting, iPhone app development, marketing…the list goes on and on and on. Learn to market your product or service, make your application development faster and easier, learn how to create beautiful websites without knowing HTML. There is so much you can learn online—never stop learning.
Generate new ideas
Ideas are everywhere, but sometimes it’s hard to find them. You could search the Internet for hours (and still not find what you’re looking for), or you could take some time to work on your mind instead of by engaging in a brand-new online activity… like taking a course.
Understand Your Industry
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to business. Understanding the basics of how something works will help you to develop your niche and keep up with the latest news and trends. With affordable courses, it’s easy to learn the business skills that your market is looking for.
Better Understand Others
Learning from a distance lets you collaborate with other students across the world and participate in discussion groups, giving you a chance to exchange ideas and thoughts.
Recommended Courses to Enhance Your Business Sills.
The University of Edinburgh. Here you can learn essential business skills to advance your career. Learn business communication, leadership, critical thinking, problem-solving, Microsoft Excel, data analytics and more skills to help you succeed in your work and your life. www.edx.org
University of Indiana. They offer more than 180 online degrees to choose from, IU Online allows you to access a quality education with the flexibility to fit your schedule. https://online.iu.edu
Berklee Online. This is the place to go if you are in the music or entertainment niche. Perhaps you run a small talent agency or a theatre connectedbusiness. Berklee will let you earn an online degree in every aspect of music and music management. https://online.berklee.edu/certificates/interest/music-business
London Business School LBS offer three flexible and accessible modes of learning — live online courses, short bursts of learning with live faculty interaction, and self-paced learning with personalised support. https://www.london.edu/executive-education/online-courses
The University of Queensland is another interesting online option for improving your business skills… Australia isn’t quite as far as you think. UQ Business School leads the agenda in business learning, innovation and impactful research. Our mission is to create and empower courageous thinkers who empower future leaders to positively transform business and society.
Here at Hold Everything, we try to help your business grow. we take many routine tasks off your shoulders so that you can develop yourself and your new business.
