10 Important Things to Learn Before Starting a Business
Entrepreneurs have to wear a lot of hats. They’re responsible for hiring, leading the team, making big decisions, and landing clients. On a given day, they might float between six different departments and coordinate efforts from a dozen individuals. Accordingly, to succeed as an entrepreneur, it’s not enough to have a great idea. You also have to have the business skills to support that idea. But which business skills are most important to learn before starting a business?
The most important business skills to learn
These are some of the most important skills entrepreneurs should develop:
1. Financial management and accounting
First, you need to have a good understanding of financial fundamentals. You should understand how to budget money, how to read a balance sheet, and how to calculate and maximize profitability. It’s not enough to lean on your accountant—you should know some of the fundamentals yourself.
2. Writing
You’ll be doing a lot of writing as a business owner, whether it’s drafting new proposals or writing instructional emails to employees. Being able to express yourself clearly and concisely in writing will help you to be better understood and more persuasive when you need to be.
3. Public speaking
Similarly, you need to be able to speak clearly and concisely in public. You’ll need to motivate your team members and provide them with both positive and negative feedback. You’ll also may be making pitches to investors and clients, and even giving speeches and presentations related to your company. The more effective you are, the better.
4. Data analytics
You may hire data analysts, but it’s important to understand the fundamentals of data analysis yourself. This way, you can read charts and graphs effectively and make better decisions for your business.
5. Marketing
The same is true for the fundamentals of marketing and advertising. If you have a strong foundation of knowledge here, you’ll be able to brainstorm better marketing and advertising campaigns, and better position your brand long term.
6. Project management
One way to think of entrepreneurship is to consider it to be ongoing management of a series of projects. You’ll be responsible for supervising teams and coordinating resources to achieve your goals—whatever they happen to be. Becoming a better project manager will allow you to improve your efficiency, collaborate more effectively with team members, and ultimately achieve your goals faster and more reliably.
7. Time management
One of the biggest issues faced by new entrepreneurs is a crippling shortage of time. There are only eight hours in a day and 40 hours in a week. Even though you’ll be surpassing those “normal” figures frequently, you may still feel incredibly limited in what you can accomplish. The solution is superior time management. You’ll need to employ strategies to better prioritize the tasks in front of you, work more efficiently, and eliminate wasted time wherever possible.
8. Negotiation
As a business owner, you’ll constantly be negotiating. You will negotiate with investors on the terms of your funding. You will negotiate with clients on pricing and terms of the deal. You will even negotiate with employees on their initial salary as well as their ongoing responsibilities. As a better negotiator, you’ll be able to get better terms, better deals, and more favorable positions in nearly every aspect of your business.
9. Basic software skills
It also pays to improve your skills as they relate to common apps used in business. For example, getting familiar with Microsoft Word and Excel can make it far easier for you to create new files and edit existing ones.
10. Stress management
Finally, don’t neglect your own stress management capabilities. Running a business can be incredibly stressful, and if you’re not careful, it could lead to burnout. Work proactively to understand your stress levels better and take action to reduce them. That means taking breaks throughout the day, taking vacations periodically, and spending time doing relaxing things you love.
Another important business skill is adaptability
There’s one more skill that’s vital to mention, though it almost doesn’t qualify as a “business skill” per se, it’s adaptability, or the ability to responsively adapt to new situations. As an entrepreneur, this is arguably your most important quality, since it’s what allows you to learn new skills, respond to challenges, and change to suit an evolving environment. Things change quickly in businesses, and you need to be prepared to respond to those changes and learn new skills as needed.
If you can master all these skills, or at least learn the basics of each, you’ll be much better suited to start and run a business. Entrepreneurship isn’t a race, so it pays to be prepared for the world of business ownership.
