5 Essential Skills Required to Succeed as an Entrepreneur No business venture is a straight line to success, hence knowing how to deal with ups and downs, is essential
By Manoj Jain
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Being an entrepreneur is like being a mother. One has to be skilled in multiple ways to be ready to deal with most crisis situations. Ask any entrepreneur and they will be able to narrate a list of skills they have picked up on their journey to establish their business from a fledgling idea to a full blown profitable company. One's success relies on their ability to adopt and implement the following five essential skills which are required to succeed as an entrepreneur:
1. Willingness to Learn:
Learning is a continuous and lifelong process. Most people make the mistake of restricting their knowledge development to their academic timelines. This rookie mistake and the attitude to be blasé about further garnering knowledge to increase one's growth potential is very harmful. One's willingness to accept that there are gaps in their wisdom and to correct them by having a strong enthusiasm to learn will go a long way in helping a person pave their path towards success.
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2. To deal with failure:
You cannot fail if you don't even try. And just because you have failed, doesn't mean you cannot try again. Entrepreneurship is as risky as it is rewarding. Even before one contemplates the thought of undertaking this journey, one should be acceptable to the thought of failure. No business venture is a straight line to success, hence knowing how to deal with ups and downs is essential. Remember that every successful person out there has failed dozens of times before getting a win. Failure isn't the end - it's just a data point on the way to success.
3. Money Management:
It's easy to rue that you don't know where your money is going when you are not responsible for the success and failure of a business. It's a very simple math- if you cannot manage money, you cannot manage a business. In the end, the bottom line is profit and one needs to be good at crunching numbers if you intend to helm the ship. Financial management is the most important responsibility of an entrepreneur, especially in the start-up stage. In the beginning, you will have limited budget and you need to be cautious about spending each penny in a way that it brings you back profit in some manner. Thus, knowing your cash flow can make planning and budgeting for financial needs much easier. So, grab that calculator, open that excel sheet and start counting where your pretty pennies are going. Even if you find it tiresome or distasteful part, this is a key skill to develop if you are aiming to be a successful entrepreneur. So, buck up!
4. Creativity:
Is creativity just limited to a colourful canvas? No, and as an entrepreneur, you will need to utilise your creative streak to find solutions to everyday problems. The true mettle of an entrepreneur is tested when they are set against the intangible and tangible problems for which there are no textbook solutions. All one has to rely on is their perseverance and creativity to come up with new ideas and adapt to new situations quickly and finding solutions for problems as and when they arise. Directionless creativity is of no use and hence, one needs to truly rub their creative brain cells to steer their business through raging waters.
5. Communication:
If you don't communicate properly about your business to the right people, then how will you make it flourish? Crisp and concise communication is paramount for each and every interaction with clients, partners, peers, clients, prospects and any other stakeholder. It is essential to network and the way to stand out while networking is by utilising effective communication techniques.
