3 Essential Skills for Entrepreneurs

 

Tommy Shek

An entrepreneur is someone who establishes and/or runs their own business. Since they own equity in the business, they share in the profits but also have to endure at least part of the losses. Entrepreneurs take many different kinds of risks, including the overall business risk, career risk, financial risk, and even emotional risk.

Since the stakes are so high, it is important that every person looking to be an entrepreneur has some fundamental skills – a few of which Tommy Shek will be talking about in this blog.

 The Most Important Entrepreneurial Skills:

Skill 1 – Finance Skills:

According to Tommy Shek, a basic understanding of finance, including the ability to understand and analyze financial statements and budgets, is crucial for operating any business.

Creating and sticking to realistic budgets is often the difference between a stable and failing business. Possessing financial skills will help you better allocate your company’s precious resources and avoid overspending.

You must also be able to prepare and interpret financial statements like cash-flow statement, income statement, and Statement of Financial Position (also called the ‘balance sheet’). Not only are these documents important for tax and reporting purposes, but they also help you monitor current performance, create forecasts, and manage business expenses. Other than that, these statements also help investors and lenders determine the financial health and viability of your company.

Skill 2 – Communication:

Tommy Shek says that, not every great communicator needs to be a businessperson, but every businessperson needs to be a great communicator.

Whether you run a solo operation or are the head of a Fortune 500 company, it is important for you to be able to communicate clearly with your various internal and external stakeholders. Customers, employees, investors, mentors, and peers are just a few groups that an entrepreneur is required to communicate with. If you are unable to effectively talk about your business, its mission, values, and offerings, it will become that much harder for you to succeed.

Hence, an entrepreneur needs to master all kinds of communication, including in-person and one-on-one conversations, group discussions, online and email messages, and written communication.

Skill 3 – Strategic Thinking:

Being a successful entrepreneur will require you to actively seek out opportunities – you cannot just sit with your hands folded and wait for them to come to you. You must show initiative and make sure that you and your business are primed to latch on to any chances to grow.

This is where strategic thinking – the ability to grow your own self and your business – comes into play. Tommy Shek says that strategic thinking is particularly important while determining the optimal way to make your company achieve its pre-determined objectives.

At the end of the day, your aim is to develop a strategic business that focuses on its customers’ needs – something that can only be achieved if you know what your customers want.  You should be able to collect customer feedback, anticipate changes in your target market’s needs or requirements, optimize your customer service, and come up with ways to stand out from your rivals.

 Final Word:

It is impossible to become a successful entrepreneur overnight – it is a long journey, and demands commitment, dedication, drive, and resilience. Thankfully, though, anyone who is willing to embrace the traits and skills discussed in this blog, can pursue and succeed at entrepreneurship.

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