Entrepreneurship: 6 Skills All Wealthy People Have
Consistent and reliable wealth does not come without skill. You can get a burst of income if you’re very lucky, but if you want to keep your money, you’ll need a specific set of skills. These skills will help set you apart from other entrepreneurs and will help you captain a company into the realm of profit and financial independence. Fortunately these are skills anyone can learn. Here are a few of the more important ones.
1. Knowing How to Market and Brand You and Your Start-up
Who you and your start-up are and how you’re presented has a direct effect on your success. If people don’t know what to expect from you and your product, they can’t trust you. It’ll also limit your ability to capture the market, as part of marketing and branding involves targeting the right demographics and positioning your company to appeal to that group.
You don’t need to become the world’s leading expert on branding, but you need to know enough to manage before you can afford to hire a professional. Even if you can hire one off the bat, you should still be able to figure out if your marketer’s game plan is legitimate or if you’re being taken for a ride.
2. Organisation
All entrepreneurs, by nature, have a lot on their plate. If you can’t figure out the logistics and make everything fit on your schedule, you’re going to have problems. Tasks will start to fall by the wayside and eventually the start-up will fall behind. The competition gets ahead and you’re in a pinch.
Find a system that works for you and your company, but stay flexible. Your start-up will change systems and processes as it grows. Don’t resist new processes simply because you’re attached to your old strategies.
3. Money Management
Money is the heart of your company. You can’t do anything with the start-up if you can’t afford to produce your product, let alone pay your employees. Managing your money means knowing how much you have available to spend on your company at any given time. That means recording your expenditures and doing your taxes. Fortunately, this is not something you have to or even should do alone.
4. Making Friends and Networking
Building relationships is a skill no successful entrepreneur can do without. The more connections you have, the more opportunities you’ll find. Instead of paying full price to manufacture your product, a prior relationship can allow you to cut a deal that offers a discount, which lets you lower your prices and perhaps capture a larger share of the market.
If you can’t network, you’ll have trouble with the people part of your start-up. Employees will have to be hired off job boards, and while that’s not bad, it’s better to get them vetted through recommendations.
5. Leadership
You don’t have to be the start-up’s CEO, but you must be able to lead. That means inspiring the people around you and articulating your vision well enough that people can follow it. If you can’t leave, you’ll have trouble getting to work at their fullest potential.
It also involves taking responsibility when things go wrong, as ultimately, you are accountable for how the start-up does. Everything goes through you. If you can’t be accountable for your start-up, people will have difficulty believing you’re fully committed to its success.
6. Time Management
Some entrepreneurs seem to have all the time in the world. You may have wondered if those entrepreneurs have made a deal with the devil, but all they’ve really done is learned how to manage their time better. They don’t busy themselves with a book when work needs to be done.
But time management is not just about not wasting time. It’s about proper scheduling and knowing when to delegate. There’s simply too much for one person to do. Prioritise tasks that only you can do and let somebody else handle the rest.
These are far from the only skills you’ll need, but these will get you started on the right foot. Being an entrepreneur is a constant fight for relevance. The world is cramped with would-be entrepreneurs, each adding their voice to the noise. If you let them drown you out, you’ll fail. If you keep your skills sharp and keep working hard, eventually you’ll rise above and succeed.