Top 5 Skills You Need As An Aspiring Entrepreneur

Starting a business in the modern world is easier than ever. You don’t need money, status, equipment, buildings, or even a product to make money online. However, you can’t expect to run a successful business without skills. You need specific skills to create and run a successful business.

Throughout my 20+ years of entrepreneurship, I’ve identified the exact skills you need to become a successful business owner. So, here are my top five skills you need as an aspiring entrepreneur.

#1 Networking Skills

The term ‘networking’ puts a bad taste in people’s mouths. When you think of networking, you’re probably picturing people in suits having painful small talk and pitching themselves to each other. However, networking is much more meaningful than that.

Instead of networking, think about connecting with people. Making a genuine connection is much more useful than pitching yourself to get what you want. You’ll make a much bigger impact by providing value and becoming friends with people than just another nameless wannabe entrepreneur.

Making a genuine connection is much more useful than pitching yourself to get what you want.

In addition, you don’t need to go to networking events to network with people. You can meet people through your gym, local coffee shop, grocery store, post office, or anywhere else you regularly visit. As I said, networking is about making connections with people. You never know how one simple connection might impact you later on.

You never know how one simple connection might impact you later on. Click To Tweet

As an aspiring entrepreneur, you need networking skills to create more opportunities for your business. For example, say you go to the grocery store and talk to the cashier. It might come up in conversation that you’re a new business owner. That cashier might be inspired by your business and tell their friends and family about it. You didn’t have to sell them on your idea, either. You just made a genuine connection and impact without pitching yourself.

Here are a few things to do before you begin networking:

Read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie: This book completely changed my perspective on networking and influencing people.

Practice your communication and emotional intelligence skills: To influence people, you must understand human connection and emotions.

Take small steps: You don’t need to go out daily and connect with as many people as possible. If you’re an introvert like me, that can be overwhelming. I suggest shooting for one deep connection weekly and working your way up as you improve.

Focus on people, not getting what you want: Networking is about making friends, not selling people your ideas. People want to be heard. They don’t want to be sold to.

#2 Financial Skills

Financial skills are crucial for aspiring entrepreneurs. You must understand assets and liabilities, tax write-offs, budgeting, using other people’s money, reading financial documents, etc. You cannot run a successful business if you cannot manage your money.

You cannot run a successful business if you cannot manage your money.

So, I suggest learning a little about a lot of financial topics and hiring professionals to handle the rest. For example, you can read books, articles, and magazines, watch videos, and take online courses on financial topics.

Here are some of my favorite books for improving your financial skills:

  • Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
  • The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman
  • Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
  • The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley

#3 Being Teachable

Being teachable is essential for aspiring entrepreneurs because you don’t know everything about business. You need to learn from others more successful than you and not get upset when someone gives you advice.

I suggest finding a mentor online or in-person to share insights about their journey and give you advice. Mentors can also keep you accountable and prevent you from making the same mistakes they made.

#4 Discipline

You cannot be successful with discipline. Discipline is a vital skill for aspiring entrepreneurs because it forces them to work toward their goals even when they’re not motivated.

Discipline keeps you accountable and is critical for performing daily habits that will generate success in your life. For example, when you start a business, there will be times when you don’t feel like working on it because you’re tired, unmotivated, discouraged, etc. Discipline forces you to work on your business despite your emotions, pushing you forward.

Most people struggle with discipline, which is why they never create the lives they want. However, you cannot lack discipline if you want to become a successful entrepreneur. Discipline takes you from being average to becoming successful simply because you put in the work every day.

#5 Solving Problems

As an aspiring entrepreneur, you need to be able to solve problems. The purpose of a business is to provide a solution to a common problem that impacts people.

So, if you have a business idea and want to know if the market needs it, research what other people are doing in your industry. You can also leverage the power of social media by asking your audience if they would be interested in your business idea. If you don’t have an audience, you can build one by providing valuable content based on your business idea.

If you don’t have a business idea, think about a problem you’ve had or witnessed that you could solve. Then, use social media to bring awareness to this idea through valuable content. Once you’ve built a decent following (1000+), you can ask your audience if they would be interested in that idea.

Feeling Overwhelmed As A Newbie Entrepreneur?

If you want to begin your entrepreneurial journey but don’t know where to begin, ENTRE has got you covered.

My company ENTRE teaches everyday humans how to leverage their skills and gifts to create an online business that gives them control over their time, life, and income.

So, if you’re ready to jump into entrepreneurship and receive the proper skillsguidance, and coaching you need to create a successful online business, click here. 

 

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