What does it take to run a successful business?

In the new era of entrepreneurship, running a successful business should be easy right? Ask many entrepreneurs, you will get mixed emotions, feelings and answers.

Whilst having a business idea is amazing, running a business is a completely different ball game that most of us are not prepared for. Why is that? Simple, we have not been prepared for it. The education system is perhaps playing catch up with the way the world is going and having an entrepreneurial mindset is definitely something that they need to teach more of.

An idea

In this day and age, you can make money from anything and everything. That business idea may be unusual, weird and completely out of this world, but if you have a strong value proportion and enough to offer your target audience, your business can be as successful as you would like it to be.

Strategic Business Planning Skills

Failing to plan is planning to fail and a business without a plan is heading downhill. Developing and implementing a strategy for your business is a skill every business owner needs. In a nutshell, strategic thinking is looking at ways to put your product in front of the right people, having a product that the customers want whilst being fairly priced.

When you think strategically, you are looking at how your business needs to perform at every stage from startup to scaling up and even having an exit strategy if need be.

When a good strategy is applied to your business, short-term and long term goals are aligned which will help you step closer to achieving your business objectives.

Marketing Skills

Knowing how to use marketing is knowing how to make your business and brand memorable and so loved by your customer that they become loyal and will not go anywhere else.

Marketing is a fundamental skill to have, you need it at every stage of business. Even when your business is well known you will still need marketing so that you stay at the forefront of your customer's minds.

Sales and Customer Relationships

Selling is a skill that everyone should have knowledge of. Whether it is selling juice or selling yourself in a job interview, we have all sold something at some point in our lives.

However, the negotiation skills required to understand the selling process is different at each level. You want your business to become so trustworthy that the product sells itself, which takes time. In the meantime you need to be committed to selling and negotiating.

Communication Skills

Knowing how to talk to people is important. Every person that comes in contact with your business is important. If it is staff, directors or customers. Knowing how to communicate at different levels, formally or informally will make you approachable and a good business person in the eyes of your target audience.

Selling Yourself Effectively

Selling yourself is all part of selling, but when it comes to you, the way you present yourself to others will also represent how you want to be seen, as well as where you place yourself in the market. You are as much a brand as you are an entrepreneur and business owner. You are an extension of your brand and your brand is an extension of you also.

Finance and Accounting Skills

Cash is the lifeline of every business. You need to know where the money is coming from and what you are spending it on, as well as how much you need to make in order to keep the business going and be profitable.

This will help you set prices for your products and services but you also need to think about how much you need to spend on marketing and other business aspects to have a profitable business.

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