If you’ve just started off your journey to becoming an entrepreneur, welcome to the world of business! It’s an extremely cutthroat industry, and most new businesses close down within their first year of business – those who survive and keep working at their entrepreneurship skills will likely still be around in ten years to talk about their business and the success if has achieved. But you have to start somewhere, right? Here are seven new skills essential to every entrepreneur.
1. Tact
One of the first skills that a businessperson should have complete control over is their level of tact. Would you rather do business with someone who is far, far too blunt for their own good, even if they are a good businessperson – or would you rather do business with someone that can see things from your level and adapt? Tact is vital when presenting any business ideas or trying to defuse a situation that arises in the boardroom.
2. Negotiation
Can you negotiate a deal and make sure that both parties walk off from the negotiation happy? If not, you have a huge gap in your skill set as an entrepreneur. You will have to negotiate a heck of a lot in your career: You will have to negotiate the best deals, the best prices, the best employees and more. If you can’t negotiate, people will keep getting one over on you in business deals for as long as you’re in business.
3. Self Control
A great businessperson is able to control themselves in all aspects of their life, including how they handle their money, how they handle their business and how they handle themselves. A lack of self control can lead to a range of problems in your life that can cross over into your business – and none of them are good. Self control will also apply to your temper: You never want to lose your temper and make a scene in business.
4. People Skills
As a businessperson, you can expect to work with people on an almost daily basis: You will have to convince them of your product, you will have to make sure that your employees are happy, you might need to deal with complaints that raise up to the level of management. Your people skills should be excellent if you want to be a great entrepreneur, and people have to be able to relate to you.
5. Financial Aptitude
How do you handle your personal money? If you can’t work with your own money, how can you be expected to handle money that belongs to the business – and money that should be going to your employees in the form of salaries? You should take at least a few good courses in money and how to handle finances; also some in how to budget and plan financially. An entrepreneur knows what to do with the money they have – and is most often able to turn it into more through their skills.
6. Damage Control
How do you handle conflict? Any entrepreneur will inevitably be faced with conflict, either from a client or from within their own business – or from someone they need to swing in a business deal. You need to know how to handle conflict and do damage control so that everyone ends up happy with their end of the deal.
7. Language Skills
An entrepreneur should be well-versed when it comes to languages – they should be well-familiar with their own primary language, but they should also go to the effort of reaching out to others by learning their language as they go along. If you find it hard to pick up, you should get a tutor to make it easier.
