Three skills you need to start a small business

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Aside from having an actual business idea, know that it takes skills and hard work to start a small business.

While your business might not require technical skills or knowledge, the fact still remains that some skills are needed in all businesses.

Starting a small business can be risky and scary for anyone. This post will detail three skills that will help start a successful small business.

Skill One – Finance

Counting the beans, dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s is incredibly important for ensuring your business remains, well, in-business. Managing the finances can be tight and often incredibly stressful but if you’re ahead of everything to begin with you won’t be playing catch with the cashflow.

Effectively managing the finances of your business from payroll to re-investing revenue is key to keeping the business running.

You don’t want to be misappropriating any money, losing control of costs or not making the most of what you’re raking in.

If you don’t have the financial know-how or struggle to balance a cheque-book then you need to either upskill or contract someone capable of over-seeing all your money management and accounting tasks.

Skill Two – Management

It will come to pass that once your small business is going you will need to manage people and operations. If you’re new to this kind of responsibility, it could be a challenge. Having the right management skills and leadership qualities will only make your job easier.

Some people are natural born leaders but others shy away from the responsibility. You should take ownership of your business and its operations, especially if it’s your livelihood.

Perhaps you think you could do with further education or training for your leadership and management skills. If you’re considering this, the good news is your small business could be eligible for government assistance. Plus, training is always a wise investment in your business and could be a good opportunity to try your finance

Skill Three – Marketing

If you’re passionate about your business and idea, it will come naturally to you to actively promote and market your business. Effectively using available advertising channels and original marketing ideas is how you can win the game.

Spreading the good word about your business can simply boil down to saying the right thing at the right time. If you can produce a piece of content that is engaging enough for an audience then they’re going to run with it. This gives your audience a reason to keep coming back to your business and a reason to chose to spend their money on your product and/or service.

Like the Dollar Shave Club did with their humanistic, albeit cheeky, viral- video introducing their value proposition to the world, use your own USP in all your communications to really drive home why people should choose your business over the competition.

The key here is really finding a unique perspective. This can only come from you knowing your business inside out. At the end of the day, no one knows your business like you do.

Conclusion

So perhaps you already have some of these skills but not others. Could this be a chance to invest in yourself or your new small business by undertaking some further education and training? Online education makes studying accessible and achievable for even the busiest professional. Registered Training Organisation Upskilled offer a plethora of online courses in finance, management and marketing and more. Plus, all their courses are nationally recognised

If you can balance the books, manage your business and market your goods or services then your venture should be primed for a steady road ahead.

So, are you qualified to start that small business or are there a few skills you need to brush up on?

Brought to you by Darby Larner, Design and Communications, Upskilled