entrepreneurial skills

The Top Skills that Every Entrepreneur Needs in 2019

By Ashutosh Jha → Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Launching a new business is an exciting time. The fact that becoming a business owner is easier than ever means that the market is flooded with new companies every year that all hope to make an impact. While the skills needed to actually launch your new business idea can be basic, the more skilled you are, the more chance that your entrepreneurial effort will succeed.

When 30% of new businesses fail in the first year, and up to half fail within the first five years of trading, it’s clear that having the right skills is as important as ever.

Top Skills Every Entrepreneur Needs

If you’re wondering about the skills you can improve on to make your business more likely to succeed, then here are the key areas that you should be focusing on.

#1 Planning and Proposal Skills

While every entrepreneur should be aware of the need for a strong business plan, most are unaware of just how important that skill is. Business plans are vital for entrepreneurs and startups because they can be the key to sourcing the right level of financial backing. More than that, the best business plans are able to help you guide the future of your company and ensure that it stands a much better chance of success.

Being able to forecast your future in a clear and detailed manner can only be of benefit when it comes to managing your growth. Look at local courses in order to get a better understanding of the best way to write a business plan that will work for you, and your business will only grow stronger as a result.

#2 Budgeting Basics

It’s a fact that the majority of your business problems are going to be caused by money matters. From paying staff to making sure that your own living costs are covered, your budget is often the defining factor that will determine your chances of success. Whether you’re bootstrapping your business launch, or you have the backing of an angel investor, being able to manage your finances will go a long way to improving your chances of business growth.

Learning how to manage your finances is therefore key. One of the best ways to do this is to learn some basic bookkeeping skills, and there is a wide variety of accountancy software to learn how to use. These can make it much easier to help manage your budget, and ensure that you manage your spending much more professionally.

#3 Digital Marketing

Marketing can be the one area that makes or breaks your business. Having the ability to reach new audiences or encourage spending in your existing one should be a high priority for every entrepreneur. Learning the basics of marketing is relatively simple, but it can be very beneficial to get a formal qualification in this field.

Marketing is essential for every business model, and both your startup and your future can be made more secure by learning the in-depth ways to market in the digital age. Modern marketing means that your business can:

• Level the playing field when it comes to competing with established brand names
• Target your key audience
• Personalize your marketing and sales strategies
• Have access to in-depth analytics that can help guide the future of your business
• Have easier scalability than traditional techniques
• Fantastic ROI
• Be mobile so that customers can buy wherever they are

This is a skill set that is expected to grow in demand, and you can secure your future by studying online for an MBA for marketing professionals that will teach you everything that you need to about the essentials of modern marketing. Failing to market well can mean that your startup hits a roadblock very quickly, and it is only through a strong marketing strategy that your business can be expected to grow. You can check some best skills for digital marketing manager.

#4 Selling Essentials

You can have the best financial backing and the ultimate in marketing campaigns, but if you can’t close a sale, then your business is going to collapse. Learning how to sell can be very complicated, as there are a seemingly endless variety of ‘top sales techniques’ that are advocated by an impossible number of sales professionals.

The fact is that everyone can sell, and everyone will have their own strategies for doing so. The most complicated sales techniques in the world will not help you if you don’t understand them. However, there are some basic essentials that you can work on in order to get more from your sales. They are:

• Know your target audience - This will make it easier to understand what they want from you, allowing you to target your sales script to their needs.
• Use a sales process - You need a consistent process that can be measured and repeated.
• Understand everything about your product or service - You are going to have to talk about what your company does, and the more that you understand what you're selling, the easier it will be to make that sale.
• Check your customer journey - Allow for as few roadblocks or barriers to a sale as possible.
• Listen - The more that you understand what your customer is saying to you about their needs, the easier it will be to adapt your sales technique to meet those needs.
• Be consistent - Everyone has bad days, but a salesperson needs to be on top form every time. Learn how to control your emotions so that even if you’re in a foul mood, you can bounce into a sales meeting full of energy and enthusiasm.
• Follow Up - Too many weak sales strategies fail to address the need to follow up on those sales that didn’t land. This can be a very lucrative revenue stream, and you ignore it at your peril.

These soft and hard skills are well within reach, and you can work on them in your own time. This will allow you the freedom to work on your startup while investing time into your own development. If you want your future goals to be more achievable, learning these skills could transform your future and secure your startup so that it avoids becoming just another failed business statistic.

entrepreneurial skills

8 Qualities of a Great Entrepreneur

By Ashutosh Jha → Thursday, December 6, 2018

Entrepreneurs are inspiring experts in the world of business as they have been able to find ways of making their personal dreams a reality, while helping other people on their team succeed as well. If you want to become an entrepreneur, you might be asking, what is entrepreneur, and what are the top qualities in the most successful entrepreneurs around the world? Keep reading to learn about five of the top traits of today’s best business professionals.

8 Great Entrepreneur Qualities to Follow

Here are some of the best Great Entrepreneur Qualities everyone should follow. There are entrepreneurs who have failed multiple times but didn't loose their confidence and passion. And at last, we read and follow their path.

1. Unwilling to Give Up

Making it in the business world is hard, and it requires persistence, which is one of the qualities exhibited by today’s best entrepreneurs. When you are starting a new venture, you will inevitably face a lot of challenges. If you are able to keep your head up, maintain a positive attitude, and use those challenges as opportunities to learn and grow, you will increase the odds of succeeding at whatever it is that you’re striving to do. Believe in yourself and in your abilities, and never give up. Before long, your efforts will pay off.

2. Never Afraid to Take Risks

Another one of the qualities that today’s entrepreneurs are known for is the ability to courageously take risks. Sure, there is always some level of fear involved, but the wisest business pros don’t let that fear get in the way. Taking calculated risks is one of the best strategies to increase the odds that your business will grow by leaps and bounds. Playing it safe all the time may only lead to mediocrity, but taking risks and thinking outside the box can increase the odds that you’ll achieve greatness.

Also Check: Meet the most influential marketer of the web, Neil

3. Being Disciplined

Self-discipline is another trait that you should have if you are hoping to be a successful entrepreneur someday. Exhibiting discipline is a means by which you can stay on track. Have a disciplined mind, know what your goals are, know what your routine should be, and stay organized. Stick with fellow experts who are also disciplined so that they can help you to stay on course too. Be responsible, have direction, and exhibit self-control at all times.

4. Being Action-Oriented

To succeed in business, you have to think fast, but you have to make wise choices as well. The best entrepreneurs are able to use the information and data that they are given to make the smartest moves. They’re action-oriented, so they aren’t willing to waste time. And, if they do find that they made a mistake, they use their action-oriented mentality to quickly shift gears and make corrections wherever necessary.

5. Always Willing to Learn

The smartest entrepreneurs know that there’s always a lot more to learn. They don’t walk around thinking that they know it all already and that they have nothing to gain from listening to others. Instead, they have an open mind and they’re always seeking ways to further educate themselves to improve the way that they work.

6. Self-Starter

Entrepreneurs know if something need to be started, they need to take the initiative. Uber, Airbnb, are just examples from many, where they changed the way we used to commute and stay. They set the parameter and path which others follow to achieve the target.

7. Creativity

Creativity is something which gives the ability to connect the odd events and situations. Entrepreneurs always come up with the solutions which change the way we work. They launch and market the product which actually impress and affect the daily living.

8. Passion

Passion is one of the most important traits of an entrepreneur. They love the work they do and can put any number of hours for the same. I’ve seen people spending weeks on their workplace to complete the product and market.

Also Check: 5 Tips Every Entrepreneur Needs for Better Money Management

Wrapping it up!

These are just five of the many amazing qualities exhibited by the top entrepreneurs in the world. If you aspire to be like them and achieve great things, consider making these qualities a part of your personality.

Although these are not just the only qualities of entrepreneurs but it takes a lot for it. They spend countless sleepless nights to be on the place where they’re. If you’re an entrepreneur, please share with us what you follow.

Start-Up Business

The Start-Up Costs You Need to Consider for Freelancing

By Ashutosh Jha → Thursday, October 4, 2018

Starting a freelancing career is a big step and not one to be taken lightly. It does offer some benefits, such as being your boss and setting your hours, etc., But it often comes with some significant downsides, such as a lack of consistency in gigs, no benefits, and more. Therefore, before you start your freelancing career, you need to look at the start-up costs.

Many of these might be obvious, but some aren’t, which is why anyone thinking about a career in freelancing needs to take a long in-depth, and hard look at the start-up costs. After all, most of the time there’s going to be some costs that you’ll overlook when thinking about it. That’s why we’ve collected some of the biggest start-up costs you need to be aware of before considering freelancing.

Outfitting Your Office

This one is probably the most obvious in terms of costs before attempting a career in freelancing. After all, how can you do freelance if you’ve got nothing to work with? While exactly what you need depends on what type of work you’re planning to do, such as designer, writer, blogger, etc. There are some things that every freelancer needs.

For example, you’re going to need a desk, office chair, and a computer, at a minimum. The chances are that you’ll also need a multi-function printer as well, for creating hard copies of invoices and receipts, as well as whatever else may come up. Setting up your office space is mandatory, as you’ll often be taking calls from clients, and some of these may be video calls. You’ll need to look professional for these, so the need for proper office space is undeniable.

If you don’t know what you need, think about what you had in your old office; most of the stuff you had there will be required in your freelance career. You may have taken most of these for granted, but once you become a freelancer, you realize just how important they were. This expenditure is probably one of the most significant start-up costs for freelancing, but in most cases, it’ll be a one-time investment.

Get the Software You Need

The kind of software depends on what kind of freelancer you’re looking to be in the future. After all, a designer’s needs are different than a writer’s. Here you will need to purchase these stuff on your own so that is definitely an extra cost since in the office you had access of these for free. You might have taken office supplies for granted in your old job, but they’re crucial for freelancing.

For writers, the software could be as simple as a copy of Microsoft Office, but for designers, it could mean a whole lot more, such as Photoshop, InDesign, Lightworks, and others. Bought in packages, they can be affordable enough, but it is indeed one of the major costs while doing settling your freelancing career. Because they’re important, they’re not something that you can put off while your freelance career develops. However, there is free software out there that you can use, such as Google Docs and Drive, which may help allay some of the initial costs of freelancing.

Some people might also want to consider a type of accounting software, in order to create professional invoices using several invoice template and manage all of their books, payments, and expenses. While this isn’t mandatory, but it could be extremely beneficial in the long run, especially when it comes to paying taxes.

You Could Have Higher Household Costs

Household costs definitely increase after you settled at home and start performing your tasks. These are costs that are going to exist no matter which stage of the freelancing you’re at. The exact amount is difficult to put a dollar figure on.

When you’re working in an office, it’s obvious that you’re not at home using electricity, heat, etc. However, once you’re working in a home office, you can expect that bills are going to increase noticeably, but it’s an unfortunate and unavoidable part of freelancing. Like was stated earlier, these are one of the hardest costs to predict, as it comes down to your usage of electricity, air conditioning, phone, etc.

There’s also the issue of spending more on food, as you’ll now be eating more of the food that you have at home.

Finance & Its Interest- A Major Cost

These costs might mean that you’ll need to take out some loans to purchase everything, even if it’s just a small one. After all, if you don’t have the money to start freelancing, you can’t start freelancing. For some people, a small business loan might be the best thing you can do to start your freelancing business. If you are looking to start small and don’t want to have too much financial burden than 24-hours emergency finance or personal loan would be a path to go.

Accountants

We mentioned accounting software already, but at some point, if you’re successful, you’re probably going to need to get an actual accountant. While accounting software can help put this off for a while, it’ll eat your time as a freelancer, and as someone who hasn’t done accounting for a living, you could end up making some costly mistakes.

Save some money and get a bookkeeper or an accountant. This employee may be a start-up cost, but it’s is going to be a major ongoing payment; it’s something that’ll end up becoming necessary, especially as your business grows. That’s why it’s imperative that you start saving for it as soon as possible. The accounting software will only get you so far, so the sooner you begin to save, the better.

Final Words

Freelancing is undoubtedly a way to get some peace of mind along with some handsome amount of money if you get to succeed at last. In the beginning, these costs seem a lot and might discourage anyone but believe or not, it is worth of risk. A successful freelancer does things that are hard to think of while doing a regular 9-6 Job with a monthly fixed payment.

Freelancing is the primary point of developing entrepreneurial skills. Think of it as an opportunity to pursue your dreams in the future.