Being an entrepreneur is quite straightforward. In fact, it is sometimes regarded to be a simple mindset of someone who wants to start a business. But do you really have what it takes to be one?
Not only about a business
You could have one of the best business ideas. You have a ready-backing party to fund your project. In fact, you have all the right ingredients to start the business which you believe will take off as soon as you start. But is that all that is required? What about your trait? What should you have as an entrepreneur? We tell you now.
Manage funds
Being an entrepreneur means you need to have the ability to manage fund (otherwise known as MONEY!). You might have gotten a lot of funding for your business but if you are unable to manage it well, it will all be gone very quickly. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must manage your personal finance well, then you can think of how to manage the business’ money. If you cannot handle your own personal finance, then you might not have what it takes.
Being productive
You need to work smart not work hard. At average, a full-time entrepreneur spends more time than a full-time employee in the corporate world. If you are going to take this route, be prepared to put in more hours. And in this we mean you are able to make full use of the hours. Not just working them without being productive.
Branding and positioning
Remember that as an entrepreneur, you are the face of your business. You need to use yourself as the main brand. According to some analysts, the new currency is personal brand. Your professional reputation and your online presence make a lot of difference. Perhaps you might want to build a brand around yourself before heading out to start your business. Send emails and market yourself which will give you a good headstart.
Be honest with yourself
To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be honest with where you weaknesses are. Being overly confident about yourself will not help. The basic thing to do here is to carry out a SWOT analysis not about your business but about you. Only if you recognize your own strength and weaknesses can you find ways to overcome them and convert a threat into an opportunity.
Good at hiring and firing
You cannot be too emotional when it comes to hiring and firing. You need to hire (or at least identify) the best people for your business. If they are not performing, you need to be able to fire them. Being too emotionally attached will only drag your business down. Remember that you need to be professional about these things. Only the best people in your team will help you succeed.
Making a sale
Ultimately, you still need to sell. It is one of the hardest tasks in any business. Since you are going to start the business, you should then be able to close any sale. You can hire a team of sales to help but you must remember that it is you who does the initial selling. This happens when your business was at its ideation stage and you are looking for investors or at least telling someone about your business idea. If you are unable to make that sale, imagine the hurdles to close deals at a later time.
Marketing knowledge
In whatever situation, you need to have some basic marketing knowledge. After all, you need to market yourself and subsequently your business. You need to learn the ropes of what the marketing mix entails, SEO marketing, email marketing or just about something that boosts your business.
Dealing with failure
You know for a fact that no one gets it right the first time. In fact, you have to try and try and fail and fail until you get it right. If you are unprepared for that challenge, then entrepreneurship is definitely not up your alley. Dealing with this means that you need to pick yourself up and then start again, maybe in the same venture or otherwise. This needs a lot of mental strength and you need to be very strong.
So there you have it, the list that makes you succeed as an entrepreneur. However, this does not mean that you must have all that is mentioned before you can be an entrepreneur. The most successful people in this business only became what they are after failing many times. You need to start somewhere but you need some basic skills and knowledge. Find the area you are strongest and move on from there. After that, focus on areas that you are weak at and then try to improve. After all, you are your own boss so who is stopping you from trying?
