In 2019, Australia was home to approximately 2.3 million small businesses employing half of the Australian workforce. And while this is certainly an impressive number, it’s worth keeping in mind that one in three small businesses fail within the first 5 years.
If you’re wondering how to open a business and keep it running successfully, you’ll need a certain set of skills to help you operate with confidence and efficiency. So, before you go hunting for small business courses, here’s a look at the essential skills you’ll need to run your very own business.
Delegation Skills
One of the core skills of business ownership, delegation skills will help you assign responsibility to other people within your business, with the ideal situation being that staff within your business can run things both individually and as a team. This will give you more time to sit back and handle the back end of the business. When things are delegated correctly, you will find yourself in better control of the business – rather than the business being in control of you.
Communication Skills
Without the proper communication skills, it’s very likely your business will suffer pitfalls along the way. Communication is a huge part of business – it allows you to hire the correct staff members, build a rapport with suppliers and stakeholders, dispel arguments and be sensitive when it comes to various issues. It’s also important to be able to communicate your values, goals and visions, not only to your team, but to the public as well.
Financial Management Skills
Financial management is a huge part of a successful business, allowing you to budget effectively, forecast cash flows and sales, monitor your profits and losses, and correctly declare your income. After all, managing your businesses finances is about more than an impressive figure in your bank account – keeping the right records is a vital part of understanding your business and adapting it to changing monetary trends.
Sales & Marketing Skills
Very few products sell themselves, and those that do have years of successful marketing and campaigns behind them. Pricing, advertising and sales techniques are vital to making your business or product a success, while understanding the marketplace and industry trends can be vital to your marketing strategies and how competitive you can be. Not all small business courses cover marketing as part of their curriculum, so you may need to undertake a separate course to get a sound grasp on marketing.
Analytical Skills
Those who choose to open their own business will do well to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Analytical thought will allow you to assess the state of your business, determine where you want it to go in the future, and what to do in order to achieve growth. Using modern technology is also part of this skillset – you’ll need to know how to gather, assess and evaluate data from sources such as Google Analytics to help steer your business.
Strategic Planning Skills
You should never walk into business blindly, which is why strategic planning is so important; it allows you to define your company’s directions and make decisions for allocation of resources, people and capital. The best way to do this is to determine a 3- to 5-year plan for the business, and plan retroactively from this.
These are just 6 essential skills you’ll need in order to start your own business. If you think you’re ready to take the next step in your business career, check out our range of business and management courses to start your journey.