You probably hear the term “entrepreneur” a lot these days, as it becomes ”easier” to start, and run your own business. Well, it’s not necessarily “easier” but there are definitely more tools available as the world transitions towards a digital workforce and new online opportunities are created.
While being an entrepreneur can mean freedom, having no boss and making your own decisions; it will always involve a degree of risk and responsibility. These include, but are not limited to, career risk, financial risk and overall business risk.
I want to make sure you have the tools and knowledge that we have gathered over the past 4 years of being entrepreneurs ourselves. Allowing you to grow your brand and create your dream life!
In addition to topics about monetizing online, we often get asked about self-development. Many of you want to know which skills to develop to be future-proof. This has inspired us to create a list of relevant skills we believe are vital for entrepreneurship!
Planning Skills (Strategic Thinking)
In many of our courses and blog posts, we stress the importance of proper planning. It is an integral part of success, as it helps shape the path to any goal. For example, for Club Life Design we not only plan ahead for big projects, but we break this down into daily tasks without getting overwhelmed by a never-ending to-do list. The key to planning is always knowing the “what for” - the goals you’ve set and the overall big picture in broad steps. From here, you break down each large step and slice it up into smaller ones. This whole concept involves strategic thinking - goal-orientated decomposition, finding potential problems, opportunities for growth and identifying low-hanging fruits.
The best way to start improving your planning skills is to start writing down your goals, prepare a calendar with deadlines for those goals and look at what you need to do each day to hit those deadlines. Over time you will improve and understand how to plan effectively so that you are hitting more goals than missing.
Curiosity
If there is one thing we have learnt time and time again, it’s that entrepreneurship needs curiosity. You need to be open to continuously learn and have an intrinsic motivation to actually want to learn. Of course it can be overwhelming trying to stay up to date with new trends, especially in the social media world, but it’s also exciting when you get to discover new tools, different processes and innovation. Curiosity also means being open to new ways of conducting business and stepping outside of your comfort zone.
People who are curios stay ahead of the curve and in a world that is changing so quickly this can lead to huge advantages.
Confidence
Know your worth! As entrepreneurs we should all be confident in our work, the creativity we put into our work, passion, originality and effort. Confidence does not necessarily mean being unrealistic, as a certain degree of self reflection and self criticism is healthy to develop yourself. Though, with that being said, you should know just how much your work and brand is worth. This allows you to take on opportunities and negotiate the deals you deserve! If you are struggling with your confidence, then check out our blog post in which we share some tips and tricks on how to feel more confident.
Social Media Editing (Photo & Video)
Is it a coincidence that this is one of the top skills you need as an entrepreneur? Of course not! As we spend hours in the digital world, social media has become a part of our daily lives. Brands are increasingly present on social media, especially as many realize they cannot solely rely on physical presence anymore. Photo and video editing for social media are key skills that will help you grow your brand. By differentiating from others with impactful visuals which are cohesive and creative, you not only stand out in the crowd but can further engagement within your community. If this is something you are interested in, check out our Mobile Editing courses - they will support you with these key skills!
Branding
Having coherent branding that is recognizable and ideally, instantly identifiable, should be the goal for any entrepreneur in 2021. Whether it's your personal brand or your actual business, in your Instagram bio or your Twitter tweets - branding skills involve visual and verbal design knowledge to develop brand awareness while reaching your audience in a unique and sustainable way.
Networking
Knowing how to network and reach out to potential partnerships or collaborations is another crucial skill set to develop as an entrepreneur. It helps to expand your business and grow faster. Some might also call these skills “sales skills” as it involves marketing yourself towards a specific audience. Though we like to focus on the concept of growing your contacts, as you will always have to deal with people. That's why it's called “social” media - it's all about the relationships you build and trust, whether with your followers or brands.
Finance & Legal
Although financial and legal skills are areas where we strongly advise you to get an expert involved if you are not an expert yourself, this doesn’t mean you should be ignorant when it comes to these topics as an entrepreneur. It’s inevitable to learn about budgeting, your bottom line, cash flow and the legal aspects of digital ownership and data privacy. Especially once you start working with brands and receive contracts, or grow larger and start hiring external talent for various parts of your business. Always read through contracts clearly and carefully to understand exactly what you are committing yourself to. Familiarize yourself with key financial concepts like budgeting and common legal terms in order to minimize risk. The good news is there are plenty of online resources out there to obtain more knowledge and become skilled in these areas.
Perseverance
The last important skill I want to focus on for entrepreneurs is perseverance. We have come to learn that it's one of the most imperative skills when starting your own business. You will face unexpected challenges, as there is no guarantee when it comes to anything in life. It's crucial to keep moving, even if that means moving backwards; no matter what, don't stay still! Steve Jobs once said: “I'm convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the unsuccessful ones is pure perseverance." We totally agree! If you look at some of the most famous and successful people, they were often failing before their business was a success. Most people would have given up by that point of failure, but instead they decided to learn from their mistakes and keep pushing forward. By persevering, you will learn to handle stress, rejections or even slow progress. Your determination will be key when it comes to building a business destined to succeed. I appreciate your trust in us to support you (or rather guide) you on this path!
This completes my list of the most important entrepreneurial skills that you should master! How many of these skills or traits do you have out of 8, the closer you get to 8 the closer you are to success. Don’t worry if this sounds overwhelming at first.
No one was born knowing everything, but the good news is that you have all the resources at hand to learn and achieve them. So what are you waiting for, start working for your dream life!
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