If you assumed that two things you needed to succeed as an entrepreneur were money and connections, think again.
While you do need to know how to get and manage both of those things, you don’t need either of them to start. Instead, focus on cultivating the skills to get you those things and more.
Smart Money Management
Smart money management is important throughout your entrepreneurial career, but for a fledgling company, it is particularly important that you pay attention to your cash flow. If you’re dependent on invoices being paid on time, you may find yourself in a situation where you don’t have the money you need, because not everyone will pay you when they are supposed to.
There will probably also be situations where you need emergency cash in case of equipment failure or need to be able to throw money. Keep a contingency fund set aside. You also need to have a good sense of what is going in and coming out regularly and how much you can pay yourself. Don’t start out expecting to make a profit right away.
Related: 10 Smart Skills You Will Need Now as an Entrepreneur
Problem-Solving Ability
An entrepreneur who is good at solving problems can look past all the extraneous information and zero on in what the real issue is. They can then come up with practical solutions. To be a good problem solver, you don’t have to know everything. You just need to know who to talk to. At your company, this can mean turning to your managers to better understand their needs.
For example, if your business has its own fleet, you could benefit from wireless dash cams, which can offer more storage capacity and quicker footage access than wired cams. You can also do some of your own research, such as learning more about the difference between wired and wireless cams and how to choose what is best for your fleet’s needs.
Good Communication
Good communication is one of the biggest entrepreneurial success factors and it is important for many reasons. You need to be a savvy networker, meaning that you are good at talking to and connecting with many different types of people and then building long-term relationships with them.
You also need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively with staff, partners, vendors, customers, and anyone else that you deal with. An entrepreneur who is also a good communicator can motivate employees and even inspire others outside of the company, becoming a thought leader as well.
Adaptability
All the above skills are important, but perhaps none are so essential as adaptability. In the early days, you need to be versatile enough to take on a variety of tasks. You also must be open to tweaking your product or service and trying different approaches. Be comfortable with setting aside your most cherished ideas if the response you’re getting to them isn’t what you expected.
But adaptability is not just important at the beginning of your career. Your industry and the business world will change over the years, sometimes much more quickly than anticipated, and you need to be able to change along with it when you need to.
The business landscape is littered with the remnants of companies and organizations whose mission or approach did not change to keep up with changing time, tastes, and ways of doing things. You can avoid joining them by keeping your finger on the pulse of what’s new and evaluating the latest trends to determine which ones will be significant. Resilience is a core element of adaptability, and it’s also important to be able to roll with setbacks and recover from them.
