Have you got the right skills?
Running a business demands a wide variety of skills. Can you cover all these areas yourself?
Just because you are fantastically good at a particular skill - painting, sewing, accounting, repairing computers - that doesn't make you fantastically good at business. You may know all there is to know about paint or computers, but what about the other skills a business needs: strategy, planning, marketing, management, finance?
We've listed some of the main ones below. Which are the areas where you'll need to call on professional help?
How are you going to let your customers know you are in business?
Marketing and selling skills
How are you going to gather information about your market, your customers and your competitors?
Research skills
How are you going to manage your time?
Organisational ability
How are you going to set objectives, actions or tasks?
Planning skills
How will you manage your IT?
Technology skills
How are you going to meet the right people to talk to?
Networking know-how
How are you going to talk to people about your ideas, what you do or what you sell?
Communication skills - including talking,listening, writing, telephoning and presentation skills
Do you have the ability to compromise and see long term?
Negotiation skills
How are you going to motivate, manage and lead the people who work for you?
People skills
How are you going to manage, control and keep records of your finances?
Financial or accounting skills - or a willingness to learn about this key area of running your business
Don't feel that you have to have all these skills in place before you can start a business. You can hire an accountant, a lawyer, send staff on training courses, and go on training courses yourself. Just be aware that if you don't have one of these skills, call on someone who does, rather than trying to muddle through.
There's one skill, perhaps, that no-one can help you with in business:
Do you accept the responsibility?
Decision-making skills, and the ability to live with your decisions, whether right or wrong.
