The dream of being one’s own boss is a common one. Yet successful entrepreneurship does not just happen: A person must have the right skills, education and perseverance.
What Skills and Traits Are Needed for Successful Entrepreneurship?
Successful entrepreneurs need business skills and certain personality traits to make things happen. The following four may be the most important.
An Eye for Opportunity: Successful entrepreneurship is possible for individuals who are always looking for the right opportunity everywhere they go, and they contemplate how a service or a product can be better. A successful entrepreneur also thinks of new services or products that can solve common problems or fill the needs of consumers.
A Business Plan: Susan Ward, a writer for The Balance, emphasizes the importance of a business plan for entrepreneurs. Testing the feasibility of your business idea, securing funding from financial institutions, and attracting investors are some of the reasons to create a business plan.
Strong Communication Skills: Entrepreneurs speak to investors, including banks, business partners, employees, potential clients, current clients and representatives from the media. They share information about their business clearly and attract attention by speaking with enthusiasm. They must be able to communicate their vision and explain how their supporters — whether the supporter is an investor, employee or client — are needed and valued.
The Ability to Motivate Other People: Communicating well is a starting point for entrepreneurs. Once they have expressed their thoughts, they then persuade people to take action. The action for the entrepreneur’s employee could be to perform well on the job and be loyal to the entrepreneur by staying with them as they create a new business. The action for potential clients is for them to buy the entrepreneur’s product or service and become a current client.
Successful entrepreneurship is possible for determined individuals who are willing to study and put in the required time. It is not necessary to have all of the skills to begin the process of becoming an entrepreneur. Earning a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Entrepreneurship is a way to gain entrepreneurial skills and find opportunities to practice those skills.
Steve Tobak’s Inc. article “10 Skills You Need to Be the Next Great Entrepreneur” supports the concept of learning the skills for successful entrepreneurship and improving upon them over time.
What Does an Entrepreneur Do?
Entrepreneurs put themselves on the line during every step of creating a business — from thinking of an idea and securing the necessary resources to starting the business and ensuring its profitability and growth. Successful entrepreneurship is the result of ongoing commitment.
Entrepreneurs play an important role in a strong economy. Risk-taking entrepreneurs make profits, and their clients benefit with better products and services. Entrepreneurs regularly look for ways to improve upon a product or service and obtain the funding and other resources needed to make those improvements. Once they do, they are able to earn an income and reinvest their profits to either continue improving their established businesses or to look for new opportunities.
With a combination of these skills and a commitment to education through a degree such as a BBA in Entrepreneurship, students can increase their chances of enjoying success as entrepreneurs.
Learn more about Lamar University’s online BBA in Entrepreneurship program.
Sources:
Inc.: 10 Skills You Need to Be the Next Great Entrepreneur
