5 Essential Skills You Must Have As An Entrepreneur

        Apart from those who have the burning desire and right mentality, most people become entrepreneurs by circumstances. They are tired of waking up very early for work and been ordered around. Their salaries can't afford them the kind of life they want. Some of these reasons make them quite work for a venture they know little or nothing about. So they have this wonderful idea, they get a loan and they start up. Business seems good to them at first but along the way everything begins to play against them and eventually business gets fold up and they go back to penury. Why? Simply because they failed to get an in depth knowledge of what they are about to launch themselves into.
     Being an entrepreneur is far beyond what most people think. In Nigeria, when you hear about entrepreneurship, the next thing you see is; soap making, ankra bags, baking, paint making, liquid soaps and make up. We feel it is just to acquire a certain skill and then we launch ourselves in business.
      No! That's not entrepreneurship.  An entrepreneur, in simple terms, is someone who identifies a problem and provides solution for that problem. As an entrepreneur, you initiate and develop a solution and you drive it and set it working. If the solution does not really satisfy the need or solves the problem, you adjust or modify it until the desired results is obtained. Then you sustain the process by aquately strategizing. This is the basic idea of an entrepreneur.
      For the entrepreneur to stay productive and relevant to the society he provides solution to, the following essentials skills must be acquired.

1.Sales

    

       Your ability to sell is so important for the business. Having a wonderful idea is not just enough. You have to convince customers and investors. You need to sell your idea to them. You need to tell customers why they should leave what they are already used to and go for your products or services. You need to sell your idea to investors to make them see reasons to invest in your business. Without your ability to sell,  your idea is nothing but fantasies. Even the best salesmen can sell a "no good" idea and still get to convince customers and investors. Therefore your ability to sell your idea determines how relevant your idea will be to people.

2. Writing 

      In recent times, businesses have learnt the importance of creating an online presence. Therefore it becomes important for these business to create eye-catching content to get more users to get engaged. With the appropriate writing skills, you as an entrepreneur can have your business go global by writing good and original content. Once you have this very important skill, your business begins to get noticed. Learn to write engaging content because everything is going digital these days. Don't be left out.

3. Study

      As an entrepreneur, you need to always study revelant information relating to your area of business. The world is fast evolving. New technologies and innovations are created everyday. So does your business need to be continuously evolving. Adapt new strategies to suit the present day needs will really help your business. Therefore, you need to get books, attend seminars and workshops, listen to the news updates and put your eyes on trends relevant to your business.

4. Focus

      Staying focus is very essential. As an entrepreneur, you are going to face many distractions. These distractions are not necessarily from the outsides but from the inside. You need to identify what is most important to your goals by focusing on the 20/80 rule. The rule is to focus on the 20% activities that produces 80% results than focusing on the 80% activities that will give 20% result. Always learn to review your goals so that you don't deter from them and then focus on them.

5. Time Management 

    At start up,  you are practically playing every role at the same time. You are the manager, the marketer, the salesman, the accountant all at the same time. Time management should be something you are good at doing. Learn to schedule your time for each task while identify your most important task. Get your remainders to work so that you don't spend too much time on a task that will require you to work overtime on others. Simply do the right thing at the right time. 

       Before you decide to be an entrepreneur, make sure you have adequate knowledge and skill on what you want to do. Understand that every effort and decision you make has an impact to your business. Do not forget the risk involved in it too. Noting that you will face challenges but the attitude and actions you take towards tackling these challenges will determine how far you can go. Above all consistency is key. Be determined to make it no matter what happens.