When you think of an entrepreneur, you probably picture someone who is very confident, assertive and risk-taking. And while it’true that entrepreneurs need to have those kinds of qualities in order to be successful, they also need other ones as well. In fact, there are several key skills that almost every successful entrepreneur has in common. Even if you don’t feel like you have many of these skills right now, it doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to develop them. Every person has various strengths and different skillsets. It simply takes time to figure out which ones you have hidden inside and decide how best to leverage them to your advantage. Think of this as a pilot episode for what will hopefully be a series about developing the skills needed for success as an entrepreneur.

Communication Skills

One of the most important skills that entrepreneurs need is excellent communication skills. It doesn’t matter if you’re running a one-person business or managing a huge company with hundreds of employees — you’ll need strong communication skills in order to succeed. In fact, communication is one of the main reasons why startups fail. It’s not that the idea wasn’t good. It’s that the team didn’t know how to clearly articulate their idea to others and get their company off the ground. This doesn’t mean that you need to be a great speaker or have a sophisticated vocabulary. It simply means that you have to be able to clearly and effectively convey your ideas and goals. You also need to be able to listen to feedback from others without getting defensive or shutting them down.

Marketing Skills

Another important skill for entrepreneurs is marketing skills. While this might seem like an odd choice for the top 2 skills list, it’s actually extremely important. The reason is that almost every business — no matter how great — won’t survive if it doesn’t have any customers. You could have the best product in the world, but if you don’t know how to attract and retain customers, your business won’t go very far. Marketing is the way you get people to notice and engage with your product or service. It’s how you create demand for what you’re selling and make your business grow. Most entrepreneurs have strong marketing skills because they have to. After all, they don’t have investors lending them millions of dollars. They don’t have an established brand name. They don’t have a large network of customers eagerly awaiting their next product. In fact, most entrepreneurs have limited capital, a weak brand and no established network. That’s why marketing is so important — it’s the lifeline of a new business.

Finance and Accounting Skills

The next skill on the list is finance and accounting skills. This one is especially important for entrepreneurs who want to start a business that revolves around numbers. For example, entrepreneurs who want to start a publishing company would need strong finance and accounting skills. They would need to know how to set up a company, create a budget for the magazine, hire editors and pay the bills. Similarly, entrepreneurs who want to start an e-commerce store would need strong finance and accounting skills. Otherwise, they would have no idea how to track their sales, create a budget based on projected sales or hire a bookkeeper to manage the finances. This is why finance and accounting skills are so important — they allow you to effectively manage your business and make sure that it stays on track.

Vision and Strategy Skills

Next up on the list are vision and strategy skills. Some people assume that entrepreneurs are visionaries who can see the future, but that’s not necessarily true. Instead, entrepreneurs simply have strong strategy skills. They know how to look at a market, identify opportunities, formulate a detailed business plan, and execute on their goals — even when things don’t go as planned. This is why many successful entrepreneurs have MBAs — it gives them a structured way of looking at the market, creating a business plan and executing on that plan.

Leadership Skills

Next on the list are leadership skills. Entrepreneurs have to be able to inspire and lead their team. They have to know how to set a vision for the business and then communicate that to the team in a way that engages and excites people. They also have to know how to manage different personalities and encourage people to work towards that vision. And while some entrepreneurs can learn these skills over time, others simply don’t have the right personality to lead. This is why it’s important to identify which skill set you have and how best to use that to your advantage. You might have a great idea for a business, but if you’re unable to effectively lead your team and manage different personalities, you won’t be successful.

Risk Management Skills

Finally, the last skill on the list is risk management skills. Entrepreneurs have to be willing to take risks. They have to be able to look at the market, identify opportunities and make strategic moves even though there’s a chance they could fail. However, there’s a big difference between being impulsive and being imprudent. Entrepreneurs who don’t have risk management skills often jump into business opportunities without thinking through the details. They might not have a detailed business plan or know how to create a budget. Instead, they might be so impulsive that they rush into a business opportunity without considering the potential consequences. These imprudent entrepreneurs usually don’t last long because their impulsive decisions don’t lead to long-term success.

Summing up

That brings us to the end of this article. We discussed what skills are needed for entrepreneurs and how those skills can help them succeed. Communication, marketing, finance and accounting, vision, strategy, leadership and risk management are all important skills for every entrepreneur to have.