If you want to start your own business or you already have your business up and running, you need to master these 14 business skills to scale your business.

The reason for acquiring business skills is to become a professional in what you do. Well, you might be saying you don’t want to be a jack of all trade. But an entrepreneur should actually be a jack of all trade i.e you should have a lot of skills.

Some might think their passion is enough to make their business a world class.

But that’s not the truth

Building a profitable business need you to acquire more skills than relying only on your passion.

Your passion together with these skills will improve your productivity and help you make more money as an entrepreneur.

Ok. Let’s jump right in

14 Business Skills Every Entrepreneur Must Master For Business Growth

1. Problem Solving

There is a problem is every business. In fact, this is the sole reason why your business exists. Not just to make money but also to solve problems.

Here, you will have to apply your problem-solving technique to get things done easily and faster.

2. Project Management

You will manage a lot of projects as a business owner ranging from creating your business website, writing contents or hiring freelancers who will do the job for you.

3. Negotiation

This is a very important business skill if you want to close deals and make more money.

As an entrepreneur, you must learn how to negotiate for lower prices when buying a product or service and how to negotiate for higher prices when you are selling your own product.

4. Marketing Skill

Marketing involves making your product available to those who might need it. It has to do with showcasing your product or service to the world. I wrote about how you can get started here.

5. Communication

This is one business skill you really need to master. If you are the type that talks too much, you should reduce it and do more of listening.

Since you will be working with people, you should learn how to articulate your thoughts and respond to situations in a problem-solving approach.

6. Selling Skill

According to Forbes, one of the reasons why entrepreneurs fail is insufficient sales. If you don’t know how to sell or who to sell to, then there will be a big problem.

That’s why you need a selling skill

This skill goes hand in hand with communication skill and negotiation skill. If you can communicate effectively, you can be able to sell anything. There are many means out there that can help you sell faster – Social media, search engine and through influencers.

7. Customer Service

Providing assistance and advice to people who use your products or service is very necessary for your business. This will require you to hire a customer service representative.

If you don’t have a customer service representative or a virtual receptionist, that means you’ll have to do it on your own.

8. Team building

Successful businesses are never built by one man. In fact, your business will not last if you keep it to yourself. You need a team of like-minded people who will be willing to work with you.

Having a team will help you delegate tasks to your team members so that you can concentrate on other important tasks.

In your quest to build a team, also build quality relationships that have the potential for big opportunities in the future.

9. How to Raise Money

If your business hasn’t started generating enough money, you need to find other means to generate money. We covered them in details here.

10. Managing Money

Being a successful entrepreneur is not all about making all the money. Money management is another crucial skill you must have to sustain the money you make. To be frank, if you can manage the money you make, it means you can sustain your business.

11. Time management

When you wake up in the morning or go to the office, what next? You really need to plan your day so that you won’t waste it.

If you do online business, you will discover that they’re a lot of unimportant things that will distract you and steal your precious time.  This is why you need to manage your time.

Set goals for business daily, weekly or monthly and strive to achieve them.

Do not settle for things that are urgent and unimportant. Do tasks that are important but not urgent.

Look out for project management apps or software like Trello. They will help you manage your time.

12. Learning

If you stop learning, then be ready to watch your business fail. Learning itself is ones of the most important skills of life, let alone in business.

Be updated in your industry. Know the trends. What is working and what is not working? What strategies are other entrepreneurs using? The answer to these questions will be discovered If you spend time learning. The learning skill will make you curious and will lead you to look into what your competitors are doing and how you can outmanoeuvre them

13. Stealing from competitors legally

There is nothing bad about trying to know what your competitors are doing and using their strategy to improve yours i.e if they are ahead of you.

For example, if I have a social network, I will definitely want to learn from Facebook. I will have to scrutinize their business and know what I need to apply in mine to improve it and get more you users.

14. Risk Management

Being an entrepreneur is not just starting a business and making money. You will also encounter risks and know how to manage them.

Every business has its own risks and you must be prepared to bear them constantly and not run away from them.

Wrapping it up

If you don’t have some of these business skills, you don’t need to be afraid. You can learn them. Some of them might require you to take online courses or attend seminars. You can acquire them if you make it a priority.