Are You Missing These Skills?

When it comes to considering how to get your business started, there are two problems that always seem to come up.  The first for many people is what kind of business is right for me.  The second is not taking a good look at the skills every business person needs to have in their arsenal to be successful.

In this episode, I will be going over the set of skills that all of the most successful business people have that you should also cultivate or hire someone that has them to build out the framework of your enterprise.

I will also briefly discuss how to go about finding business ideas that might work for the community that you live in.

But, most of all, it should give you a lot of food for thought.

Transcript

Welcome to Episode 3 of Mastering Business Basics

In the first couple of episodes, we discussed finding your Why and determining what you enjoy doing in life, what I referred to as your Likes.  The question remains, how do I take those two factors and use them to create a business that will last a lifetime.    So, this brings up a third thing at you need to examine:  Your skillset. 

One of the concrete concepts of success in any area of our lives is that we must realistically be able to look at ourselves. We need to not only look at the skills that we currently have, but also at the skills and psychology of what it takes to be an entrepreneur.  We need to see if the skills we currently have fit in with what we would love to do - our Likes.

I have noticed that most businesses fail because the owners choose to attempt to learn new skills instead of relying on the skills they already have.   Running a business is an art.  You have to learn how to build the foundation.  You have to learn accounting.  You have to learn marketing.  You have to learn customer relations.  And so much more.  You don’t have the time to learn a new skill at the same time.   

That's why we need to start the discussion with how to determine what your skills really are. Many people have a lot of trouble with this phase of the process and many more underestimate the types of experience they actually have. Let's start with this question, "If you moved to somewhere in the country that you had never been to before or knew anybody, what do you know how to do that could create revenue within a week?"

For many people, that would take a bit of thinking, so to help jog your memory, ask yourself questions such as:

• What are the tasks that you are responsible for at your job?
• What are the tasks you do as a parent?
• What are people always asking your opinion about?
• What are the markets and industries you have experience in?
• What tasks do you do at home?
• What do you do in your spare time?
• If you had spare time, what would you like to do?
• What are people always asking you for your help with?
• What do you feel you are good at, but not currently utilizing?

Most of us don't realize all that we do in a day that could be considered a skill. Picking something up at the store for someone  is like a delivery service, fixing your coworker’s computer again could be viewed as a computer consultant, or teaching your son how to hit a fly ball is being a sports instructor.  Here’s some homework.   To get a feel for the entire scope of what you actually know how to do, carry a small notebook around with you for a few days and write down everything you do. You will be amazed at the amount of things you know how to do.

Any discussion of skills must also include what the basic psychology of all entrepreneurs are. By knowing these, you can avoid a lot of mistakes that people make. Let’s look at them:

• Courage - You must believe in yourself and your ability to do anything you set your mind to.
• Initiative - No one else is going to provide the drive and focus you need.
• Perspective - You always have to be looking several steps ahead and working backwards.
• Persistence - When you get knocked down, get up and try again.
• Resourcefulness - People aren't going to hand you the answers, go find what you need.
• Flexibility - 'Your way or the highway' mentality doesn't work, the marketplace is always changing and you must change with it or get left behind.
• Taking Action - You can't do research forever. Set a starting date and keep to it.
• Optimist - Set your dreams in realism, not pipe dreams you don't yet have the skills to do.
• Confidence - Trust your gut instead of self-doubt. The world doesn't want you to fail.
• Enthusiasm - This is contagious and one of your best weapons in overcoming resistance.
• Satisfaction - Perfectionists are not good business people. They are so worried about things being just right, that they never get started. This was one of the hardest for me to learn. If I had waited until this workbook was ‘perfect’ before I released it, you still wouldn't be reading this. I had to learn that businesses are never completed. They just keep growing and getting better in response to the marketplace.

If you examine the successful people that you know, you will find that they exhibit most of these traits. Cultivate the ones that you possess and strive to master the rest.

Finally, we need to briefly discuss the skills that you either need to learn or you need to hire someone that has them. Many new entrepreneurs are just interested in getting out there and start working, not worrying about every little detail of running a business. The problem is that if you don't take care of them yourself, or hire/partner with someone that does - your business will eventually spiral out of your control. Let's take a look at some of them:

• Organization - Some people are great at keeping organized and some just can't get the hang of it. Yet, it doesn't take many forgotten appointments or forgotten phone calls for your business to earn a bad reputation. If you need to, find someone to help keep you organized.
• Time Management - You simply can't allow one activity to bleed into the next. If you schedule a meeting for one hour, only spend an hour. If your task is to spend two hours making phone calls, stop after two hours. If you are never having enough time for a certain task, adjust your scheduling. Quit trying to 'squeeze' things into your schedule. Often, our personal activities interfere with our business activities, forcing us to lose money. For instance, if you are making $100 an hour, perhaps it would make more sense to hire someone to clean your house for $20 an hour and use that time for your business.
• Each item on your agenda should have a defined outcome. I've been to so many meetings that would suddenly wander off into side conversations that, while interesting, had nothing to do with the subject of the meeting. This either resulted in nothing getting done or extended the meeting so that it messed up the rest of my schedule for the day. Anything extra should be scheduled for a later time or wait until the work for that allotted time is done.
• Numerical Analysis - Some people just don't like numbers, but they are your friends. You need them to tell you if a business is feasible. You need them to determine how to charge for your work. You need them to know if you are making a profit.
• Subjective Analysis - You can crunch numbers and do data analysis all day, but if you ignore your intuition you will generally lose. The best business people are the ones that also listen to that gut feeling they have about a situation. Sometimes the numbers look great, but it just doesn't feel right. I've learned to walk away. Sometimes the numbers don't look to good, but I feel that there is something that I am missing. So, I dig further into the situation to see what I may be missing. Your intuition may not be right every time, but it has saved me more times than it did not.
• Communication - The biggest mistake you can make is to assume that people know what you are talking about. For anything critical, you should request that the person repeat it back to you to make sure that they understand the agreement you are making or what you are asking them to do. This extra time to verify they understand will save you countless headaches down the line.
• Team Building - There has never been a very successful entrepreneur that tried to be a Lone Ranger. There is no way that you can be good at every aspect of a business that produces a sizable amount of money. For instance, I had to determine what the most important thing that I was responsible for in creating my company. I didn't have time to waste trying to do the complicated graphics, so I found a graphic artist whose work I admired. I don't have time to worrying doing the daily maintenance (like backups) for my web sites, so I brought in a company that is an expert taking care of this type of thing and helped me automate it.  Although I'm good at financials, I sought out a new bank that will handle mailing out payments, payroll, and a better rate of return on my idle funds. I am also partnering certain aspects of my online advertising campaigns. This allows me to concentrate on my core job - providing you with the support structures and knowledge you need to build a solid base for your endeavors.
• The Big Picture - You are a business owner now. You have to start thinking like one. Too many businesses have failed because the owner got so caught up in the daily details of the business that they forgot the big picture. I'm sure that you have heard the old saying, "Couldn't see the forest for the trees". If you find that you don't have time to keep track of the whole business, then it is time to bring in a team member to handle the details taking up all the time you need to properly manage your business.

Now it’s time to do some brainstorming.

Starting with your skill set, it is now time to decide how to put that knowledge to good use. But not just any idea will work, it needs to be a good idea. The best way to make that happen is to ask others to help you brainstorm. This can be a mentor, your family, or anyone whose opinion you trust. No idea is too crazy, as a crazy idea might trigger someone to think of a great idea.

Please allow me a side note here. If you have children in your household, please include them in all aspects of your business. One of the greatest gifts you can give your children is a hands-on business education. Whether they wish to follow you in your line of endeavor is strictly up to them, so don't do it for that reason. Teach them how a business runs because whether they go on to create their own business or work for someone else - it will increase their odds of success in life many times over.

Okay,

There are some basic business rules to follow when brainstorming for an idea:

• Keep the idea simple - Your are not starting a mega-corporation.
• Don't try to get too original - Not everyone gets lucky selling 'Pet Rocks'. You should strive for a business model that already exists, but with a different spin. For instance, when I first started developing my first business web site, it was going to be aimed at teaching business concepts for those wishing to build an Internet business. But the competition in this area is intense. So in talking to people, I realized that people who wished to start a business in the brick and mortar world had no convenient, affordable place to go to learn what they needed. Traditional business schools prepare people for corporate life, but fail to address the person who wants to be a house painter, plumber, landscaper or artist. I had my different spin. I just had to figure out the reach those people.
• Supply & Demand - An idea is no good if nobody wants your product or service. Once I had my idea, I went out and asked people in the trades what they thought. Most of the time, I was given their email address and told to let them know when my online course and workbook were ready.  Another example involves going into a business that already exists in your community. You need to find out how loyal those customers are to the existing business. If that owner runs such a good business that no one would think of switching, if may not be a good idea to waste your time on.
• Values - Whatever you choose has to fit into your value system. Being an entrepreneur is not just about making money. It's also about a job well done and your chance to do things the 'right' way, whatever your view of morality is. Hopefully, it includes leaving the world a better place.  And lastly,
• Short and Long Term Goals - While starting out, we are concerned about creating a cash flow and learning the art of business. At the same time, we should sketch out our vision for the future. While we may not be building our dream business at first, we are laying the foundation for it and it needs to be part of our map.

So now that we know the basic rules, where do you come up with your ideas to consider?

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Look around your community. Are people talking about a business they wish somebody would open that fills your skill set?
• Look at the current trends. Are people always complaining that they have to wait weeks to get service or products?
• Look at the other businesses in your area. Maybe you have a complementary skill that would allow you to partner with one of them. For instance, a home delivery service for firms that don't want to bother setting one up themselves or use the existing ones.
• Look around the world. Have you seen a great business idea during your travels that hasn't made it to your community yet?
• Traditional media (newspapers, magazines), new media (Internet) or Pop Culture may provide ideas for you. Be careful to stay away from fads though. An experienced businessperson may be able to throw together a business overnight to capitalize on them, but it is usually a money loser for those starting out.
• Trade magazines and research reports can be a great source for ideas. There are dozens published for all sectors of the economy.
• The Yellow Pages. This book is full of displays ads that could jog your memory to what's available, what's missing, or what a complementary business might be.
• The Internet. This can be either a help or a hindrance, because of the sheer volume of information out there. It can easily become one of the biggest time wasters there is.
• If you are comfortable doing due diligence and have business experience, you may want to visit a business broker to see what is available for sale in your area.

Much of what I have talked about today are for those who have never run a business or tried and can’t figure out why they failed.  Hopefully it will help you determine if your likes will fit into all of the possible businesses you could build.  I have also tried to address the things that so many people don’t think about the first time around.

If you haven’t gone to sleep yet and stayed with me this far, that tells me one thing.  You are serious about owning your own success business.  I’m here to help get you thinking about what you need to know to do that.

Until next week,