Small Business Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Skills’

To develop a small business into a successful enterprise demands more than the passion that you may have for your business.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, facts speak for themselves!  Over half of new businesses fail because the entrepreneur is unable to translate his passion into practical business skills.  Running a small business requires that you become a “jack-of-all-skills.”  

Having solid business strategies are valuable, but without a set of fundamental business skills to implement them, the strategies remain dormant.  It is important to assess the skills that you have, the skills that you will need to learn, or simply the skills that you will need to improve.

Success in your business demands more than hard work, expertise in your field, and resilience.  Success demands the use of fundamental business skills:  General Management Skills, Analytical Skills, Financial Skills, Communication Skills, Sales and Marketing Skills, and Strategic Planning Skills.

No one is more determined to reveal the secrets of business success than Jim Collins.  Jim Collins is the author of two best-selling business books–Built to Last and Good to Great.  Both of his highly acclaimed books address the question: Why do some companies become great, while others flounder?  Bo Burlingham, an editor-at-large of Inc. Magazine, recently interviewed Mr. Collins.  I found his article to be very interesting.  Here is just a snippet of the article.

Bo asks Mr. Collins, “Have you noticed any significant change/changes in the business of building great companies over the last 30 years?  Jim Collins replied, “I would say that the basic principles of building a company have remained the same to a great degree, but it’s the skills that are always changing!  The skills . . .  You need to be continually learning new skills.”  

There is a great need for a wide range of business skills because each task requires a different skill.  For instance, the skills  that you need to hatch a business concept, identify a market, develop a product or service, or assemble the resources and operations to bring it to market are not the same skills that you need “to shepherd” a company into the future.  That’s why it is important to first assess your skills so that you can accurately identify the voids in your skill set, and then take the necessary steps to fill those voids and improve your critical business skill set.  Your goal should be “to get to the top of your game,” or “to remain at the top of your game,”, or both!

It is highly unlikely or unrealistic for one business owner to have all of the necessary skills to effectively manage and control a business.  A business owner may be proficient in several of the required disciplines—sales, marketing, management, organizational control, financials, logistics—but may not be proficient in all of the disciplines.  The business owner must now develop a proactive approach by surrounding himself with individuals who have greater expertise in the areas where he lacks experience or “know how.”

Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computer, is a good example of a business owner who realized his own shortcomings in certain areas.  Mr. Dell has said, on more than one occasion, that he realized early on in his career that he needed to surround himself with a strong management team, a team whose members had the skills and experience that he lacked.  The success of Michael Dell and his company, Dell Computer, speaks for itself…  

“Being at the top of your game” means that you are in control of your business activities, that you are building a company that is sustainable in the future, that you are intent on making your company better than your competitors, and that you understand and become proficient at implementing a set of fundamental business skills.

You, too, can learn fundamental business skills!  Whether you are a novice or a seasoned entrepreneur, getting and staying at the top of your game requires that you maximize your business efforts by becoming proficient in a set of fundamental business skills.  

4 months ago my I finished creating my website in the internet based business world. My website was ranked at over 4.5 million. That means my website, in my eyes was at the bottom of the barrel. There are close to 1 billion if not more websites on the internet. So 4.5 millions is not extremely bad but it is not good either. Today 4 months later my internet based business website is now ranked at a little over 500,000 and growing.

Some may ask, how can this be possible? It is very simple and basic. First I needed to find the right internet based business that would allow me to prosper. That was not hard at all. With there being so many opportunities online, I knew that it could happen. Before I joined an opportunity I needed to know that I would get the support and training necessary to improve my statistics.

Once I had all the stones set in place with my internet based business , I was ready to start with the basics. Here are the basics that helped my internet based business website improve over 4 million.

1. Directories: You need to get backlinks to your website. A backlink is basically a website that has a link on their site pointing back to yours. Simple and basic. There are many ways of acquiring backlinks. There are many tricks I have learned over the past 4 months that will help my site improve even more. But first I started by submitting my site to directories so I can start building up my links.

2. Articles: Writing articles are another effective way of generating backlinks. Choose a keyword you would like to optimize your article around and start writing. You do not need to be a college scholar to write an effective Search Engine Optimized article. All you need is the proper understanding of keyword placement.

3. Blogging: Blogs are a very powerful form of driving traffic to your site. Simply write an effective post related to your internet based business and publish. Just like with article marketing, writing blog post should be keyword rich. Try and write a blog post everyday. Once it is publish you should ping your post and also submit too bookmarking sites.

4. Blog Commenting: I have gained many backlinks from commenting on other peoples blogs. Find a blog in your internet based business niche and submit a comment. Do not write spam comments where it will be a complete waste of your time. Read the blog post and write a valuable comment relating to something you read in their post.

This is the most basic you can get when it comes to improving your internet based business website. Some people may read this and think this is so old school, but guess what? It has worked for me and it has worked for many other people. You should not stop with these 4 steps, you should always continue your education towards internet marketing. This is for the newcomers to the industry who do not know where to start. Google anyone of the 4 listed and you find numerous amounts of help on each category to help improve your internet based business website.

Many people think that there is some special talent that you must have for a home based business startup. However I have found that everything you need to start a home based business is usually already within you if you just ask yourself the right questions. Sometimes you just need to develop these skills.

When you have a clear understanding what is needed to begin a successful home based business startup, then you can be honest with yourself as to whether it is a good idea or not for you.

Some of the attributes that you will need to establish a small business startup are:

* Discipline

* Determination

* Perseverance

* Time Management

* Knowledge

Let?s take each of these and break them down for a better look at what I mean.

Discipline

Are you willing and able to stay focused at home in your own workspace? Many people find too many distractions when they are at home verses in a corporate environment. Friends and family sometimes don?t realize the importance of your work and time in your business startup endeavor.

If you are not able to set guidelines to keep yourself focused on what you need to do, it is very easy to be distracted and lose your productivity. Are you able to set guidelines for yourself in regards to how your home based business will run? How you will handle outside distractions?

When you get started on a task do you see it through? Can you do it without someone else looking over your shoulder? Are you able to make a list of priorities and stay focused until they are completed?

Determination

When making decisions are you able to take the facts available and make a firm ?yes? or no?. Can you stay on target for your home based business goals? Do you have the attitude that I will make the business work and make money for myself and family even though I can?t see my business goals currently being achieved? Can you ignore the naysayer?

Perseverance

How do you handle rejection? Do you roll up your sleeves and continue to press forward or do you keep thinking about the ?No? you received? Can you keep your business startup goals in focus even when you feel like you haven?t made a dent in your forward progress?

How apt are you to throw in the towel because the expected results did not go exactly the way you wanted them to go? Will you keep trying over and over again until you achieve the desired results?

Time Management

Can you determine the importance of each task you put on your daily work schedule? When should these tasks be done? What is the most productive use of your time right now? Starting a home based business takes a prioritization of your time. Do you look at time as limited or infinite? Each minute you will be working for yourself will end up being calculated in the dollars you will be earning.

Knowledge

Knowledge is Power. Are you able to learn the necessary information to start a home based business? Are you willing to do your own research into various aspects of your business, such as business startup, business accounting, business marketing, business networking and numerous other business related topics?

What about your own personal self growth? Can you learn how to handle yourself when customers or suppliers tick you off? How do you view your customers, competitors, home based business etc.? Do you like to learn new ways of doing things? Can you change your mindset if need be?

Starting a home based business requires you to be able to do most if not all of the various jobs required to get your business started and running smoothly. Please be straight with yourself when answering the above questions.

Too many home based businesses close after the first 3-5 years. That is when they are the most vulnerable. A business startup can be exciting, scary, frustrating, time consuming and exceptionally rewarding. By knowing your strengths and weaknesses up front before you start a home based business you will be more prepared.

Most people don’t see the need to go back to school or purchase books to increase their business knowledge. Some think since they hold a degree and have been running their businesses well; they don’t need to invest in acquiring more knowledge. There is an urgent need to improve your skills and find ways of managing your business and finances. It’s imperative to learn modern business systems, because with the current business trends and economical meltdown a radical approach is necessary.

Advancing your business management skills and reading relevant business books will help you take your business to the next level. Research has proved that small business enterprises provide employment to millions of people world wide. Training on business management, planning, marketing strategies and customer care techniques is required to ensure the growth of small businesses. These training programs will help bridge the gap between small and big businesses.

Small businesses owners deploy their skills and expertise in unrelated business fields and hence juggle between different areas of running their businesses like marketing, customer care and accounting and maybe their area of proficiency is in mechanical engineering. For these reasons I have come up with e-books that offer advice on business management skills, marketing strategies and money making tips among others.

A third of small businesses don’t last their first three years of operation simply because they lack prudent management skills. It’s time that small businesses invest in relevant training programs that will accelerate their business growth in the light of the changing business environment and customers expectations. To face the current global economic crisis, small businesses must deal these issues urgently

Business management skills are robust tools in the hands of the manager. Regardless the company you work for or the size of the team that you supervise, these skills make you succeed as a manager.

The established description of management is restricted to “the process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives”.

A manager’s four fundamental competencies are: planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.

Planning is a substantial part of business management skills. A manager that can plan is one that has the capacity to accomplish tasks. Planning entails scheduling activities, probing, analyzing, setting goals and objectives, distributing resources, shaping strategies and timelines. As a manager you need ensure that each goal translates into an activity and that each activity helps meet that goal.

Strategic planning is a critical element of the managers “planning process”. The role of the manager is evolving beyond “the daily operational business”. Managers are becoming visionary leaders for their organizations, they landscape future directions, facilitate important relationships to maintain reputation and sustainability.

Directing is establishing and communicating particular,detailed action-plans to meet goals and objectives.

Organizing and controlling are two additional business management skills required to be successful in the business world. Organizing involves compiling and coordinating the resources and such as human,monetary and other tangible and non-tangibale assets, in order to trace activities needed to achieve goals. Further, it entails assigning and delegating tasks to various team members to complete certain tasks and make things happen.
The controlling task ensures that work-plans are being executed and goals are attained by overseeing and evaluating performance. The concept of controlling has evolved together with manager’s role. Nowadays, controlling consists of monitoring progress by providing guidance and support to the employees.

Other valuebale business management skills:

More and more companies are requiring that managers show a broad collection of competencies on top of their specialized, hard skills.Soft skills are vital to your successful functioning as managers. Good work ethics, positive attitude, keenness to gain continuos knowledge, cultural sensitivity, exceptional business conduct and standards have enormous impact on employees, stakeholders and organizational setting . If you are looking to enhance the organizational culture, you cannot
do it without addresing attitudes, point of views and soft-skills. Social liability is based on attitudes and soft-skills. Cooperation within the agency as well as a wholesome, transparent work atmosphere is based on attitudes and soft-skills.

This article teach you how to benefit in the management of the business using your presentation skills.

Before the presentation:

Knowledge of the characteristics of the offeree the most important factors to the success of the presentation, they lead you to determine the style and language to be used, and will it be: Official or friendly. Professional, technical or slang. General information or specialized. Total or in detail

During the presentation:

? Be sure to follow listeners by your eyes fair and balanced.
? Noted the actions of the present and careful interpretation of physical expressions of the audience.
? Understanding of the situation and conditions of the audience: air, as food, stress after the working day, come from travel, and others.

Elements of the presentation:

? Introduction
? Content
? Conclusion

A-Introduction:

Designed to pave the audience and informing them about the elements of the subject.
A good Introduction made clear to the listeners the nature of the subject matter, showing them what to expect from the presentation, and the expectation of the speaker from them.

Elements of the introduction:

? Extended greetings to the audience
? Introduce yourself
? Substance of the presentation (the title)
? Time of the introduction

Content of the introduction:

? Reference to what should not be expected from the presentation
? Reference to training aids, material science, literature ,….. And other

characteristics of successful introduction:

successful Introduction must lead to:

? Attract the attention of listeners
? Break the barriers and melting the ice between the speaker and listeners
? Make listeners feel the importance of the presentation subject
? Make listeners feel of their need to information provided
? Reduction of excess expectations of listeners
? Suspense to engage listeners on presentation.

how to start an Introduction:

There are many models of good beginning, including:

? The issue of Introduction: will speak at the next hour….
? Communication with the audience: I know that the weather today is hot and you are exhausted from traveling.
? A short story related to the subject of the presentation.
? An interesting information
? an interesting question: : How much of you need a good solution for business management?
? Explain the problem and then begin to put alternatives to solutions.

B-Content:

Is the central part and most of the presentation, which aim to:

? Retain the attention of viewers.
? Help them to follow up the ideas raised.
? Directed towards findings the results.

characteristics of successful Content:

To achieve the goals:

? Is planning to build or structure of the subject the way in which to convince the audience.
? Divides the content to points (Headlines) primary and secondary clear and logical sequence.
? Be used to clarify the means of a simple and expressive.
? Use appropriate language structures to link the transition between the parts of the presentation.

Building structure of Content:

There are several methods for dividing the content of the presentation, including:

? The division of time: past, present and future.
? Factional division: finance, human resources, production.
? Comparative division: the old system, the proposed system.
? division of alternatives: the first alternative, the second alternative, the third alternative.
? Division of gradual (upward or downward:)one of the most important factor, followed by …
? Network division: individual, institution, society.

Wait for my next article Business Management and Presentation Skills part 2 about Management in Business.