Starting a small business in Nigeria is one thing, having the right business skills to skyrocket your business growth is another thing. Your small business has few important business skills that matters to its success both internally and externally.
Take a nursing mother as the first thing that comes to your mind. Giving birth to her child wasn’t the only thing needed for her to do, having the right idea of nurturing that child is also important. This is how it is important to have these business skills rather than only starting a business.
With that being said, every small business owner in Nigeria is expected to adopt some basic business skills that gives you a competitive edge above other businesses in your industry.
Understanding the risk management and compound mistakes that small businesses make is enough to tell entrepreneurs that certain business skills are needed in order to avoid these compound business mistakes or at least avoid them to some extent.
However, I’m here to guide you in this article on the top business skills that every small business owner or entrepreneur must possess in order to succeed and have a high yield in their business pursuit.
Let’s get to them!
Essential Business Skills Every Small Business Owners Must Possess
1. Leadership Skills
Leadership skills is the first and foremost business skills that every small business owner must possess. Leadership skills in business is an essential quality that most entrepreneurs overlook and end up failing at their first attempt of starting a business.
There is hierarchy in every small business- pretty clear, isn’t it? Starting from the CEO down to the least position in the business, it is important to posses leadership skills in the smooth run of the business operations.
Leaders or top personnel in your small business should ensure they direct adequately in a subtle but professional manner in order to ensure smooth run of operations in areas lacking in the business. Managing roles as leaders in a small business can only be achieved by having proper leadership skills and this should not be overlooked.
Aside from directing adequately, these leaders or top personnel in your business should ensure they are direct and smart in decision making processes and this leads to the next business skills which is decision making skills.
2. Decision Making Skills
Decision making is so crucial in the journey of every entrepreneur or small business owner. Every small business owner must be able to make proper decision that would either make or mar the business.
The first instant of starting a small business was derived off the decision making of an entrepreneur. However, many entrepreneurs and small business owner either don’t posses decision making skills or they can’t make a simple decision that would influence the business positively.
Always keep in mind that every decision making process in a business needs to be undertaken in a professional and careful manner. One wrong decision can affect the entire business negatively and turn dreams into nightmares.
3. Communication Skills
Every small business owner must possess a good communication skills in order to make proper negotiation, communication at selling point and so on. Having proper communication skills as a small business owner will help you build business relationships with employees, customers as well as business associates.
Lack of proper communication skill as a business owner is a complete turn off. How do you want to communicate your ideas, motives and strategies to your business partners if you lack communication skills? Hence, it is necessary that every entrepreneur or small business owner possess proper communication skill in business matters.
When it comes to negotiation processes in a business, communication skills is highly required by entrepreneurs and small business owners. Convincing clients and customers in a professional negotiation would only be possible by possessing a great communication skill as an entrepreneur.
Communication skills will ensure you convey messages properly and gain trust of business associates. Therefore, is important to understand how to convey your business messages to business partners, customers, colleagues and so on.
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4. Networking Skills
It is pretty clear that small businesses need networking in order to grow effectively. Every business owner or entrepreneur is expected to have a great networking skill to thrive in a competitive space.
In a fiercely competitive space or business industry, small businesses tend to network with other business group to get helping hand to succeed. I’ll help you understand this better and why networking skills is necessary.
Take for instance a plumbing or home cleaning business will need to network with local real estate agents and property managers to get leads. Another example is a food delivery company will need to network with a logistics company to get food delivery faster to their customers.
With all these being said, networking is just as crucial as other essential skills in a business. Networking has proven to be a source of generating leads for small businesses to thrive and this should never be overlooked by entrepreneurs or small businesses.
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5. Team Building Skills
It is clear to know that some businesses cannot thrive on its own without the help of a solid team of experienced employees. However, many entrepreneurs tend to carry the burden all alone and this is never a good idea in a business set up.
It is necessary to recruit team of experienced employees that would assist in both decision making and running of business operations. Either you’re running a joint or sole business, having a team of expertise is necessary in certain circumstances to foster the operations of the business.
A single decision making body in a business would primarily affect or influence progress. However, some business may not require team of experienced employees or experts but most small businesses would like require professionals. Therefore, having the skills to recruit the perfect business team is a skill that should not be overlooked.
6. Problem Solving Skills
As a small business owner in Nigeria, it helps immeasurably to know you can solve problems that tend to crumble your business. Even large and successful companies are faced with problems on different levels. However, having a level of problem solving skills would ensure you tackle such problems at all levels.
There is no business journey or success story in business without hurdles. The inability to solve business problems has made large percentage of businesses to fold up at the early stages. Hence, Having the skills to manage problem and risk in a small business is really essential for entrepreneurs and small business owners in Nigeria.
Problem solving skills would make your business stand out even in tough decision making situations. This skill would ensure you tackle both high risk situations that may not give you time to think or make a decision as a business owner.
7. Marketing Skills
Marketing has been the forerunner of many successful business. Marketing is so essential for every small business to make sales and having a good marketing skills should be a quality that entrepreneurs and business owner should possess.
From the very beginning of your business as an entrepreneur, your goal is to reach millions and make massive sales. However, this can’t be achieved without a great marketing skills. Many entrepreneurs go as far as consulting different marketing agencies in other to scale up their business and make sales.
Marketing skills would ensure you’re able to promote your business and build a firm business presence that stands out among top competition. Therefore, It is essential for entrepreneurs and business owners to develop a marketing skill either in content marketing or digital marketing as a whole. This will enable you as an entrepreneur to push your business to a selling point and not a stalling point.
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8. Time Management Skills
Time management is another important business skills every entrepreneur or small business owner should possess. Time waits for no one and this applies to business decisions too.
Some business decisions don’t require waste of time. Time management skill would enable entrepreneurs to evaluate and handle tasks in the best timeframe possible.
Time has always been an essential element or resources in business. Hence, organizing and prioritizing tasks in a fast manner would ensure proper growth in a business.
Keep in mind that entrepreneurs or small business owners should prioritize having time management skills coupled along with quick decision making processes in business. Procrastination and time wasting has always been a business killer and every Nigerian entrepreneur or business owner should remain aware of this.
Bottom Line
Having the complete knowledge in every nook and cranny of business as well as every business skills is rare. However, developing these business skills to result into business growth is necessary.
Ranging from the key business skills like leadership skills, communication skills, marketing skill and others, small business owners and entrepreneurs in Nigeria should adopt these business skills in order to thrive and keep your business in a good space above your competition.