What qualities you need to start a small business

If you are wondering if you could be a small business owner, you may be surprised to learn that most business owners (regardless of the size of their business), share certain qualities. These qualities are:

• A highly developed degree of self-motivation
• Extensive knowledge of both business and the applicable industry
• Proven organization skills and well-developed capabilities for management
• Some skills in marketing
• Knowledge of customer relations and issues, along with some experience in dealing with vendors.
• Passion and vision, for what they want to do.

Business experts agree that knowledge of what business you want to get into, along with overall industry knowledge is crucial. This is an absolute requirement, for any business you want to start up. While you may think it would be fun to own a bakery, if you have never baked a cake in your life, it stands little chance of being successful. You must have firsthand knowledge of the product or service you want to sell. While you can come by some of the knowledge, thorough the experience of opening your small business, the odds are that your small business would have floundered and failed, before you know enough to save it. Many business experts say that this is the number one reason that so many businesses ultimately fail.

Surprisingly many small business owners don't see themselves as highly organized, but it stands to reason that having these types of management and organizational skills would be an important part of being able to successfully run a business. The bottom line is that you may find it extremely difficult to please your customers, and be able to manage the many demands of your small business, without possessing some degree of these skills.

Those people, who are determined to start a small business, sometimes overlook the needed administrative skills that they should have to do it successfully. Running a business is a lot more then just finding a great product or service to sell. You must be able to have execute a business plan, manage money, manage your staff, run the day to day business operations, and oversee the all of the marketing and sales functions, within your business. Not having these basic business management skills could significantly jeopardize your chances of having a successful business.

There are other attributes and abilities that you will need in order to be a successful business owner. Recent surveys picked out three that were being mentioned on a consistent basis. These three abilities are:

• The ability to learn from mistakes. You must be able to deal with failing, learn from your mistakes, and then go on with your business.


• The ability to take control and to show initiative. Successful small business owners are highly motivated. They are problem solvers who will step in and work to find a solution to their problems.


• The ability to show determination over time. You must be able to have a great deal of perseverance. Businesses come and go quickly, and the ones that are most likely to survive, over the long term, are the ones that are headed up by people who have the ability to absorb and learn from, the bumps and problems along the way.

It is crucial to invest the time you into learning what skills you have, and what you should gain before opening a small business. Having the right skill set is crucial to being able to not only start a small business, but grow it into a larger and more viable company. Keep in mind that while you don't have to possess all of the above mentioned skills to the largest degree, knowing that you have the right skill set to be a successful small business owner, is the first step along the path to success.