What skills need to be honed for a successful entrepreneur?

Everyone wants to be a successful entrepreneur, but it is one of the toughest things to do and the task is daunting. To create and make your firm success depends on so many factors and entrepreneurs have to ensure that they get a huge number of things right at the start itself and then build on that. In short, they have to create something out of virtually nothing and establish it as a successful venture. 

Essentially, in India today, confident and young Indian Turks re doing a great service to the small business fraternity. This includes SMEs, MSMEs and even Startups. Technology has brought some drastic changes in the small business work culture and this is being provided a boost by the government too through regulations and incentives like the MUDRA Bank scheme, an initiative which aims to provide micro-finance, low-interest rate loans to entrepreneurs from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Similarly, several state governments have also initiated certain programs to support startup culture. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi says we will create a $5-trillion economy, the role of SMEs, MSMEs and startups becomes important because they are the backbone of the Indian economy. Till recently, they were the unsung heroes of the Indian economy.

The most important part of a startups journey is the initial seed of the idea. That idea, if it germinates, has explosive potential to change vast tracts of the economy or at least the segment that it is targetting. However, without proper support, guidance these ideas often fail. In fact, surveys have shown that almost 9 out of 10 startups fail. To ensure this does not happen much more is required to be done by all concerned quarters - the entrepreneurs, government and yes, even India Inc to promote startups.

So, what are these skills that entrepreneurs require? 

At the top of the list is something that is nebulous, but without which, nothing can be achieved. We are talking about self-confidence. Entrepreneurs who have self-belief and trust in their abilities to try and succeed by every means are always likely to achieve their goals. Use of imagination, enterprise, culture of hard work (energy) will most likely ensure success.

For any business to succeed, it needs to establish relationships with clients. These relationships will be built on trust initially. What entrepreneurs must ensure is their personal integrity is built up from the starting phase itself. Remember, no man is an island and this applies to businesses too.

Every new business that comes up or is trying to set itself up needs to do something that is better and faster than what others are doing. This calls for innovation. This will come from the institutionalizing of the spirit of questioning everything and looking for better alternative solutions for any and every business process.

Then there is the question of spirit - a never-say-die spirit. Success does not come easily and if entrepreneurs give up at the first sniff of setbacks, then they will definitely fold-up. An entrepreneur will take all adversities in her or his stride and look to defeat them. Facing and overcoming challenges is the most critical part of the entire exercise. 

Of course, another crucial aspect is building up team spirit. For that, the most important strength that an entrepreneur must build-up is the leadership skill. She, or he, must lead from the front. For that great communication skills are required. Learn to communicate what you want to be done, but most of all, share the success and encourage everyone to perform at their best. Recognise your team members who have done well and heap praises on them as well encourage the rest to rise up to the occasion. 

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