8 Must learn Essential Skills for Online Business Owners
In this article, we’ll be discussing the Top 8 Essential Skills that you must learn to run an Online Business. As Online businesses can be of different types, these basic and essential skills remain almost the same and have the same importance for all types of Online Businesses.
So, the following are the 7 Must Learn Essential Skills for Online Business Owners / Entrepreneurs.
1. Problem Solving
Problem-solving skill is a must-have skill for an Online Business.
An Entrepreneur is one who identifies a problem and presents its best solution in the market. So, that makes Problem-solving the most basic skill for entrepreneurship.
So, whenever you are starting an online business or running an existing one, you need to develop Problem-Solving skills to run your business smoothly and efficiently.
As an Online Business owner/ manager, you’ll be solving all the problems that arise in your business, it includes Solving Customer Problems such as Customer service and support, Supplier issues, distribution issues, Logistics problems, website problems, employee problems, etc. And for solving all types of problems, you’ll need to have problem-solving skills.
2. Communication & Networking
Communication and Networking is also important skill that you need for the growth of your business.
You need to be clear in your communication with clients/customers, suppliers, and employees. Communicate well and clearly on the website, email, over the phone, and social media Clearly state and describe for the customers. So, they can learn easily about your business.
You’ll be needing negotiating skills for running your business. You’ll have to occasionally or more often with the customers/clients, suppliers, and employees.
Networking is also an important part of any online business. It opens up many opportunities for your business growth. You’ll need to expand your reach and will need to make new connections with potential clients/customers, suppliers, and other similar businesses in your field.
You’ll also need to strengthen the existing connections by engaging them on Social Media, emails, and other different ways.
Use Linkedin, It’s a Social media platform for professionals and can help you big time in your online business.
You should also attend different physical Networking events to make new connections that’ll be beneficial for your business.
3. Time Management
Time is money and is very precious. So, utilizing it and managing it properly is of greater importance than any other thing. Time management is a hard skill to master but it pays you in so many ways.
You have to be clear about what you want to achieve in your business, money-wise, growth-wise, and reputation-wise. And should divide that into small chunks and allocate a time slot for these tasks and stick to that plan.
Some practical tips:
Make a Yearly, Monthly, Weekly, and Daily To-do list.
You should Be clear about what you want and when you want to do different tasks.
In this world of competition, It’s so important to be consistent.
Stop Procrastination and start will small baby steps to achieve your goals.
Self-discipline and a clear vision or goal for your business will lead you to plan better and Manage your time efficiently.
One of the most difficult and hard-to-implement skills for online business owners is time management. But, once you’ve mastered it, it’ll pay you dividends.
4. Leadership and Delegation Skills
Power comes with responsibility. More power you have, the more responsibility you’ll have. So, Starting an Online Business will also give you power and responsibility. So, you’ll need to take responsibility for your actions, decisions, and all the matters that are related to your business.
In online business, you’ll be responsible for different tasks like managing social media, managing the website, increasing traffic, getting more leads/ sales, coming up with more ideas to grow your business, etc. and for all these tasks you’ll need to distribute your tasks using Leadership and Delegation Skills. You’ll need to hire employees, when needed, and assign them different tasks, getting these tasks completed on time and much more.
5. Money Skills
It’s one of the trickiest skills on this list. But, it’s also important in the long term.
It can be hard to hire an Accountant straight away when you’re starting a new Online Business. So, you’ll need to learn money management and handling for the business.
Some Tips:
You should Keep a business journal with you and note down major transactions.
Try to keep a record of all the transactions that are related to business.
And, it’s recommended to take a short online course on this subject from YouTube, Udemy, Skillshare, or any other website like these.
6. Digital Marketing and Sales
Most Important for the growth of any online business.
A must-learn skill for all Online business owners.
Your customers need to find you before they buy from you and for this, you need to market your business.
There are many different online marketing strategies, that includes;
- SEO
- Search ads
- PPC
- Social Media Advertising
- Social media marketing
- Email Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing
- Influencer Marketing
You don’t need to learn all these skills in depth at the start. You can just learn the basics of digital marketing through a short course like google course, HubSpot, etc.
This will help to grow your business, attract new customers, create more opportunities, increase brand awareness, etc.
7. Customer Service
Everyone cares about the first impression of the business or a person.
We always remember how they treated us.
The same will happen to you when you’ll be an owner of the business.
You’ll need to provide the best services and best first experience for your clients and customers that will compel them to come back again and again to your business.
For Example, If we like a brand’s services and behavior, even though their products are average in quality, we not only go back to that brand again and again, but we also recommend them to our family and friends.
The same will happen with your brand when you’ll be an Online Business owner.
You’ll have to answer your customer’s questions and queries and guide them about your business.
Tips:
Satisfy the customers.
Solve all their queries.
Stay calm listening to their problems.
You should Go the extra mile to provide the best experience possible to your clients.
Provide Live Customer Support.
8. Planning and Research
When you’re starting a new Online Business, you need to research and plan well to make it successful.
When starting a new Online Business, you’ll need to answer the following questions yourself and make a plan accordingly.
What are you going to sell?
It means what product or service you’ll provide to your clients or customers.
Who are you going to sell to?
Means, what will be your target audience, and who’ll be your target clients or customers?
How are you going to sell that?
What online platform that you’ll use for your business?
You’ll need to answer these questions.
It’s A very crucial part of starting a business.
It Can be a deciding factor if a business will be successful or not.
Tips;
- Analyzing other businesses
- Doing Competitor’s analysis
- Reading industry reports
- Joining newsletters of industry experts
- Following the big guns in the industry and learning and getting inspiration from them
- Tracking the previous records in the market
- Following and checking the trends
- Researching and communicating with the potential clients/customers
- Join Courses and training according to your industry
Bottom line:
These are some of the basic and essential skills that you’ll need to learn to start, grow, and scale an Online Business.
- Problem Solving
- Communication and Networking
- Customer service
- Digital marketing and Sales
- Planning and Research
- Money Skills
- Leadership and Delegation
- Time Management
