How to submit?

7 Skills You Should Have BEFORE Starting Your Business

What is one skill you wish you’d cultivated before starting your business?

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Attention to Detail

“I’ve moved on from the note-taker role, but never realized how my eye for detail would impact the rest of my career and help me see how all of the small parts played a part in building a successful business. By first understanding the small elements that make a business function properly, I’m now able to fill in the blanks when it comes to what makes a higher level strategy work or fail.”

– Brian Honigman, BrianHonigman.com

2. Proofreading

“I move fast and try to get a lot done in a short period of time, which is necessary for successful entrepreneurs. But this can lead to sloppy mistakes. It’s embarrassing to send emails that have spelling mistakes, so this is something I try to work on.”

– John Berkowitz, Yodle

3. Basic Accounting

“It took a lot of time and energy for me to learn basic accounting “on the job” when I started my business. I wanted to have a rudimentary understanding of it so that when I handed things off to my bookkeeper or accountant, I had an idea of what was going on and could keep a birds eye view on it.”

– Darrah Brustein, Network Under 40 / Finance Whiz Kids

Brooke-Bergman4. Public Speaking

“I am great with individuals and small groups, but in front of a large audience it’s different. I’ve gotten more accustomed to it, but I wish I had that skill coming out of the gate. That would have allowed me to speak at conferences and in front of other large groups of industry peers much sooner.”

– Brooke Bergman, Allied Business Network Inc.

5. Programming

“We’re all thinking it. I don’t want to do it but I wish I knew it! I wish I knew more about programming. In the past two years I’ve taken three courses and can code up basic applications. It’s helped my business grow because now I know how to build and scale our applications 10 times better and I can explain how to go about doing it. I recommend it to every business owner.”

– John RamptonHost

6. Communication

“Communication is probably the most important skill to have as an entrepreneur. A major part of communication is non-verbal — it is not what you say but how you say it. Your communication style is a representation of your own personal ego and self-perception. Partners, investors, employees and customers will pick up on these non-verbal cues and your ability to communicate your ideas.”

– Joseph DiTomaso, AllTheRooms

7. Web Development

“If I could go back, I’d definitely learn the basics of web development, both front- and back-end systems. I wouldn’t be as dependent on others to bring my vision to life.”

– Daniel Wesley, DebtConsolidation.com

Photo Credits

Gabriel Rojas Hruska | StartupCollective

Vote on recent startup submissions:

Monthly Sponsors

More Stories