Skills needed to run a trade business

Skills needed to run a business

When you first start your own business, there are many tasks you’ll need to do yourself. Therefore, a basic knowledge of how a business operates is essential to get you started.

From advertising and marketing your business, to hiring staff and product development, you’ll want to know your business inside out. When you first develop and refine your business idea, this is a good place to list the kind of skills you’ll need.

Some essential skills for a new business owner include:

• Delegation – as a business owner, your focus should be on running the company. Any tasks that can be completed by your employees should be delegated.
• Communication – all successful business owners should be good communicators. This includes communicating with your customers and staff.
• Proactivity – a positive mental attitude and a ‘get-things-done’ mentality will help your business to thrive and will become part of your business ethos.
• Leadership – supporting your team and growing your business are both parts of being a successful leader.
• Finance – most business owners want to build a profit-making company. To do this, you’ll need a good level of financial literacy.

When you’re in the initial stages of starting your own business, careful planning is required. One of the first things to do is a skills self-assessment. This will help you to identify any areas where you need to improve your skills and understanding.

Identifying your skills gap

Starting your own business is an exciting time. New business owners, however, often get carried away and jump straight into tasks that need more thought.

Make sure you know how to create a business plan and that you’ve put some time into developing your business strategy before you charge ahead.

When you start your own business, it’s a good idea to take some time to analyse your skills and identify any areas where you need to improve.

Assessing and identifying your skills gap is usually done in three different ways.

1. Self-appraisal

Sometimes one of the most difficult tasks for small business owners is self-appraisal. It is also one of the most beneficial.

Start by looking back at your education and career. Use your latest CV as a guide. As you do this, write a list of any skills and qualifications you have. Once you have done this, review the list.

You can develop your own appraisal scheme, but the outcome should provide a clear idea of the skills you are confident in and the areas where you feel you would benefit from a refresher or some additional training.

2. Online assessments

Some people feel more comfortable using an online assessment website. These tools work in a similar way to a self-appraisal but with a more structured approach.

There are many free online assessments available. The National Careers Service Skills Assessment is detailed and helpful.

3. Skills analysis

Once you’ve completed your self-appraisal and online assessment, you’ll have a good starting point to begin your skills analysis.

You can now separate any skills you have identified into four separate sections:

• Existing skills
• Learnable skills
• Skills to hire
• Skills to outsource

Once you understand more about your skill gaps, you can take the best approach to find a solution.

You can also have a read of our numerous articles on small business advice. How to start a trade business in the UK is an excellent place to start.

Once you’ve identified any areas you want to work on, you can start looking into how to go about improving your business skills.

What training is available for new business owners?

Fortunately, there are lots of courses available for trade business owners. Whether you want to improve your technical skills or enhance your marketing acumen, with a bit of time, dedication, and investment, you’ll soon have all the skills you need to run a successful business.

If you want to work on your technical skills or update your qualifications and accreditations, there are numerous trade-specific courses available.

From electrics and heating to building and landscape gardening, take a look at our top training courses – updating your skills and qualifications is perhaps the best way to improve your chances of business success.

Making the most of your transferable skills

Transferable skills are often easily overlooked by people starting their own business. For anyone who’s ever worked as an employee, it’s almost certain that you’ve developed numerous transferable skills during your career.

Some of the most beneficial transferable skills for small business owners include:

• Customer service
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Presentation
• Digital and IT
• Marketing and advertising
• Leadership
• Time management

If you can put a tick next to all or most of these transferable skills, you’re well on your way to becoming a successful business owner.

Become your own boss with Checkatrade!

You now know what skills are needed to become a successful business owner. The next thing to do is to put this knowledge into practice.

To help you have the best chance at business success, our ‘Become The Boss’ series provides expert insight from tradespeople who were once in a similar position to you.

As part of our ‘Become The Boss’ series, you’ll get seven e-mails with top tips to help your business thrive. You’ll also receive a free business strategy call from a successful trader to discuss the best way forward for your business.

Enter your e-mail address into the form below to get started on becoming your own boss.

FAQs

What skills are required to start a business?

As mentioned above, to successfully start a business you’ll need a combination of ‘soft’ skills and technical trade-specific skills and knowledge. Understanding what skills you have helps you determine how to price your services, too.

What qualities does a small business owner need to have?

Running your own business can be challenging. Therefore, persistence and resilience are essential qualities for any small business owner.

You should also be motivated, passionate and dedicated to achieving business success.

What hard skills do you need in business?

Understanding how a business operates is a good place to start. You will also require solid financial understanding and the ability to analyse data to ensure that your business continues to perform well.