The Skills Every Entrepreneur Should Have

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Entrepreneur Skills|The Skills Every Entrepreneur Should HaveAn entrepreneur is someone who starts their own business and is responsible for building it up from the ground. As you might imagine, this is by no stretch of the imagination, but if you are determined to make it work, you have every chance of doing so.

Something else that will help you to have the best possible chance of succeeding as an entrepreneur is having the right skills. Some of the most common skills that entrepreneurs require are inherent, but most of them can be learned, so if you are willing to put the time and effort in, you could acquire abilities that will help you to run a much more successful business in the future.

With that in mind, here are some of the most important skills every entrepreneur should have:

Inquisitiveness

In order to come up with great new ideas and solve pressing new problems, you really do need to have an inquisitive mind that is always thinking about things, how they work and how they could be improved. This is probably the most important skill to have.

Communication

Successful entrepreneurs like Jonathan Sears, and Bill Gates if you want to be successful in business, you need to learn how to communicate as effectively as possible. From being able to pitch an idea to investors to directing employees how to handle a work project, and of course, dealing with customers, you are going to be doing a lot of talking one way or another, and the more eloquently you can put your point across, the more successful you are likely to be.

Time management

When you are turning a business, there really aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that you need to do. It is your job as an entrepreneur to find the time, which means you need to have excellent time management skills, Of course, you can hire other people to help you (and you should) but if you aren’t able to fit everything you need to do into your daily schedule as efficiently as possible, you really will struggle.

Resilience

Being an entrepreneur is hard. Not all of your ideas will land, some of your big dreams will fail, and you will fall short of many of your goals. If you cannot handle those things, you will ultimately be unsuccessful in business and feel terrible in your personal life. If, however, you can handle the rejections, stresses, and bad times and learn from them, you can come back better and stronger and ultimately lead your company to great success.

Mathematics

If you want to do well in business, you need to be able to raise funds, create business plans, work out your bottom line, and a million other things that require the ability to think mathematically, Obviously, there are lots of tools that can help you with this these days but if you have an innate understanding of mathematics, you will find it a whole lot easier to succeed.

If you have all of these skills or are able to work towards developing them, then you are fsr more likely to succeed as a modern entrepreneur.

Managing your time more effectively as CEO

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Managing your time more effectively as CEOThe responsibilities of a Chief Executive Officer are seemingly endless. From managing strategic direction, evaluating group and company operations to communicating with various stakeholders – the daily schedule of a CEO can be relentless. There are never enough hours in the day, and for business leaders this is certainly true. So, if you’re a relatively new CEO or you’ve been at the helm for a while – how can you manage your time more effectively?

Master Delegation

The most important thing any business leader can do to manage their time more effectively is improve their delegation skills. It can be tempting to control and oversee every aspect of a business, particularly if you’ve built it from nothing, but it’s impossible to do this as a company grows. In order to delegate effectively, you must have the right team around you and an appropriate structure beneath you to support this. This includes people that you trust to get the job done, and competent employees that you can rely on.

Travel Smart

CEOs can spend a significant amount of time traveling between meetings, offices and partners. Therefore, being smart with this time is an absolute must. For example, you could opt for private jet rental instead of commercial flights to save time by avoiding busy airports, and give you more flexibility when it comes to multi-destination trips. It’s also important to make best use of the time while traveling to free up space elsewhere in the day. You could use your travel time to power through some emails or catch up on some work that doesn’t require much collaboration.

Reserve Time

Much is demanded of CEOs from others in the organisation, and as such, a large proportion of their day can be filled with meetings and other scheduled commitments. It’s essential that you reserve some time each day or week for your own priorities, work or even just for a 10-minute breather. Pockets of time here and there can help to boost productivity and break up the day. Reserving time for yourself also relies on delegation – if someone else can take one of your meetings per day, you’ll automatically create more time for yourself to work on other projects.

Power Sessions

Being a CEO is all about imagining and developing the big picture, but you can still get caught up in the intricacies of operations. Use power sessions, or periods of intense focus, to blast through the more mundane or administrative tasks that you will undoubtedly have to do every once in a while. The same goes for emails – reserve a time slot to power through your inbox and you will almost certainly clear it quicker than if you have your mind on other things.

If You Want To Grow Your Business, You Have Got To Be Careful

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Grow Your Business|If You Want To Grow Your Business, You Have Got To Be CarefulIf you want to grow your business, you have got to be careful. There are a number of things that have to work together properly in order for an expansion to ever be successful, and if you are not willing to work for this to happen, then the expansion is going to fail. Do you even know how to start expanding your business? It’s a good thing that you have found this article either way, because down below we’re going to be looking at some of the important pieces of information that you need to know and consider if you want to expand your business. Keep reading down below if you would like to find out more.

It’s Expensive

The first thing that you need to know is that growing your business is extremely expensive in some cases. You are going to need to hire new people, you may need to hire a company like Modular Genius in order to get some new office spaces built, and you are going to have to spend more money on advertising. It’s an expensive feat to take on, but if your business is ready for it then it’s going to pay off.

You need to be sure that your business is ready though, otherwise this is just going to be a super expensive lesson that you will learn. Set aside some money for the expansion, but don’t go over budget if you can avoid it as this will start impacting other areas of your business if you do.

Is The Demand There?

Do you actually have the demand to warrant growing your business? If the answer is no then there is no need to do this and you should stop your plans right now. If the answer is yes, then you need to do your research first into who is buying from you the most, where are most of the sales coming from and so on. You need this information to be able to expand your business properly as this will tell you where the target areas are, and where you should be focusing. We promise that if you take the time to understand the demand and cater to it, the expansion is going to go a lot smoother than if you don’t.

What Do You Need?

Finally, you have got to think about what you need as a business in order to expand. Coming up with a plan is really the only way to do this in an organized fashion. Once you have this plan in place of the things you need and how to achieve them, you can start getting things going.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that you are going to need to think about if you are going to be growing your business. We know that this is important for all business owners at some point down the line, but it is better to slow down and let things work naturally rather than trying to force something that is not needed. We wish you the very best of luck.

Best Tech Business Niches To Get Into

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Tech Business Niche|Best Tech Business Niches To Get IntoThe employment landscape of today is more uncertain than at any point in history. With the seemingly endless digitization of business and the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), it seems there isn’t a single area of commerce that isn’t being transformed by technology.

However, while many might view the increasing reliance on computers and machines in the workplace as a negative thing, technology is opening a world of opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs and bringing entirely new business prospects.

If you’re looking for ways to jump on the tech bandwagon and start capitalizing on our brave new world, below are some business ideas you could look at developing now to gain a head start before the masses follow.

Graphic and web design

As the real and virtual worlds continue to merge, there is now a huge demand for designers that can aid companies in promoting themselves online and in print. Building a strong brand is essential in today’s highly competitive markets, and firms the world over are starting to wake up to the considerable importance of promoting themselves effectively both on and off-line.

Sign design, engraving and marking

While there’s little doubt about the effect the web and associated online technologies have had on business, there will always be a demand for more traditional signage, vehicle livery and engraving skills. Modern laser cutter technology is now more accurate and precise than ever, making it easy to accurately transfer digital designs onto everything from glass to laminate, wood and metal.

3D printing

For the vast majority of businesses, a 3D printer is an expense they simply can’t justify – so investing in the tech and setting up as a dedicated service provider makes good commercial sense. These days, a professional 3D printing machine can cost as little as $10,000 but will soon pay for itself as you build a market and take more clients on board.

3D printing is becoming increasingly popular for educational purposes, construction, and in particular, manufacturing and prototyping – and the demand shows no signs of slowing.

Mobile application development

When Steve Jobs first showcased Apple’s flagship mobile device, the iPhone, on June 29th, 2007, surely even he couldn’t have predicted the massive societal shift-change his product would cause. These days, pretty much all of us have a smartphone that we rely on for day-to-day tasks like messaging, browsing, emailing and shopping.

Today’s smartphones have usurped a multitude of devices – everything from personal music players to cameras and satnavs – and the majority of these capabilities are powered by mobile applications.

Mobile app growth has been exponential over the last few years and continues to increase at breakneck speed. In 2016, research shows there were a total of 140.6 billion app downloads globally. By the end of 2021, that figure is forecast to grow to a whopping 258 billion, representing an 83% increase over just five years.

Working as an app developer, you will have options to build and market your own software (normally generating revenue from sales, advertising or subscriptions) or could go the more traditional route and build applications for clients (getting paid per project). Certainly, one thing is for sure – apps are here to stay, and app development will be a key niche for the foreseeable future.

Is Filing for Taxes in 2021 Going to Be Harder?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Filing Taxes 2021|Why 2021 Changed the Game for Filing Taxes?What factors affect the tax filing process? Normally, it would be something about your annual income, any side jobs you had, the expenses you incurred, and whether or not you got married during the year.

But because of the pandemic, more factors will come into play when you finally file your income taxes next year. Things like unemployment benefits, stimulus checks, changed jobs, and moving to a different state can have a positive or negative impact on your taxes, depending on what category you fall under according to your accountant or tax preparer.

This is why tax preparers have a huge role to play in making sure individuals and corporations file the right taxes. There are a lot of changes in the tax code, especially since there are tax breaks for small businesses and tax exemptions for individual taxpayers. Tax preparers have to keep up with all of these updates, so they might find more than their usual clients lining up for their services. Even people who usually file taxes on their own will need help from tax experts. This will ensure that they maximize all kinds of exemptions they can avail.

Times Have Changed

No longer are people so against the idea of paying for someone to prepare their taxes for them. Over time, they realized how effective this strategy is and how much time and money they save by letting a professional handle their income taxes. Surveys showed that individual taxpayers save more on taxes when they let a professional file their taxes for them than when they try to handle it on their own. This is why there is now a huge market for accountants, bookkeepers, and tax preparers.

You can cast a wide net, and you will still be able to catch a handful of potential clients who will trust you with their money. However, to target a specific audience, you also need to modernize your wares. Old marketing techniques and tools will not work anymore.

Programs, Apps, Software

Tax preparers will need modern “warfare,” so to speak. Among these is tax software that will encode the income and expenses of the taxpayer. But before you subscribe to any tax software, make sure to check a comparison chart of tax software so that you will know the different features that you can get for the amount that you’re going to pay. The software will make the job of a tax preparer easier because all you need to do is input the required details. The program will develop the best strategy so the clients can make the most out of the exemptions provided by the tax laws.

But making sense of the data collected by the software is a job for a tax preparer only. Some clients think that all tax preparers do is to input the amounts and file the taxes in the proper office. This isn’t true. The job of a tax preparer is more than about encoding data. It is about analyzing the given data, understanding how to apply the tax policies, and giving clients the best strategy to maximize their tax refunds.

Why the Pandemic Matters

To help taxpayers and businesses during the pandemic, the government passed several laws to minimize their payables for the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years. These laws intend to lighten the burden on the taxpayers who are struggling with unemployment, credit card debts, mortgages, student loans, and many others. Businesses, too, have been suffering the most since many of them have to seize operations during the start of the pandemic. A lot of them have been unable to rise from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

People and businesses are struggling and simply trying to survive. They do not have the money to spare for their tax payables, so they are looking for a way to reduce their taxes. For that to be possible, they need all the help they can get from their tax preparers and accountants. They need to be circumspect of the way they earn and spend.

Filing taxes for 2021 will be different because of the things that happened in the past 18 months. But although people and businesses are barely surviving, it is also true that they still need to be responsible with their taxes. That’s what tax preparers are for. They work to understand the many nuances of the tax system and how this can be used for the benefit of their clients. More than anything else, this is critical in a year when millions of people have lost their jobs and savings.