As a small business owner, you are also the leader who is in charge of running the business. Having the right set of leadership skills will provide a vision for any business project and motivate employees to excel in their tasks. These skills are also crucial for leaders to effectively execute a strategy and lead to some form of success for the business.
While not everyone is born a natural leader, you can still develop leadership skills over time and through experience. Take inspiration from other entrepreneurs – get to know the characteristics of small business owners that set them apart from the rest. Invest time to develop these skills and you can use those qualities to the benefit of your business.
Read on to learn more about each skill small-business owners need to have to lead their business successfully.
1. Tenacity
Persistence is one thing. Tenacity is another. Tenacity, in a way, is the relentless drive to learn from previous decisions made and use new data acquired to make better decisions or find new ways to achieve things that you previously could not do. This is the kind of trait that a small business owner should have if they want to guide their startup from zero to sustainability.
2. Resilience
The most successful businessmen aren’t just optimistic. They’re neither just resourceful or hardy either. They’re all of those things combined. This is because starting a business isn’t easy and the ability to bounce back from failure, as well as handle all the stresses that come even with success, are keys to running a business.
3. Self-awareness
Self-awareness is hard to come by, and it’s not something that everyone can develop their entire lives. However, if you want your small business to succeed, it’s important that you have a good understanding and awareness of who you are and what you can do. This will allow you to pinpoint your own weaknesses and gaps, as well as find ways to fill those gaps.
The best leaders are those who know that they don’t know everything. Knowing when to ask for help is an important trait – they know better than to assume that they can do everything themselves. This is why they delegate, such as by outsourcing to an accounting service provider, and put the best people in the jobs that best fit their skills. At Ackenting Group, our audit firm provides a range of corporate accounting services to value-add to your business with customised solutions. You can rely on our years of experience and expertise to help in various aspects of your business, from audit and accounting, to tax and payroll services, so you can focus on the core operations for growth.
4. Personable
Being likeable is often overlooked and taken for granted. Having a positive attitude and an approachable personality will make it easier for your employees, other business professionals and even customers to communicate openly and honestly with you. In the long run, this can bring positive results to your bottom line.
This takes a certain amount of emotional intelligence to better understand yourself and others around you. Not only will you be able to handle stress better, but you can effectively demonstrate empathy and emotional intelligence to your team. This is important for giving and receiving feedback, and establishing good communication so your business can run as smoothly as possible.
5. Foresight
“Where are we going?” and “where do we want to go?” are two questions that the best entrepreneurs are constantly asking themselves.
Good leaders keep their eyes on the present, but their goal is always to prepare for the future. They keep tabs on trends, both within the business and its industry, as well as outside of it, and often work closely with their team or outsourced services to find ways to optimise the business and maximise growth. As a goal-oriented leader, you show that you are not just driven, but have plans in place to succeed. Your team can then get involved to take the next step in reaching that goal.
Conclusion
Being a successful small business owner takes a lot of time, effort, and hard work. It just doesn’t happen overnight. If you want your small business to succeed, you’ll need to take time to reflect on what kind of leader you want to be and what kind of leader you are right now.
Although these traits aren’t the only ones that a successful small business owner should have, they are a good start. By developing these traits within you and learning more about what it takes to become a good leader, you’ll be able to run your small business better and put it in a position where it can succeed and become self-sustaining.
If you require any assistance on accounting services, feel free to drop us an email at johnwoo@ag-singapore.com or contact us at +65-66358767. At Ackenting Group, we offer a complimentary 30 minutes online consultation for us to better understand your business requirements.
