Top 6 Management Skills for Entrepreneurs and How to Develop Them

Not all managers are entrepreneurs, but all entrepreneurs are managers in every way.

Being an entrepreneur requires you to wear several hats, and to succeed as one, you need a combination of technical, leadership, creative, and management skills.

This article walks you through the top management skills for entrepreneurs and how you can develop these skills.

Table of Contents

What are Management Skills?

Management skills describe the core abilities, competencies and knowledge exhibited/required by individuals occupying managerial positions in order to fulfill specific tasks or accomplish certain goals.

There are over 20 management skills for entrepreneurs, usually grouped under three major divisions — technical, conceptual, and human management/interpersonal skills.

In this article, we’ll concern ourselves with six out of the considerable management skills for entrepreneurs.

Top 6 Management Skills for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship and management intersect in many ways. But, characteristically, most of the skills required to succeed as an entrepreneur are core management skills. Below is a quick highlight of six management skills for entrepreneurs and how you can develop them.

Time management skills

businessmen use their time efficiently

You might have heard it said severally that time is money. Time is such an invaluable resource, and as an entrepreneur, you’ll usually have a lot of things to do. Hence time management skill for entrepreneurs is crucial to keep everything moving.

Ultimately, your goal as an entrepreneur is to get more work done in less time.

Some of the ways you can develop efficiency with time include breaking down daily or weekly goals and tasks into to-do lists and allocating realistic milestones and deadlines for tasks. Project management software such as Asana can be quite useful in this regard. Additionally, there are other time management tools, such as Calendly, Toggl, and Scoro, which are useful for scheduling, time-tracking, distraction blockers, etc.

Money management skills

Man with gold coins in the palms

Money is at the core of every business because businesses require capital to start and run effectively. Furthermore, nobody starts a business without profit in mind in the long run.

Since money is a crucial part of successfully running a business, an entrepreneur must possess money management skills — you must understand how to raise and manage money. You need to acquire basic accounting skills such as how to calculate profit and loss, how to prepare cash inflow and outflow statements, as well as be able to read, interpret and understand your business numbers.

Picking up money management skills for entrepreneurs is easier today than at any time. Get on Coursera, Udemy, or even YouTube, and you’ll find resources that will guide you on how to run basic business accounting. You can also read financial guidebooks or consult a financial planner or an accountant for advice on how to stay on top of your money problems.

Lastly, a ton of financial management software can help you track expenses, calculate your tax deductions, issue invoices, and so on — Zoho is one such software.

Read also: Money Management Skills: How to Stop Impulse Buying

People management skills

People management, in my opinion, is one of the most essential leadership skills — if not the most — an entrepreneur must develop, and the reason isn’t farfetched. Business involves dealing with people — internal and external public (customers, employees, regulators, vendors, etc.) — hence your ability to manage these different publics will determine whether your business succeeds or fails.

Individuals with strong people skills can predict behavior, network with others, and maintain different relationships effectively. To succeed in business, you must develop your people management skills. Close-to-people management is the next management skill for entrepreneurs.

Communication skills

Business colleagues talking about plans or new projects.

As an entrepreneur — whether solo or you run a Fortune 500 — you will have daily interactions with your internal and external public. What you make of these relationships will depend on your ability to communicate your vision, values, what you expect effectively, and the obligations of both parties.

Furthermore, you must master different forms of communication, like writing, speaking, holding online meetings, group conversations, one-on-one, and in-person conversations, and sending email newsletters. As an entrepreneur myself, one of the ways I keep developing my ability to communicate is by taking several communication-related courses. LinkedIn Learning is one of my favorite platforms for such learning expeditions. And, of course, while learning, ensure you’re practicing. Practice, they say, makes for improvement.

Problem-solving and critical-thinking skills

Critical Thinking.

Entrepreneurs face different challenges daily. It could be a marketing strategy that needs to be tweaked, conflict with a customer, or any other stakeholder. As an entrepreneur, you must be able to analyze situations and put things into different perspectives so you can make the best decisions.

Below are some quick tips on how to develop problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

Identify and understand the exact situation
Ask questions
Research deeper
Practice active listening
Consider various perspectives, methods, or solutions. In other words, look beyond the surface.

Beyond these few tips, there are books and courses on the subject that can help you become masterful at thinking critically and solving problems.

Read also: 7 Effective Ways to Develop Innovative Ideas and Solutions

Teamwork and collaboration skills

Large group of people in the shape of two puzzle pieces

Most entrepreneurs often begin as solopreneurs; however, there comes a time in your business when you need to hire employees or contract some tasks to freelancers. This demands that you must be able to delegate duties, synergize ideas and motivate people to give their best to create your vision.

In addition, teamwork and collaboration skills will ensure you can work well with people.

Effective teamwork and collaboration often require you to use some of the skills already listed above, such as communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and other relationship skills like emotional intelligence, empathy, and so on.

Read also: How to Build a Productive Team in Nigeria

Wrap Up

These are my top management skills for entrepreneurs looking to succeed in business.

As a way of concluding this article, it is important to note that as an entrepreneur, there is no end to personal development.

Hence, you must commit to lifelong learning and improvement because the better you become, the better your results in business.

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About Author

Ajayi Olalekan

Ajayi Olalekan is a Professional SEO writer & editor with 8+ years of print journalism and writing experience across different platforms — blogs, website, eBooks and social media. His writing experience also cuts across industries like IT, fashion, education management, real estate, consulting and entertainment.