Learn The 5 Skillsets That Make Entrepreneurs Successful.

With a proper mindset, you can then take the next step of building up your skill level. Like every other field worth its salt, entrepreneurship requires a skillset that will push you to the next level and help you be successful where others fail. What are some of the skills that you should learn; that have made a lot of entrepreneurs successful?

1: Find that gap

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Steve Ellis was a man with a vision. Like a lot of us, fast food had a place in his life. Yet, he wasn’t impressed with the calorie overload and the low quality ingredients that most fast foods came with. He loved fast food, and saw that he stood to make a fortune in the business, but he wanted to bring in a high quality element to his trade. He wanted his fast food venture to be synonymous with high quality ingredients and health-friendly meals. So he created “fast casual”, a new dining category, and launched the Chipotle brand in 1993. The rest, as they like to say, is history. You have to be willing to probe with your mind until you find that gap that nobody else has bothered to fill. This is how the bulk of entrepreneurs have struck gold- by aggressively seeking out gaps and then filling them to the best of their ability. Is there a service that you feel has not yet been explored enough? The truth is that no matter what niche you go for, you are likely to find lots of people who would like a certain problem solved, or service administered; find what that problem or service is and fix/solve it.

2: Drive for Daylight

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Think of the elite race car drivers. The one thing in common with all of them is that their minds are conditioned so that when they are looking to pass their competitors, they keep their eyes focused on the road. They do not fuss over their current position. They do not need to be told that this is silly. They do not tear their hair out over the position of their competitors- what has that got to do with anything? They concentrate on the future. In this way, an entrepreneur is like a race car driver. A prime focus on the future is key to being consistently successful in business.Chobani Yoghurt founder Hamdi Ulukaya illustrates this. In just 5 years, he took his yoghurt business from zero to 1 billion dollars in revenue by having a firm eye on the future. All he had at his disposal were a few thousand dollars and a vision to rehabilitate a decaying yoghurt plant. Today, in Greece, his company supplies about half of the nation’s yoghurt!

Think of the elite race car drivers. The one thing in common with all of them is that their minds are conditioned so that when they are looking to pass their competitors, they keep their eyes focused on the road. They do not fuss over their current position. They do not need to be told that this is silly. They do not tear their hair out over the position of their competitors- what has that got to do with anything? They concentrate on the future. In this way, an entrepreneur is like a race car driver. A prime focus on the future is key to being consistently successful in business.Chobani Yoghurt founder Hamdi Ulukaya illustrates this. In just 5 years, he took his yoghurt business from zero to 1 billion dollars in revenue by having a firm eye on the future. All he had at his disposal were a few thousand dollars and a vision to rehabilitate a decaying yoghurt plant. Today, in Greece, his company supplies about half of the nation’s yoghurt!

3: for the OODA loop

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OODA is simply an acronym for “observe, orient, decide and act.” Basically, OODA is a framework used when rapid decision making has to be done. And no, it was not made by some bloke in an office with a cup of coffee in his hand and doodling paper on his desk. OODA was made by the US fighter pilot John Boyd during the Korean War.

the entrepreneur, this means consistently updating your assumptions. It means making decisions quickly and even more importantly, moving quickly from one decision to the next. During the toddler years of electricity, JP MorgForhad a decision to make and he had to make it fast. His protégé, Thomas Edison, insisted on using DC. Nikola Tesla and his own financial backer insisted on using AC. Recognizing that the world only had room for one of them, Morgan quickly raised as much money as he could, bought enough shares to become a majority shareholder and immediately, tore down the entire DC structure that the Edison Electric company had been using since its inception. He replaced it with AC. It was a bold move and a bold decision and Morgan had the foresight to see the urgency that lay in making a decision. This is how the entrepreneur must operate.

had a decision to make and he had to make it fast. His protégé, Thomas Edison, insisted on using DC. Nikola Tesla and his own financial backer insisted on using AC. Recognizing that the world only had room for one of them, Morgan quickly raised as much money as he could, bought enough shares to become a majority shareholder and immediately, tore down the entire DC structure that the Edison Electric company had been using since its inception. He replaced it with AC. It was a bold move and a bold decision and Morgan had the foresight to see the urgency that lay in making a decision. This is how the entrepreneur must operate.

3: Fail smart

Take some time and listen to just about every startup owner. They will talk about the success that established entrepreneurs have had, and how they plan on emulating his success model. Now, take some time out and listen to a successful entrepreneur, if you can access one. He will not talk about his successes as much as his failures. This is the difference. A successful entrepreneur understands that to first succeed, failure is necessary. Failure is going to be a fixture, whether you like it or not. So what do they do? They set themselves up for success by failing in low risk environments. They test their new models in low risk environments and keep testing until they get positive results. Then and only then, do they release their products out to the general public. 

4: Network Minds

To be a truly successful entrepreneur, you have to learn how to network minds. This means that you must learn how mesh different people with different modes of thought if you are to have success in solving the myriad of problems that you will face as an entrepreneur. Look for many thinkers and assemble them into a team that runs your business.

To be a truly successful entrepreneur, you have to learn how to network minds. This means that you must learn how mesh different people with different modes of thought if you are to have success in solving the myriad of problems that you will face as an entrepreneur. Look for many thinkers and assemble them into a team that runs your business.

To be a truly successful entrepreneur, you have to learn how to network minds. This means that you must learn how mesh different people with different modes of thought if you are to have success in solving the myriad of problems that you will face as an entrepreneur. Look for many thinkers and assemble them into a team that runs your business.

Richard Branson understands the wisdom in this one. He has in place a team of dedicated, free-thinking managers to run his business. Not only is this the case, but he pushes for them to work outside the box and follow their own ideas. It is no wonder then that Virgin Atlantic is so well run.

5: Gift Small Goods

This is one of the most important pieces of advice you will ever get from anyone- giving brings rewards. You do not have to bleed yourself dry in the name of giving. Simple things, such as forwarding a resume, critiquing a proposal or writing a few lines of code will go a long way especially where the future is concerned. Fellow entrepreneurs have long memories. If you helped someone get on his feet and you need some help in which he can administer in the future, it makes sense to think he will consider you first.

Tiny Rowland was a master at this. Before he attempted conducting business in what was then a wild, underdeveloped Africa, he made sure to help out where he could. He would lobby for self-governance and acted in a ambassadorial capacity in opposing apartheid. Of course, the leaders who took over remembered him for this; remembered him for taking up causes that he did not have to. He was usually among the first names to be brought up when contracts were being offered out.

Keep on developing and nurturing the above 5 skills until you are a master at it. And as you do that, try combining the process of building the skills with nurturing the habits of successful entrepreneur