How to Develop the Soft Skills of the Successful Entrepreneur

Can you really teach entrepreneurship? That question
gets asked a lot, both in business and academia. Some
claim you can learn the skills necessary to be a
successful entrepreneur. Others say you either have “it”
or you don’t, whatever the heck "it" is.
But I think we're asking the wrong question. It's not
about whether you can teach skills to be a successful
entrepreneur, but rather what skills need to be taught or
learned. For instance, when it comes to the hard skills,
anyone can learn them, either in a classroom or on the
job. These include things like finance and accounting or
branding and marketing or legal. They are the skills that
lead to specific action… the “doing” of running your
business.
But, more important are the soft skills. These are trickier
to learn. They don't come in a textbook or a webinar.
They don't even necessarily come from working hard at
your job. They come from inside you.
Rather than be taught them, you need to unlock them
and foster them.
Related: How Technology Demands a Different
Approach to Your Job
Fostering (or "learning") soft skills that don’t come
naturally to you might seem challenging and even very
uncomfortable. But know that you have more soft skills
available to you than you’re currently using. Perhaps
you’ve never considered some of them. Or maybe you’ve
not had the opportunity to work with a mentor or boss to
show you by example. But if you’re willing to look inside
yourself and you’re open to making significant changes,
you can learn to access and use the many soft skills
available to you within yourself. Here are a few
examples:
Drive, Ambition and Stamina.
Let’s face it -- being an entrepreneur is really hard at
times. You have to push yourself every day to be better
when things aren’t going your way. It’s a major effort to
keep going when you feel like nothing is right. But that’s
why drive, ambition and stamina are necessary. We all
have it. We’re born with it. Some have more than others,
but you can strengthen yours by looking for inspiration
from those with a ton of it and following their lead. It’s
like a muscle that if you exercise regularly, it will
become stronger.
The Temperament to Manage Adversity.
It’s no secret that entrepreneurship is full of adversity.
That’s why people with unbelievable ideas never take the
plunge into the entrepreneurial sea. Some entrepreneurs
have such trouble managing tough times that they go
grey, gain weight, lose their hair and age 20 years from
the experience. Then there are those who’ve never
looked or felt better from it. These are the people who
approach entrepreneurship with joy and who remain
calm even in the worst of situations. They don’t let the
worst of it get the best of them. While it looks like some
people are just born with this kind of temperament, I can
tell you that I’ve known many people who have learned
how to be this way as they’ve grown as people and as
entrepreneurs. They learned to let go and have faith that
everything will be OK.
Related: Why You Don't Have to Be an Owner to Be an
Entrepreneur
The Capacity to Embrace Change.
If you don’t evolve with the world around you,
specifically with your customers’ ever-changing needs,
your success will be short-lived. Most people hit a
ceiling on growth and become stuck in their ways.
Nothing can be more detrimental to running a
business. If this is something you struggle with, consider
forcing yourself to engage in one activity every day or
every week that you’ve never done before that kicks you
out of your comfort zone. Or perhaps try taking a new
path to work, stopping at a new coffee shop or trying a
new food that you’ve never had before.
A Ton of Chutzpah.
You’ve heard the term, “Fake it til you make it?" Some
people are just really good at this. We usually call them
bullshit artists. But even if you think you’re well prepared
for your entrepreneurial journey, you’ll more than likely
uncover a few holes that you’ll have to mend on the go.
At some point you’ll likely find yourself pitching for
business that you are pretty sure is out of your league or
you might have to pull out all the stops and get in front
of people to sell your business who might expect you to
be much more experienced than you are. I never
advocate for lying about anything but there is a way to
message your business that isn’t lying but makes you
sound pretty darn good! But if you aren’t willing to fake
it, you’ll never make it or it will take you a much longer
time to.