I mentioned in my previous reality check post that there were many questions that the Business Link asks in their are you ready to start up? section of your personal business startup organiser. I’ve covered the day to day and entrepreneurial questions and I now need to look at business skills and market research.
There are some core skills that I, as a business owner, should have and I need to assess myself against them. So lets look at the key business skill areas.
Financial management – what kind of relationship do I have with my bank? Can I manage my credit? Can I plan my cashflow? Well, to be honest, I’m not entirely sure. I have been with my bank for over 25 years, since I was 15 and I am on first name terms with most of my local branch. I’ve never looked at cashflow before and I’ve never had credit beyond a credit card. I get the feeling I will be learning on the job for this one. Fortunately the Business Link include information on the basics of cashflow management.
Product development – “The ability to make long-term plans for product development and identify the people, materials and processes required to achieve them.” Hmmm. I don’t plan on having a physical product, more a set of services. “In order to make such plans you will need to know your competition and your customers’ needs”, something I can relate to as far as my service offering is concerned. This is something I will be addressing as I develop the service offering. I will need to understand my competition as well as who my customers are. Once I have identified my customers, I can then work on what their needs are. I think this gets addressed a bit later on, so I’ll put that to one side just for the moment.
People management – I run a development team and have run interviews and managed disputes. I know I can motivate people and I, like my boss, understand that their is a lot to be said for training and personal development. Anyone else remember the Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing square?
Business planning – I need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of my business plan for this one. Well, I haven’t written it yet so I don’t know. I do know how to run and manage a project though.
Marketing skills – this is the one I know I need to spend more time on. It’s pretty key as I know I need to sell my services. I need a plan for this and I’m pretty sure the Business Link’s write a marketing plan section will help. I know I need to develop selling points for each part of my service offering and for me, that will be the challenge.
Supplier relationship management – I’ve never had to do too much of this as it’s usually managed by our procurement department! I know I get on well with people but I have yet to test it in a real-world supplier relationship.
Sales skills – I think this goes with the marketing side of things. If I get the marketing right, then my ability to sell my services should improve. I need to be able to sell “me” and I am hoping that my project management and consultancy training will help here.
Before I move onto the market research checks, which talks about researching my “target market and your competitors carefully”, I need to nail down my service offering. I know what will go into it, but I think it needs fleshing out a bit, so I will share that with you in the next few posts.
Following that is the financial commitment check in which I’ll need to decide whether I am going to use my own money or seek funding. I’m not seeking funding, so that will be answered pretty quickly.
Until next time…
