{"id":2497,"date":"2025-03-06T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/?p=2497"},"modified":"2025-03-06T15:17:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T15:17:34","slug":"6-essential-entrepreneur-skills-and-how-to-build-them-straight-from-businesses-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/06\/6-essential-entrepreneur-skills-and-how-to-build-them-straight-from-businesses-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Essential Entrepreneur Skills and How to Build Them, Straight from Businesses Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My first job out of college was one I made up. People become entrepreneurs for <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/sales\/reasons-for-entrepreneurship\">lots of reasons<\/a>, and for me (like most) it was the flexible hours. Armed with an English degree and a basic knowledge of marketing, I started a small agency creating written content for anyone who needed it.<\/p>\n<p>I built a book of business by relying on my network and a surprisingly reasonable number of targeted cold emails. After a few years, a happy client took me on full-time, and I\u2019ve been working in sales and marketing for other organizations ever since.<\/p>\n<p>My somewhat unorthodox career path depended heavily on entrepreneurial skills. While it felt like a significant departure from the norm at the time, I would argue that rapid changes in the business landscape have made entrepreneurial skills more important than ever. That\u2019s true whether you\u2019re trying to <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/sales\/how-to-run-a-business\">run your own successful business<\/a> or perform well in an established role.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"cta_button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hubspot.com\/cs\/ci\/?pg=1a0a4e5a-b3ce-4c8b-bc42-4e24cde930ae&amp;pid=53&amp;ecid=&amp;hseid=&amp;hsic=\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img \" style=\"height: auto !important;width: auto !important;max-width: 100% !important;border-width: 0px;margin: 0 auto;margin-top: 20px;margin-bottom: 20px\" alt=\"Download Now: Free Business Startup Kit\" height=\"58\" width=\"377\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/53\/1a0a4e5a-b3ce-4c8b-bc42-4e24cde930ae.png\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#why-entrepreneurship-skills-matter\">Why Entrepreneurship Skills Matter<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#essential-skills-entrepreneurs-need\">Essential Skills Entrepreneurs Need<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why Entrepreneurship Skills Matter<\/h2>\n<p>The internet has been fundamentally shaping every industry since its widespread adoption, and quite a few experts anticipate an even greater level of disruption from AI. That feels hyperbolic. But, if you told my 22-year-old self that the biggest content creator in 2024 would be AI, I never would\u2019ve believed you \u2014 even if the content it cranks out is \u201cmid\u201d at best.<\/p>\n<p>While I can\u2019t go toe-to-toe with the big thinkers trying to decide if the huge changes wrought by AI will be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/internet\/2023\/06\/21\/as-ai-spreads-experts-predict-the-best-and-worst-changes-in-digital-life-by-2035\/%23:~:text%3DThe%2520future%2520harms%2520to%2520human%2520knowledge,doubters%25E2%2580%259D%2520will%2520hold%2520back%2520progress.\">positive or negative<\/a>, I can tell you one thing: change is always coming. Those who can adapt will stay ahead of the curve. Those who can\u2019t will fall behind. If you want to be in the former camp, be intentional about building the following six entrepreneurial skills.<\/p>\n<p><a><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2>Essential Skills Entrepreneurs Need<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;width: 650px;height: auto;max-width: 100%\" title=\"\" alt=\"essential skills entrepreneurs need\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/entrepreneur-skills-2-20250219-2405783.webp\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;font-size: 12px\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/22-of-founders-rely-on-friends-and-family-for-capital-when-starting-a-business-new-data-from-clutch-finds-301148481.html%23:~:text%3DShare%2520toX,capital%2520from%2520friends%2520and%2520family.\">Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h3>1. Networking<\/h3>\n<p>No one succeeds alone, which is why I believe networking might just be the <em>most<\/em> important of many vital entrepreneurial skills.<\/p>\n<p>Need your first customers? Like most companies, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.levelingup.com\/growth-everywhere-interview\/mark-roberge-hubspot\/%23:~:text%3D%255B00%253A07%253A11%255D,before%2520they%2520built%2520their%2520product.\">HubSpot started with its founders\u2019 networks<\/a>, according to former Chief Revenue Officer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/markroberge\/\">Mark Roberge<\/a>. The better you are at networking, the easier it will be to start, grow, run, and even eventually exit your business.<\/p>\n<h4>How to Build This Skill<\/h4>\n<p>Maybe you\u2019re a natural extrovert, or maybe networking requires you to get far outside your comfort zone. Either way, the key to building this skill is simply to start. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bastien-paul-hublead\/\">Bastien Paul<\/a>, co-founder and CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hublead.io\/\">Hublead<\/a>, recommends that you meet two new people in your industry every week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s something I did for four months in a row, and it helped me gain experience, meet incredible people, and find new ways to grow myself, my career, and later my company,\u201d Paul says.<\/p>\n<p>Not sure where to meet people? Try an organized networking event, a volunteer opportunity, or even some cold emails. Form relationships, and then \u2014 most crucially \u2014 do the work to nurture them so they\u2019re meaningful and mutually beneficial.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Sales<\/h3>\n<p>Whether you\u2019re trying to convince a company to sign a seven-figure contract or you want your CTO to scrap a half-baked feature, so many outcomes are determined by your ability to sell.<\/p>\n<p>Convincing other people to buy into your ideas will help you implement them. That enables you to win customers, attract investors, garner valuable media attention, and more. Be purposeful about honing your sales skills to give yourself the best possible chance of entrepreneurial success.<\/p>\n<h4>How to Build This Skill<\/h4>\n<p>Work on \u201cselling\u201d your product or service to the people closest to you. Then, instead of soaking up their knee-jerk praise, encourage them to look for holes and opportunities to push back against your ideas. Every objection you can address in the workshopping stage will improve your chances out in the field.<\/p>\n<p>From there, I recommend that you refine your pitch to fit in 30 seconds, two minutes, and 10 minutes. From there, you can make the most of whatever time you\u2019re allotted with a prospect or potential investor. I always make sure I\u2019m using a story to convey my ideas to my audience in a more appealing and digestible way.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Resilience<\/h3>\n<p>If you\u2019re reading about entrepreneurial skills, you might be interested in the <a href=\"https:\/\/wondery.com\/shows\/how-i-built-this\/\">How I Built This podcast<\/a>. Guy Raz does a great job interviewing entrepreneurs from a wide variety of backgrounds and industries. While their stories are generally quite unique, they universally face daunting setbacks.<\/p>\n<p>Bob Moore of Bob\u2019s Red Mill had his mill burn to the ground. Honest Tea had to recall their products from every market because of defective glass bottles. Bill Shufelt of Athletic Brewing had to reinvent a beverage category that had languished since the Prohibition era.<\/p>\n<p>These and all the other stories Raz shares on his podcast would never be told if the leaders had made the easy choice to give up.<\/p>\n<h4>How to Build This Skill<\/h4>\n<p>Building resilience should be uncomfortable. One of the best ways I\u2019ve found to get out of my comfort zone is to cold call prospects. Cold calling is 5% learning to sell and 95% learning to cope with rejection.<\/p>\n<p>If you can spend just an hour each week cold calling qualified leads, you probably won\u2019t sell anything. However, you\u2019ll learn about your product and the market while cultivating the ability to bounce back from anything. That\u2019s helpful for professionals at any level.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Time Management<\/h3>\n<p>I constantly sit down at my desk and think, \u201cToday is the day I\u2019ll finally be immune to distraction.\u201d Then, I open my inbox. Five minutes later, I\u2019m tweaking the graphic in my email signature to get it juuust right.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t have to be an evolutionary biologist to realize that most of our brains just aren\u2019t designed for deep, sustained focus, which makes effective time management even more important. Entrepreneurs have to ideate, create, iterate, and still somehow find time to sell their products and services. That requires a careful juggling act, and keeping key initiatives progressing smoothly is no accident.<\/p>\n<h4>How to Build This Skill<\/h4>\n<p>First, take an inventory of how you spend your time each day. I\u2019d recommend you start with the lowest-hanging fruit, which unfortunately means diving into those scary screen time metrics. I use Apple\u2019s internal tool (Settings &gt; Screen Time &gt; App Limits) to put a cap on the apps that cost time while delivering almost no value.<\/p>\n<p>In the spirit of transparency, my nemesis is Reddit. Luckily, changing some of your more time-intensive habits can happen quicker than you might think. Once you\u2019ve gotten that out of the way, flex your time-management muscles by working in sprints that start short (think 10 minutes or so) and get longer as you get better at maintaining focus.<\/p>\n<h3>5. Delegation<\/h3>\n<p>In my experience, delegation is inevitably the most difficult skill for entrepreneurs to learn, let alone master. Entrepreneurs are often independent to a fault, stubborn, idealistic, and overconfident in their own abilities (no offense meant, this applies to me for sure).<\/p>\n<p>These traits make it far easier for an entrepreneurs to just take on another task themselves instead of farming it out. However, the ones who pile more and more on their own plate are less and less likely to succeed. If you hope to grow one venture or even several, if you\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/sales\/serial-entrepreneur\">a serial entrepreneur<\/a>, you can\u2019t do it all on your own.<\/p>\n<h4>How to Build This Skill<\/h4>\n<p>Make a list of all the skills you need to achieve a big entrepreneurial goal, then rank your proficiency in those areas \u2014 and there can\u2019t be any ties. Start by delegating out the functions you\u2019re least capable of performing on your own, and see what you can accomplish by staying in your lane.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll bet anything it\u2019s more than what you were getting done on your own, no matter who you are. Learn from this exercise, rinse, and repeat.<\/p>\n<h3>6. Pattern Recognition<\/h3>\n<p>In his six years as executive director of <a href=\"https:\/\/ventureasheville.com\/\">Venture Asheville<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jeffdude\/\">Jeffrey Kaplan<\/a> has helped dozens and dozens of startups launch successfully. In his mind, pattern recognition is one of the most vital entrepreneurship skills for aspiring founders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPattern Recognition is the gateway drug in the entrepreneurial mindset that allows you to spot trends, see unarticulated needs, and seize opportunities that the competition may have missed,\u201d Kaplan says.<\/p>\n<p>In my experience, curiosity is a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/sales\/entrepreneur-personality-traits\">common entrepreneurial personality trait<\/a>, and it\u2019s also one of the driving forces behind pattern recognition. If you\u2019re not naturally curious, you can still make regular inquiry a habit.<\/p>\n<h4>How to Build This Skill<\/h4>\n<p>Talk to both happy and dissatisfied customers regularly to understand their frustrations, and as you ask questions, try to listen to what\u2019s not being said. Read books and case studies in fields that aren\u2019t familiar to you and try to find ways they might intersect or be relevant to your own area of expertise.<\/p>\n<p>A diverse network that spans industries can help encourage pattern recognition, exposing you to different ideas and perspectives. Many entrepreneurs cite their initial lack of experience in their field as a competitive advantage because it allows them to think outside the box. So, don\u2019t be afraid to explore uncharted territory.<\/p>\n<p><a><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2>Everyone Is an Entrepreneur<\/h2>\n<p>You may have heard the saying that every company is now a tech company, and it\u2019s true. We live in a tech-driven world, where we move from one digital experience to another both at work and on our own time.<\/p>\n<p>In the same way, I believe that everyone is \u2014 or at least should aspire to be \u2014 an entrepreneur. Even if you\u2019re in a rote job where every little task is standardized, new tools are being built daily that could automate manual work or improve outcomes. All you have to do is learn how to implement them.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, for both aspiring founders and those looking to weather the evolving job market as AI takes hold, mastering some of the skills of an entrepreneur will only help.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" style=\"min-height:1px!important;width:1px!important;border-width:0!important;margin-top:0!important;margin-bottom:0!important;margin-right:0!important;margin-left:0!important;padding-top:0!important;padding-bottom:0!important;padding-right:0!important;padding-left:0!important\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/track.hubspot.com\/__ptq.gif?a=53&amp;k=14&amp;r=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.hubspot.com%2Fsales%2Fentrepreneur-skills&amp;bu=https%253A%252F%252Fblog.hubspot.com%252Fsales&amp;bvt=rss\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My first job out of college was one I made up. People become entrepreneurs for lots of reasons, and for me (like most) it was the flexible hours. Armed with an English degree and a&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/06\/6-essential-entrepreneur-skills-and-how-to-build-them-straight-from-businesses-leaders\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;6 Essential Entrepreneur Skills and How to Build Them, Straight from Businesses Leaders&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2497"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2501,"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497\/revisions\/2501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.backstagelenses.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}