5 Crucial Skills to Develop when Starting a Business in 2020

Guest post by Tori Lutz

The success of a business depends on the skill of the entrepreneur in charge. Out of all businesses founded in 2014, 20% failed within the first year and 44% failed before 2018. Out of those businesses that failed, 23% cited “not the right team” as a key cause of the company’s failure.

So what can you do in order to give your team a leg to stand on before throwing them to the sharks? This article contains detailed accounts of five particular skills that every entrepreneur needs to learn, practice, and master in 2020.

Coding

First and foremost, a firm understanding of software development is key to the success of any business in any industry. This is true now more than ever before. In 2019, 97% of all consumers went online to look for a business that satisfied their demands. 

That means that, barring any happy accident of pedestrian discovery, businesses without a website were only appearing to the old-fashioned 3% of consumers who looked through directories or “went for a drive” to find the right business.

According to David Dodge, CEO of Codakid, web development isn’t even the biggest concern in the world of coding. “By understanding how code works,” Dodge said, “you gain insight into how the economy works.” 

Dodge’s claims seem to become more accurate with each passing day, as more and more companies switch from the traditional brick-and-mortar business model to online-only models.

Social Media

Facebook isn’t just for selfies and updates about interesting happenings in your personal life anymore. Nowadays, it is a powerful marketing tool, capable of reaching millions of people with the press of a single button. 

Data from social media usage in 2019 show that 68% of adults used Facebook, Instagram boasts more than one billion active monthly users, and Twitter has more than 126 million daily users. 

By targeting these audiences with coordinated social media marketing, advertising, and sales techniques, you stand to take your business from an idea to reality. Even if you don’t currently have a great understanding of how this works, programs like Facebook Blueprint exist with the express purpose of teaching you these skills.

Business Strategy

Chances are you’re familiar with the phrase “business model.” By now, you probably have one fully fleshed out with exactly how you’re going to make money with your business (if not, you need to get on that immediately). But did you know that having a business model is only a small fraction of what goes into successful business strategy?

Colleges across the world have entire degree programs dedicated to the study of business strategy. That fact isn’t meant to discourage you, though. On the contrary, we mean to simply highlight the importance and complexity of business strategy.

In reality, business strategy is concerned with everything from operations to resource allocation to task delegation and so on and so forth. A good rule of thumb is, “if the CEO does it, it’s part of business strategy.”

Branding and Intellectual Property

When people see a little white apple, they think of Apple. That’s what is known as a trademark, a symbol or phrase designed specifically to make people remember your brand. Trademarks are protected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which grants you a government-backed monopoly on the use of the symbol or phrase.

Through the use of intellectual property law, you can use the force of government to artificially limit supply of your product, enabling you to boost revenue well above what otherwise would ever be possible on the open market.

Combine that with effective branding (e.g., an eye-catching logo, a curated “vibe,” and selective endorsements), and you’ll be set up for a name-recognition double-threat.

Resilience

The only certainty in business is failure. 70% of businesses fail in the first ten years. The key is in what financial and executive gurus refer to as “failing gracefully.” That means that when you fail, and you will, you need to look at it as more than just the hackneyed “learning opportunity.”

Instead, treat it as a challenge, as an obstacle to surmount, and as a pool of resources for launching your next campaign, startup, or whatever else you’re looking to create. When people in the world of business say that failure is not an option, what they really mean is that failure can never be the last step of your business. 

Rather, it should always be the first. Just think of how many great ideas for goods and services have risen out of the failure of the market to provide those goods and services efficiently to large numbers of people.

Conclusion

Through the use of code, social media, business strategy, branding and intellectual property, and resilience, you will be setting yourself up on a much sturdier foundation for the creation of your business than your competition.

Once you’ve mastered these five skills, 2020 will become your playground. Of course, it takes a good deal of time to master anything, and don’t forget the fifth skill: resilience. If 2020 isn’t your year, maybe 2021 will be.

All that’s left to do is to find out.

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