Know Your Skills Do what you know! Chances are you've heard this saying applied to many areas of life. Well, nowhere is it more true than when you are deciding what kind of business to run. Taking stock of your skill set and knowing how to use it to your best advantage is one of the keys to a successful business. It goes without saying that the more you love what you do, the better your business will succeed. Why? Well, businesses take a lot of time to start and run. They require an enormous amount of commitment and follow-through. Businesses experience many ups and downs during the beginning phases. When the going gets tough and it most certainly will, you'll be more inclined to stick it out if you love what you are doing and have the skill set to do it properly. What is the best way to take stock of your skill set? Ask yourself a few questions:    - What do I enjoy doing during my spare time? Do you have a hobby or an interest that you spend lots of time on? What skills do you need for this hobby or interest that you could use to run your business? For example, if you really enjoy collecting and cataloguing artifacts from the Civil War, then you probably have excellent research skills. If you spend lots of your spare time heading up various volunteer organizations, then your organizational skills are probably excellent.     - What do I enjoy about my current occupation? Take a good look at what you are currently doing. What do you really like about it? If you feel most successful when you are interacting with people, then you'll want to make sure that you get plenty of opportunity to do so in your new business.    - What do I dislike about my current occupation? Face it, we all have to do things we don't like. However, our days shouldn't revolve around these things. So if you find yourself grinning and bearing it every time you have to sit for long periods of time at your computer or on the phone, then your business should not require long sedentary periods. Unless you want it to be short-lived!    - What do others say I am good at? Sometimes, it is hard to see our own strengths and weaknesses. Asking someone else what we excel at and what we can bring to the table is sometimes a good strategy. Make sure you ask someone you respect and trust! Another reason it is important to know your skills: if you are skilled at what you are doing, customers will know it. It will show not only in the how you manage your business, but in your enthusiasm as well. And enthusiasm is contagious. If you are excited about your business, well then, you can bet your customers will be excited as well. Okay, so let's say you now know your skills. You have determined your strengths and weaknesses. You know what you are good at, and what could use some work. You know how you enjoy spending your time, and how you would rather not. Now what? Well, if you are lucky and have the resources to hire additional workers, your goal should be to hire people whose strengths balance out your weaknesses. For example, if you dislike enjoy working with people but dislike some of the details of running a business, then hiring an organized, detail-oriented individual would be a great way to round out your business. But sometimes, hiring additional people may not be an option, especially during the start-up phase of your business when cash might be scarce. What to do? Well, there's no reason to let certain parts of your business suffer. Instead, think of it as a good opportunity to expand your skills. Expanding your own skills is a great way to invest in your business. After all, no one cares about your business quite as much as you! Once you know what skills you are lacking, time to bone up on them! If you find that you are less than savvy when it comes to computer skills, for example, take a course or spend some time reading up on the subject so that you can improve your skills. If you are not organized by nature, spending some time coming up with a step-by-step plan that will allow you to improve this skill in a manner that works for you will really benefit your business. If there are things you really do not enjoy, tell yourself that in order to enjoy the benefit of running your own business, you are going to have to do them, and do them well, at least for a little while. Use the potential success of your business as motivation. One of the first steps in starting and running your own business is to know your skills. Capitalize on your skills and make an effort to improve upon your weaknesses. It may seem like a small step, but it will make a huge difference to the success of your business!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are a business owner get listed at Best Repair Site, part of Localwin Network.