Skills Every Work-From-Home-Solopreneur Needs

Forget sliced bread. Forget Concorde. Forget about Spotify, penicillin, Beyonce and the iPod. The great step we have made in the history of humankind is being able to work from home. That’s the real winner.

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It’s being able to say “no” to the man, take your passion and launch your own business from the comfort of your own home; all while working your own hours, enjoying your family every second of the day and getting out from your work what you put in. Yeah. Working from home as a solopreneur is one of the greatest arrangements anyone can hope to embrace.

That said, there is a teeny-tiny little problem and that’s being successful.

In order to be a successful work-from-home-solopreneur, you need to be incredibly self-motivated, disciplined, focussed, efficient, organized, professional and consistent, and there’s not much wiggle-room either. However, if you think you have got these things down to a fine art – or could with a little bit of rehearsal time – then it’s time to focus on the key skills that will take you from survivor to thriver.

1. NBA All-Star Of Critical Thinking

As a solopreneur, the clue is in the title: you’re doing it solo. This means you need to be amazing at handling all the responsibilities of a professional business by yourself – no guidance and no help. As such, you need to be a decision-making superstar, a swift problem solver, and speedy organizer. This is imperative. You need to keep all the plates spinning and do so without any wobbles whatsoever.

2. Self-Starter Doesn’t Do It Justice

In order to be great at working from home, you need to be exceptional and getting into the groove and waking up full of motivation for the day ahead. The reason for this is simple: if you can’t get motivated then you won’t be able to produce top-quality work. Period. You are the boss and that means being a motivator needs to fall within your skill set; but not a motivator of others, a motivator of your own efforts too. The best way to do this is to a) know when you work best (morning or afternoon) or b) get into a routine of working set hours so that your body and brain get into this habit. If you need any advice on this, we highly recommend you chat to the founder of Copper Milk Creative, who is a solopreneur turned industry champ. The point is, being disciplined on this front will help you remain more professional throughout.

3. We Love It When A Plan Comes Together

We mentioned above just how amazing it is to be a work-from-home boss because it lets you work from the comforts of your habitat and enjoy your family to the maximum. But you need to plan ahead to make sure that these things don’t work against you. That means arranging childcare if you have meetings, have a distraction-and-disturbance-free office environment, and planning your days out so that you know what your work commitments are and what personal dates you have scheduled. It’s not easy, but it gets easier with time.

4. Your Communication Etiquette Is Everything

When you work from home, the way you communicate with potential clients is your biggest, most important asset. You need to have that ability to both wow and remain polite each time you pick up the phone, no matter how many rejections you may have faced that day. Good etiquette is the most important ingredient when making sales calls. But it’s not just about sales. Developing the right telephone etiquette will help you to make a positive impression on your customers and win their loyalty which is the ultimate aim of customer service. And it’s not only the telephone that counts. Being able to write gripping cold-emails is another absolutely imperative skill to have in your scabbard and something this creative copywriting agency can help you with, no problem whatsoever.

5. Technology Is Your New BFF

The world has gone haywire when it comes to technology and that’s because everything relies on tech these days. At the very basic end of the scale, if you want to succeed, you need to have a solid understanding of how to use a computer and how to search the internet effectively. That’s the very least you need. If you want to improve your chances of success, then you need to know what technology will be of real benefit to you, which systems will help you automate your processes and which tidbits can help you look a thousand times more professional. You will also want to know how to troubleshoot any of those annoying glitches that have become synonymous with technology. After all, technology is the best thing on earth until it goes wrong and then it becomes your undoing.

6. Use Your Initiative Every Second Of Every Day

Just because you are working from home and drinking out of a mug that says boss on it does not mean you can skimp on being resourceful or creative. You need these two skills now even more than you did when you working in a traditional office. What’s more, you need to practice using these skills as much as you can to ensure you have the abilities to tackle any issues that may arise, from customer complaints to building a strong rapport, to growing your operation beyond your cliched wildest dreams. When you are working alone, being able to take that extra step and show initiative is a currency worth as much as money and time. It’s what keeps your business ticking, it’s what keeps your enthusiasm growing and what keeps your finger on the pulse, and all these things are crucial.

Some of these things might come naturally to you, others may require a little bit more work. However, if you are able to consciously work toward imbibing the above skills, well, you will find your home-based business gets off to a better flying start than the Wright brothers invention.

This is a contributed post

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