There are many skills you need to run a small business. Even if you completed school they sadly don’t teach most of the important business skills at school. A big business will employ people with special skills and experience but as a small business, you will probably have to do all the tasks needed to run the business successfully.
We will run through the top 10 important skills and how you can learn them for free.
Options available
Sometimes your local Chamber of Commerce, education center, community center, or even local businesses offer free training. Get involved and look around. There are some quality free training options around.
If you search on Google and YouTube, on a computer or your phone, there are many options.
FNB Fundaba is a good example and they offer free online training and support in isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, English and Afrikaans.
Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Network is another great option.
For more advanced skills, you can look online at Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) or Edx.org.
SME South Africa is another site to consider if you want to improve your business skills.
The most important thing is to read, look around, listen, and learn. There are always opportunities to develop your skills.
Many international sites offer free training. Sites like Udemy, Shaw Academy, Classcentral.com, and
Lynda.com are just a few examples. Although they are international courses, much of the learning will still apply to your local business.
Here are the 10 essential skills and how to learn them for free:
- Skills S001 Spreadsheets
Keeping good records of all your money is very important to your business. You need to know how much you make, what you spend, the cost of the goods, the profit you make and many other areas. Without knowing all of these numbers and following them you will not be able to know how well your business is doing. The easiest way to track all of these numbers is a spreadsheet.
Microsoft Excel is the most popular spreadsheet but there are others, even free ones like
Apache OpenOffice Calc. They all work in the same way so if you understand one you can work on the others.
They can be tricky to learn if you have not used them before. Fortunately, there are many great places that can help you for free. If you are a beginner, you can look at free options such as Coursera or Trumpexcel.
If you have the basics but get stuck, use Google, or even better, YouTube for the answer. There is normally a quick video that will solve your problem.
- Skills S002 Business communication
When communicating in business, either in talking but especially in writing, the rules are a bit different.
A good place to start is EduConnect. There are many other resources that you can find using some of the links we have mentioned above or by doing a search on Google. If you want to grow and develop your business it is important that you have good business communication skills so take the time to develop yourself in this area.
- Skills S003 Proper English (Babbel)
Learning to talk in correct English is important in business. Even if most of the people you talk to and do business with speak your language there will be many times you have to talk to suppliers, bankers, or other people that talk in English. If you want to grow your business beyond your local area, proper English will become more important.
There are many great free resources that can help with this. One of the biggest and most popular is Babbel. What is great is that you can use it on a computer or even on your phone. It teaches you practical everyday English that you can use in business.
It is free to register and start but more advanced lessons will need a small investment. There are other options available and we will go into more detail in the full article.
- Skills S004 Cash flow
Cash flow is the lifeblood of your business. Without cash, you cannot buy stock to sell more goods or provide your service and this will make the problem even worse. Managing your cash flow is one of the most important skills to learn in any business, small or large.
There are several resources where you can learn this important skill for free. You will need access to the internet but a Google search will point you towards a number of articles that will explain what you need to know.
MTN offers a good resource that you can check out here. Another quick course that is free is from 5 Minute Classes. Although explained in American terms, the same ideas apply in this informative article. Read as much as you can and apply the lessons to your business to make sure bad cash flow does not cause your business to suffer.
- Skills S005 Word Processing
Like spreadsheets, it is also important that you are able to use Word effectively. Word is a word processor that allows you to type documents, crate adverts, and many other documents important for your business. Use Openoffice for the free version.
Microsoft offers free training and support but there are many other options if you look around on Google. Udemy also has some excellent free options.
- Skills S006 Typing
Fast and accurate typing is an essential skill in the modern age. The best way to learn is by practicing but it does help to have some guidance. There are many free courses to help you improve your typing.
You can also take speed tests to measure your improvement. Fast typing will make you more productive and allow you more time to run your business.
Check out Typing Club or Typing.com, two of the many great options.
- Skills S007 Marketing (Social media)
Marketing is very important for your business. The old days of advertising in newspapers and magazines are coming to an end. While word of mouth is a great way to get new business, social media marketing is fast becoming the best way to market your product or service.
You might think this is a difficult thing to do but it is quite easy to get the basics right. There is lots to read on the internet and many good courses you can do for free.
You can find courses that will teach you the basics of social media marketing or more specific courses on Facebook marketing, Google AdWords and other important areas.
One of the best options available at the moment is from Moz Academy. Moz is known as experts in digital and social media marketing. They have a range of excellent courses, normally very expensive, for free. Skills portal is another site with some great options.
- Skills S008 Phone etiquette
A common mistake many people make in business is poor phone etiquette. If you are not familiar with the term, it simply means having good manners on the phone. The way you speak in business is different from how you would speak to friends or family and this is a skill the needs to be learned.
There are not that many free courses but there are many articles you can read on the subject. This one at Hubspot is pretty good as well as this one here. There are also a number of excellent YouTube videos such as this free lesson – Telephone Tips & Etiquette and Phone Etiquette Training.
Skills S009 New language (Babbel)
If you plan to expand into new markets or have customers in your area that speak a different language, learning this language will improve your chances of success. There are many free resources online. One of the best is the one we mentioned before for English, the Babbel site.
Skills S010 Sales skills
Sales skills are one of the more difficult things to learn for free but that is not to say there are not many brilliant resources available. YouTube is a good place to start. Many people with good knowledge of selling skills offer free videos that will teach you many of the skills you need to sell well.
Here are two great examples but there are many more. The four-letter code to selling anything and 5 Killer Sales Techniques Backed By Science.
There are other options such as Alison and Lessonly.
Also remember, if you want to learn sales skills but have very little experience, you could always look for a job as a commission-only salesperson. This will give you some training and experience as you grow your confidence. (opportunity to link to point in previous article, 50 business opportunities).
Final thoughts
Education is power. What is great, these days, is that you can learn skills for free. Often, you will need a computer and internet but in most cases, your mobile phone will be perfect. Take the time to improve your skills and your business and career results are sure to get better.