Master These 23 Skills If You Want to Succeed in Business

You may not have attended business school, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have what it takes to become a successful small-business owner. Of course, you’ll need to develop skills in accounting, financial management, sales, marketing, negotiation, and analytics if you want to learn how to succeed in business. But there’s also a finer art to business acumen that will take an ambitious designer far beyond the fundamentals taught in any classroom. Take a cue from the greatest entrepreneurs of our time and learn how to “win” in any industry with a mix of intelligence, psychology, strategy, and risk-taking. Here are 23 of the most important skills that will help you make it.

1. Define what success looks like to you

The most successful designers have a crystal-clear idea of what they want to achieve before they develop a plan for getting there. Whatever your aim—whether it’s to bill $1 million annually, begin manufacturing your own product, or land high-income, high-paying clients—be specific with your goals, and write them down.

2. Aim high, but create waypoints

Set long-term goals that will push your limits and take you outside your comfort zone but will still be achievable. To get there, set small, accessible milestones that you want to hit along the way. Are you aiming, say, to develop a new product line or sign a lucrative licensing deal? What’s the first step to getting there? If you don’t know, ask. Reach out for advice from designers whose work you admire, and consider asking for their mentorship. Think of these mini goals as waypoints along the road to your ultimate prize. Achieving lasting success is a multistep process, so don’t be hesitant to celebrate the small victories—and don’t get hung up on minor setbacks.

3. Visualize success

Champion athletes often use visualization techniques to crush their competitive goals. This method requires conjuring mental images of themselves making clutch plays, deploying their best strategies, or executing difficult maneuvers with precision—before they perform. The exercise helps condition the brain for positive outcomes and reduce anxiety, and it works outside of sports, too. Imagine what it will feel and look like when you nail that upcoming client presentation. Then attack your objectives with that in mind.

4. Develop a strength-based approach

Knowing your strengths and developing them can help you truly excel. While you don’t want to develop blind spots, working with your best skills and building teams that support your weaknesses can be effective. “The choice is between multiplication of results using strengths or incremental improvement fixing weaknesses that will, at best, become mediocre,” writes entrepreneur Tim Ferriss in his bestseller, The 4-Hour Work Week. “Focus on better use of your best weapons instead of constant repair.” For a designer, that may mean hiring an accountant or an assistant to support you, or simply devoting time to learning a new design management software. Know that time and funds invested in areas outside your expertise will pay dividends in the long run and will let you focus more on design work.

5. Tap the expertise of others

Ask those you admire in the industry what it took to accomplish their goals. How did they tackle areas like hiring, billing, client relationships, and beyond? What were the biggest challenges and surprises? What would they do differently if they could do it all again? And what personal sacrifices did they make? Learn from their mistakes so you don’t have to make them yourself.

6. Know your “why”

Organizational consultant Simon Sinek popularized the concept of “starting with why” in his 2009 TED Talk. He explained why companies that lead with their mission or purpose have more success than those who simply market the “what” and “how” of their goods and products. Sinek believes that individuals should discover the purpose, cause, or belief that drives them—and then tap into it. As any successful designer can attest, when the career decisions you make align with your authentic values and passions, great work follows.

7. Envision your ideal work-life balance

Your Money or Your Life isn’t the type of book you’d find on a business school syllabus, but the volume’s central theme—that money is a means, not an end—provides an excellent framework for determining your ideal work-to-life ratio. The self-help bestseller by Vicki Robin asks readers to consider time as a resource, to put a value on it, and to consider how to use it wisely.

8. Become an excellent communicator

Storytelling is an essential part of marketing and sales, but interpersonal communication may be an even more important business skill. Great leaders understand how empathy and listening can play a major role in successful management. From clarity in written communications to body language in presentations, how you communicate directly correlates with how effective you will be as a leader.

9. Build an inspiring network

Seek out people who bring positive energy and results to your life. Look for a mentor. Be a mentor. Connect with others in your field by reaching out to thought leaders and keeping in touch with like-minded colleagues who can give you advice and be a sounding board for ideas—your own tribe of mentors, if you will.

10. Tackle your fears

Fear of failing, losing, going broke, criticism, and so many other things can kill your productivity and stifle your potential. Whatever it is that’s holding you back, get to the bottom of it. Ferriss makes a practice of what he calls “fear-setting,” which is like goal-setting but in reverse. Whenever he’s faced with risk, he imagines the worst possible fallout if all went wrong, then makes a plan for how he’d get back on track. Not only is the worst-case scenario unlikely, he says, but getting comfortable with the idea of failure will help you let go of negative thoughts in the first place.

11. Embrace failure

Almost every successful entrepreneur’s story starts with a failure. And many will proudly recount their stories of which ventures didn’t work out and why. But even if your career has followed a more traditional trajectory, learning to embrace mistakes can benefit your ultimate outcome. Top innovators and leaders accept that every failure is an opportunity to learn. Instead of avoiding pitfalls, learn to approach them as a necessary part of growing your business.

12. Manifest a growth mindset

People who think their talents can be developed through hard work and good strategies are described as having a growth mindset. And they tend to be higher achieving than those who believe their talents are innate (known as a fixed mindset). Growth mindset people and organizations celebrate flexibility and resiliency because they support collaboration, sharing, and innovation. They also seek feedback, admit their errors, and learn from setbacks—all attributes essential for personal and professional growth.

13. Welcome diversity

Great leaders know that keeping an open mind is critical to smart problem-solving and good management. Seek out multiple points of view and accept challenges to your own ideas. Considering input from people who aren’t just like you can yield invaluable results. The rewards of innovation come to those who allow themselves to think differently.

14. Be authentic

Recognize that relationships matter immensely. Be honest. Be able to accept and give out regular feedback that is genuine, fair, and productive.

15. Cultivate resilience

Disappointment is inevitable, but how we handle it is a choice. Resiliency is the ability to metaphorically stand back up after falling down. Psychologist, professor, and author Angela Duckworth refers to this character trait as “grit.” In her book of the same name, she describes it as “a combination of passion and perseverance for a singularly important goal.” That stick-to-it-iveness, she explains, “is the hallmark of high achievers in every domain”—and is a much better predictor of success than raw talent or luck.

16. Encourage optimism

Keeping a positive attitude can benefit your health, your relationships, and your work. Research shows that being grateful can help. If you see your work as a privilege, it will boost your enthusiasm and help you manage adversity. And in one study, managers who thanked their staff motivated them to work harder.

17. Foster an abundance mindset

In his 1989 bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey coined the term “abundance mindset” to describe secure people who believe that resources and accomplishments are plentiful and available to all. Today, the phrase remains in wide use from business to wellness circles. Like a growth mindset, an abundance mentality encourages sharing, collaboration, and teamwork to achieve positive outcomes. Its contrast—a scarcity mindset—drives people (and teams) toward unhealthy competition and zero-sum games.

18. Measure and manage frequently

As the old adage goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. You’re constantly balancing spreadsheets and analyzing conversions, so be sure to monitor progress toward your professional goals, too. Whether it’s a savings goal, a salary range, or a title, measure your progress with clear timelines. Whenever possible, make goals quantifiable; dig into what’s working and what’s not, and then tackle the problems.

19. Become an expert

Become the person that everyone in the office turns to for something. Then tackle your region. Then your industry. Don’t worry if this takes some time—it should.

20. See the forest for the trees

It can be easy to get caught up in a sea of details and lose track of the big picture. Everyone must manage minutiae, but successful people know where to focus their efforts in order to make progress. Evaluate urgency and prioritize accordingly. To meet your goals, learn to stay focused, prioritize, delegate, simplify, or whatever else it takes to ensure your signal-to-noise ratio is healthy. Don’t let being busy prevent you from being productive.

21. Think critically

Critical thinking often requires separating yourself from the pack. To solve problems creatively, view them through multiple lenses. Assume nothing; question everything. Conventional wisdom be damned—be a thought leader instead. This type of thinking can lead to innovative products and solutions that will give you and your business a competitive edge.

22. Manage stress smartly

Discipline and hard work sometimes require long hours, but it’s equally important to recognize what triggers your stressors. Acknowledging when stress has crept in is essential to counteracting it. Once you do, have a plan for recharging your batteries. Better yet, come up with a self-care plan that thwarts stress as much as possible before it builds up. A well-rested body is a healthy one, and an energetic brain is a creative one. If you’re burned out, your progress will slow.

23. Keep on truckin’

Never stop learning or experimenting. There’s no place for complacency in the fast-paced world of business. The skill sets you need are always changing and evolving, and so should you. After all, there will always be new problems that need solving. Once you’ve climbed the mountain you’ve set out to scale for your business, don’t sit back. Instead, begin setting new goals.