Certain skills are part of the “cost of entry” of starting your own business. These are the ones I can think of right now:
- Competency with your product/service offerings
- Customer Service
- Marketing
- Basic Accounting
- Basic Technology Skills (email, word processing, spreadsheets)
You can rely on someone else to handle the bulk of some of these but you still need a basic competency in each. For example, you can hire a bookkeeper to track your income and expenses but you need to know how to review her work because it is your business and ultimately it is your success that is on the line if something is wrong.
If you think that being really good with your product or service is enough you’ll be surprised when no one knows about the great things you’re doing since you aren’t doing the right marketing or when you lose your customers because you aren’t good at taking care of them the way they expect.
Did I miss any skills that you think are necessary?