
When thinking about what online business would suit you and whether you have the right type of character for running an online business it is sometimes useful to sit down and explore the type of skills you have and the type of skills you might need for your planned business and see how well the two list match up. Once you have done this, sit down and look where your strengths are – you might be creative and good at ideas but terrible at organising. Or alternatively you might be hard working and driven but sometimes lack inspiration when it comes to creative thinking. Once you have been through the list you can work out where your strengths and weaknesses lie, what type of business suits you and whether you may need to enlist the help of another employee or business partner. No one can tick every box, but bear in mind that every business needs a bit of each of the following three types of skill:
(1) Engineer or Technician
In any business this will be the person who actually gets the nuts and bolts of the work, be that product development or design or product construction. Because most people who run their own business normally do something they are interested in, invariably they will be the technician themselves, working to develop the products for their business. With an online business if you come up with a good idea then you will probably start building the site yourself. But if the idea requires a complex site design then it might be better and more efficient to hire someone to build it for you. This stops you getting bogged down and building an average site and also allows you to concentrate on other areas of the business:
(2) Project Manager
This is the central role of the whole business and most likely the role that you will spend the majority of your time performing; organising the business. As project manager (and overall manager) you need to coordinate all the various elements of your business, from administration to communication, from marketing to sales. You are the owner and head of the company as well as the person who deals with the customers at the most basic level. In short, you need to be doing everything.
(3) Owner and Entrepreneur
Lastly, every successful business needs an entrepreneur at its heart. The entrepreneur is the ideas man, who thinks outside of the box and looks for new ways of doing, selling or making things. Can you do this?
If you think you are lacking in any of these areas then you might want to look at the nature of business you are going into or whether you need to hire someone else. If you feel you can take on all these roles then you should be ready to launch your new business.
Jane is a business blogger and entrepreneur. She writes about everything from small business taxes to contracting online. She also blogs for an Illinois malpractice law firm.





