Let’s talk about business management skills. Every small business involves fairly complex business management processes if it is to be successful. In a larger organisation, there are typically several specialised functions within the organisational structure. In a small business, these functions are handled by one or two people – the owner and maybe an admin person. And neither of those people is likely to have had any significant level of management training in the past.
Under the CEO several specialized functional areas support the organization. They generally include functions like
- Marketing, Sales (and no they are not the same thing!),
- Accounting and Finance,
- Human Resources,
- ICT (Information and Communication Technology),
- Business Support or Administration and finally,
- Operations where the goods or services offered by the organization are produced.
Your organizational structure is more likely to have only one or two boxes. With those functions being performed by you and your partner (if you have one).
If you are a technician (i.e., a plumber, or a hairdresser, or a business consultant etc.) you will probably be focused on the roles performed by the CEO and Operations Manager in our ‘typical organization’. But that doesn’t mean that you can avoid doing the tasks normally done by the Marketing Manager, the Sales Manager, the Finance Manager, the ICT Manager, or the Business Support Manager.
Unless you are an employer you can probably get away with not doing the tasks generally done by a Human Resources Manager. But if your business is going to succeed all of the other functions need to be done by someone. These functional areas are described as ‘specialized’ for a reason. In a larger organization, people with extensive experience, and more often than not, discipline-specific qualifications manage these functions.
For example, I was the Finance Manager for a large organization. To win that job, I had to have post-graduate qualifications in accounting and business management. I had to demonstrate that I had relevant ‘hands-on’ experience.
Can you, as an entrepreneurial small business owner, develop the same level of knowledge, skill and experience overnight?
Of course not!
It took me at least ten years of university-level study to get to that point in my career. The same would apply to the Marketing and Communication Manager, ICT Manager and Human Resource Manager. But would-be entrepreneurs do have some other options.
If you do not possess all of the small business management skills you will need to start your small business, you need to source them somehow. You could improve your skills in these areas by doing a course on small business management skills. Or you could buy in the skills you need but don’t have. You can do this by employing people with those skills or outsourcing to another business. For example, by using a bookkeeping service to manage your books or a recruitment agency to hire new people.
You still have to be the ‘head’ or CEO of your small business. Developing a business direction and strategy is your responsibility. It cannot be outsourced. You are (and should be) the public face of your business. You will be ultimately responsible for your business’s performance.
As the business owner, you should also determine the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘who’ of your marketing strategy. However, you may be able to hire the skills necessary to implement your strategy.
