Are you ready to take your entrepreneurial journey to the next level? Do you want to learn the essential business skills that can help you build a profitable venture?
In How to Get Rich, self-made entrepreneur and millionaire Felix Dennis emphasizes two indispensable business skills for entrepreneurs: negotiation and delegation. These skills can make or break your chances of getting rich and running an efficient business.
Read on to discover how mastering these entrepreneurial skills can transform your approach to wealth creation and business management.
Business Skills for Entrepreneurs
In his book, Dennis highlights two essential business skills for entrepreneurs that will help you build a profitable venture. He reiterates the importance of staying focused on the primary goal of getting rich and cautions against becoming overly attached to any particular industry or business. Instead, be ready to recognize and seize opportunities when they arise, regardless of whether they relate to your area of expertise.
Remember: Your mission isn’t to make one specific business successful; it’s to become wealthy however you can.
(Shortform note: Numerous case studies support Dennis’s suggestion to stay alert and ready to pursue any new opportunity. In Built to Last, researcher and business consultant Jim Collins studies 18 companies that have enjoyed great success over a long period. Of those 18 companies, only three started out knowing which specific product or service they were going to sell. The remaining 15 tried out many different ideas before they found their winning strategies, just like Dennis encourages you to do with your own business. For example, Sony—now a giant in the gaming industry—started out by selling electric rice cookers. That product, and many more, flopped before Sony found its first great success by developing new models of tape recorders.)
However, Dennis adds that, whatever you’re doing, you should make sure to do it well. A good reputation in your chosen field attracts talented workers and makes investors more likely to work with you; a bad reputation will do the opposite. Therefore, striving to be the best in your industry should be a point of pride as well as a source of financial gain for you.
(Shortform note: Quality is important, but not everyone agrees that striving to be the best is a good use of your time and energy. In Purple Cow, Seth Godin writes that offering a remarkable product or service is much more effective than just offering a good one. His reasoning is that every industry is already flooded with “good” companies selling “good” products. To stand out, you need to come up with something unusual that will get people talking about your business. For example, IKEA didn’t become successful because it offers the best quality furniture, but rather because its flat-pack boxes revolutionized furniture storage and transport. This reduced the company’s overhead costs, allowing it to sell products much more cheaply than its competitors.)
Along with those overarching principles of flexibility and excellence, Dennis focuses on two crucial skills that you’ll need in order to get rich: negotiation and delegation.
Skill #1: Negotiation
The first business skill for entrepreneurs that Dennis discusses is negotiation. He argues that negotiation can make or break your chance at wealth because doing it well can get you a lot of money if you’re selling something, or the means to greatly boost your profits if you’re buying a new product or service. On the other hand, poor negotiation skills could lead to spending more than you can afford or accepting deals for much less money than you should be getting.
Dennis says that most people (likely including you) have poor negotiation skills. So, he recommends that, before you even begin negotiating, you set firm limits on what you will accept or pay during the deal. Your opponent will try to sway you, but you must stick to those limits no matter what. This will ensure you aren’t giving up more than you can afford and that you’re not taking a bad offer just to close the deal.
Tip: Exploit Their Weaknesses & Hide Your Own
Dennis says each side’s respective weaknesses are the critical factors in most negotiations. Whoever is able to find and exploit the other side’s weakness will get the better end of the deal. So, before you enter a negotiation, you must research your opponent and create a plan of attack. You might even get professional advice to help you prepare.
Imagine you own a restaurant that needs a steady supply of straws, and you’ve entered negotiations with a supplier. If you learn that the supplier is struggling due to a competitor pushing into their market, they’ll be desperate to get your business. Dennis strongly encourages you to exploit that weakness to get what you need at a lower price.
But, keep this in mind: This principle can also work against you. So, identify your own weaknesses and keep them hidden from the other party.
Now, suppose there’s only one supplier who sells the type of straws you need. This puts you in a very weak position. If the supplier knows that, they could charge just about anything they want for their straws, and you’d have to pay it. Here’s how you might hide the weakness: Bluff by pretending you’re not especially interested in those straws and you’re prepared to use different straws if you can buy them at a lower price.
Skill #2: Delegation
The second entrepreneurial skill Dennis discusses is delegation. The more effectively you delegate tasks, the more efficiently your business will run. Therefore, this is a crucial skill for anyone seeking to become wealthy.
Dennis stresses that proper delegation means identifying talented individuals and providing them with opportunities to use their talents. For instance, if you notice that one of your employees is particularly skilled at bookkeeping, you might promote them to store manager so they can use those skills to keep track of the store’s orders, sales, and profits.
In fact, Dennis writes that many entrepreneurs only stay minimally involved in their companies long-term. He recommends getting your business to a point where your managers can handle daily operations without you, but also establishing clear guidelines for which decisions need your personal approval. This mostly-hands-off approach will allow you to ensure the success of your business and pursue other opportunities at the same time.
(Shortform note: Dennis’s suggestions closely mirror how former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings describes his approach to leadership. In No Rules Rules, Hastings writes that the best way to run a business is to hire the best people you can get (at any cost), then empower them to make decisions about how to do their jobs most effectively. Where Hastings differs is in his suggestion that you maintain an active role through constant feedback at all levels of the company. This doesn’t just mean you giving feedback to your employees, but also getting feedback from them. In fact, under Hastings’s model, an employee on their first day would be welcome—even encouraged—to give honest, candid feedback to the company’s owner without fear of reprisal.)
