There are few roles which need such a diversity of skills as an online business owner. It isn’t just the skills and education which are important, but also the attitudes and approach which makes these entrepreneurs stand out.
With over 6 million small businesses in the UK, their impact is undeniable. In fact, recent data shows that small and medium-sized businesses in the UK had a combined turnover of £2.18 trillion, which amounts to an impressive 52% of the private sector's overall turnover.
Online businesses are at the nexus of two key societal trends: growing digital importance and growing entrepreneurship. Online businesses also matter because they are where big businesses come from. For example, GymShark, an online gym equipment business was started by Ben Francis in his parents’ garage a decade ago and is now worth £1 billion.
The focus of this work profile is the range of skills and expertise needed for success.
Literacy, Numeracy, Digital Skills & Personal Finance
Online business owners need all the skills that their primary and second education teaches them. Literacy to communicate successfully with staff, customers, and suppliers. Numeracy to do the basic work of ensuring that a product is sold at a profit, or paying staff’s wages. It is for these reasons that an understanding of money and personal finance is so important. No online business survives without understanding the need to manage cash flow for example.
Many small businesses are now based in the digital world, but online businesses are at the heart of it: and so underpinned by digital skills and enthusiasms which are learnt initially during the school years.
Accountability, Empathy, Being Entrepreneurial, Resilience
A successful online business owner need to possess a variety of behaviours:
Aiming High, Attention to Detail, Communication, Problem-Solving, Staying Positive, Teamwork
Many online business owners will have developed their skills and attitudes at school, university or in their early working life.
The skills they pick up during this period are an integral part of online business success. Anybody who runs an online business needs to be exceptional at problem-solving and sorting out difficult situations with staff, services, clients, or suppliers. They need to be able to spot the challenges, stay positive and turn problems into opportunities. Few entrepreneurs would say that their route to success was easy and around 60% of small businesses fail in their first 3 years.
The personal attributes of any business owners are critical to its success, and those attributes are typically picked up from family, school, and their early working life.
Business, Finance, Systems, Processes & Tools
Alongside the entrepreneurial nature needed to run any online business, are systems and disciplines needed to get the basics right. Many profitable businesses go bankrupt – not because they don’t have great ideas or products but because they run out of cash, or forget to pay their suppliers or HMRC.
The organisational know-how needed to run online business is as important as the good idea: the product that can be sold online for a profit
Finance systems are critical – made easier with the advent of digital accounting packages and online banking. Alongside this, the processes to follow laws, such as GDPR in order to keep customers’ data safe and confidential, are vital too.
Sector-specific elements of understanding required for the individual's role.
Ironically, the level of formal business training in online business owners is very mixed. While some will have MBAs, or have done a first degree in business, others will have grown their skills by going on specific training courses as and when the needs develop.
For these reasons coaching and mentoring are very common in the business sector, as a way of passing over the specific know-how and wisdom needed to run a small business from a more experienced individual to somebody just starting out.
