Business Owner Skill Set Quiz

A particular set of skill or personality traits in a business owner does not guarantee success in business. However, any business NEEDS a certain number of specific skills. Working with what you have, you can then partner with others to complete the multi-skill team required to make your business a high-flyer.

These are some skills that all businesses need. It is impossible for any one person to have expertise in all of these areas. However, it is important for any business owner to have to have a working knowledge of all of them. An ideal business, should have at least one expert in each of the below areas, with all of the associates having a thorough comprehension of every area.

This quiz will help you define yourself and your potential partners.

This quiz is part of a post on finding partners for yourself in your business.

Scoring: Choose the statement that describes you best. If you are a 1 or a 2 in any area, get partners who are 3 to 5 in those areas and a 1 or a 2 elsewhere. Simple!

               HOW GOOD ARE YOU AT YOUR CORE PRODUCT OR SERVICE?

1.     I am an acknowledged expert on the subject

2.     I have worked in a business in a similar industry

3.     I have some knowledge of the the product/service

4.     Still learning

5.     Don't know don't care. My expertise is different.

               HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW FINANCE?

1.     I am a chartered accountant. I know even the loop holes

2.     I have an in-depth understanding of finance even though I have no formal training

3.     I am able to work with an accounting package and understand credits and debits

4.     I can balance my check book

5.     Finance is for nerds. My expertise is different.

               HOW CONVERSANT ARE YOU WITH LAWS RELEVANT TO YOUR BUSINESS?

1.     I am a lawyer with years of experience in business law and contracts

2.     I am able to independently draft, review and ratify contracts 

3.     I have an understanding of relevant laws but I am no expert

4.     I don't know any thing about the law

5.     Laws and legal matters are scary for me. I prefer to avoid anything to do with them

               WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HR?

1.     I am an HR professional. I have created hiring processes, contracts, the whole deal

2.     I have worked in an HR role, hiring people, but I am not an expert

3.     I have worked in a leadership role, often participating in HR activities

4.     HR is about people. What's not to know?

5.     I don't want to work with people. My interests lie elsewhere

               HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MARKETING?

1.     I have independently created the design and implementation of successful marketing plans involving a large number of people and resources

2.     I have been a part of a team implementing successful marketing strategies

3.     I have done some marketing as an individual

4.     I realize that marketing is different from sales

5.     Marketing is just another name for lying. I do something else really well

               WHAT IS YOUR LEVEL OF EXPERTISE WITH NEGOTIATION AND SALES?

1.     In my previous job role, I successfully institutionalized negotiation and sale across a large team

2.     I have successfully negotiated and created win-win situations on large deals

3.     I have closed sales, but I'm not good at negotiation

4.     I am very poor at sales

5.     My product / service is so good, it sell itself

               CAN YOU DO CUSTOMER RELATIONS?

1.     I have created customer relations processes involving both statistical control and soft skills across a wide variety of industries and products

2.     I have been part of a team planning and implementing customer relations processes

3.     I have successfully retained disenchanted customers through my own skills

4.     I know that customer relations are important to my business' growth

5.     Customers come and customers go. I don't care

                   HAVE YOU DONE INVESTOR MANAGEMENT?

1.     I have successfully brought in and retained large investors into a business for years

2.     I have brought in some investors but I don't really know what works in keeping them

3.     I have created business cases and plans, but not got in any investors yet

4.     I have talked to many bankers and investors and I know how they assess businesses

5.     My business doesn't need investors

                   CAN YOU DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT BUSINESS PROCESSES?

1.     I have headed the business process implementation and team of a large organization

2.     I have worked in a team implementing business processes across functions

3.     I am able to envision processes as flow charts while being aware of the fact that they depict people 

4.     I have a feeling that having processes can improve my business

5.     What processes? We make the product and customers buy it. That's all my business is about

go back to the main post finding your ideal business partner

Or take the Business Owner Personality Quiz