I’ve alluded to the point that trying to earn some extra cash from a venture online is not that difficult, and that you can start with virtually zero investment. Assuming you aren’t making excuses for yourself, have you got what it takes to start an online venture? Exactly what skills do you need for an online business?

In this article, I highlight some of the useful skills you need to be successful when trying to earn some extra cash from a website or other online venture. I’ll also explain where I think my own skills fit into the picture, or where I need to develop my skill-base.

Communication

Communication skills are a fairly useful all round really, you can go pretty far in any job if your ability to talk to people and convey a point is highly developed. However, when working for yourself, communication is slightly more critical as your whole business can depend on it. If your only method of communication is via email or your website, you need to consider what impression you give and how clearly you make your points.

If your business model depends on your ability to write, clearly strong writing skills are essential. This would be useful for any money earnt from freelance writing or sites that generate income based on written content e.g. blogs.

My communication skills - I’d say that my ability to express myself is pretty high, and other’s have make noises to agree with me. I typically think before I speak. However, my thinking is very non-linear, so sometimes the way I make my point can appear to be illogical or confusing if I haven’t fully prepared what I’m about to say. Therefore my written skills are excellent, my verbal communication skills need work.

Programming

Some people say that a programming ability is essential for online ventures, others say you can outsource your work. My opinion lies in the middle. If you have a sound knowledge of how sites and scripts fit together, plus you know what you want, you can hire someone to do the coding for you.

Programming is a very time consuming task, time which could be spent coming up with fresh ideas. Therefore paying someone to do the work for you is a great idea. Just think, you can’t really outsource someone to come up with great ideas for you (otherwise they’d implement the ideas themselves).

My programming skills - My programming skills are very strong, a skill that has improved and evolved over time. Being a perfectionist, it can take a very long time to implement an idea of mine. I’m slowly moving towards the “what’s good enough will do” mindset.

However, given my RSI, I just cannot spend much time in front of the PC. Therefore it makes sense for me to outsource the work to save PC-time. My knowledge of programming ensures that I can command a high degree of quality in any work I commission, as well as ensuring I don’t get ripped off with rubbish.

Organisation

You can maximise your development output (and ideally profit) by being efficient with your time. You need to be able to prioritise your workload to maximise traffic and earnings from your sites. Some people are perfectionists, so you need a technique of establishing what tasks actually are worth doing, and what are just nice-to-haves. There are literally hundreds of books on the subject of organisation, it’s almost a given that it’s a useful skill.

My organisation skills - I use spreadsheets to track my earnings in very fine detail, which allows me to identify my profit and high cost areas. I also use spreadsheets to track link exchanges and communication with individuals I am working with. As I mentioned above, I constantly have to work against my perfectionist tendencies to complete a project rather than waste time perfecting it. It basically comes down to the law of diminishing returns.

Risk Awareness

You need to learn how to assess the risk of trying an idea against the benefits it can bring, along with the probability it will actually work. This is something that improves with experience. Essentially you want to make sure that if you implement an idea, you can afford the cost of it not working. Being realistic about how successful the idea can be will ensure you don’t spend too much time or money on the idea. However, mistakes are there to be learnt from!

My risk awareness - I generally avoid spending lots of money on an idea unless I’m convinced I can make the money back in less than 6 months. This is my own personal metric as my investment capital is still very low.

However, where I need to grow is learning how to recruit individuals to do paid work for me. I’m still learning on the best way to spend cash on the outsourcing of programming and content creation.

Creativity and Problem Solving

Creativity can take many forms. You can be artistic, a great thinking-out-of-the-box problem solver, a skillful crafter, a smart programmer, a pattern spotter (think financial investing), you name it. Having creativity that works for you and for your venture is what’s important, but this also means there’s a high chance you have a creative skill you can profit from. Look towards your interests and hobbies to learn what creative skills you have.

Many great business ideas are often borne from the ability to solve a problem. If you think of a solution to an common annoying problem, you could have a money spinner.

My creativity and problem solving - I have the unusual ability to come up improvised practical solutions to unusual problems. Kind of how Macgyver used his penknife and random objects to de-fuse bombs, hatch mad escape plans, and defeat bad guys. Incidently, one of my nicknames when I was younger was Macgyver.

Over time, my ability to come up with unique and interesting business ideas has grown. I’m considering using this ability to move towards business coaching and helping others to develop their businesses.

Confidence

Ah, finally the delightful and elusive art of confidence. Belief in yourself and your own ideas is a very personal journey and one that no-one else can do for you. However, there are many books that can help you in this area and are well worth reading. I suggest taking a trip to a book store to find one that suits you (i.e. reading bits of the book before buying it cheaper online).

My confidence - I’m still a little weak in the confidence area, and have yet taken the plunge to go full time working on my own business. However, my technique of boosting confidence is to focus on the smaller successes of my ideas. By appreciating that my ideas work, my level of confidence quietly and slowly grows to support me.

Other Skills?

Know of any other skills you consider to be important? Let me know with your comments below!