Not everyone will be good at running a business. Why? It’s not because of having a degree or having connections or a large amount of money to get started. Running a business really requires having a decent amount of discipline and the ability to develop the following skills.

Organization - Being organized is one of the most important things to help run a business. If you’re working for yourself, your system only has to make sense to you; but, if you have partners or employees, it’ll help immensely to have systems or programs in place so people can find documents, tools, etc. This will help with accounting, marketing, sales, and day to day operations.
Financial literacy - Businesses deal with money every day, so having an idea of how money works is immensely important. This means understanding both revenue and especially expenses. Many new business owners don’t do a great job tracking those expenses and are surprised to see how much they’ve spent, making this an important skill to develop as it impacts everything from accounting to sales and pricing to managing the business as a whole.
Problem solving - Being able to think through problems and to find solutions is tremendously important to running a business, especially since the goal for many companies is to solve problems faced by their potential customers. Being able to apply that same skill to the business itself, to learn new things and get creative, will help with managing employees, operations, sales, supply chain management, risk management, and many other aspects of the business.
Optimism and a Positive Outlook - This isn’t just an attitude, but is a true skill when it’s applied. Being a business owner is challenging, but the owners who can find a way to enjoy these challenges and even make them fun are the ones that are more likely to succeed, to identify business opportunities, to attract better employees, be better managers, and to get more sales.
Communication - Being able to share your ideas and thoughts in a coherent and capable way is a tremendously important skill to have, both with the members of your team as well as your customers. Those that don’t communicate well realize how expensive this can be eventually when the problems occur, but those that are able to understand what they’re told and to effectively communicate with others end up being better leaders, are better able to attract potential customers, and to retain them once they’ve made the sale.

These skills alone may not guarantee success in business, but they’re the foundation that successful businesses are built upon.

- John Thrush