If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that it’s fairly easy to work from home, without the tyranny of the commute and the monotony of the office becoming your surroundings each and every day. For many, this realization has been accompanied by a strong desire to set up one’s own business, to strive to work for themselves and make money without having to answer to an employer or a boss.

If this appeals to you, read on to learn just four ways in which you can adequately prepare to become a business person working on your own project this year.

Reading

One of the best ways to acquire knowledge is through books. You might feel that it takes a long time to work through a book, and that your attention span cannot be held by a physical book for long, but this won’t be the case when you’re reading business tips that you’re passionate about. Indeed, reading tips and advice from some of the best business people in the world is one of the most exciting parts of your personal development as a businessperson. It’ll show you how to develop your own enterprise in the future.

Further Education

As well as picking up some of the best-sellers in terms of business advice down at the bookstore, it’s also recommended that you work to achieve an undergraduate degree, an MA, or another certificate in business. This will lend you credibility, as well as teach you some vital skills in the realm of business management and startup enterprise work. The Kelley Business Essentials Certificate is a handy one-stop-shop for the kind of business knowledge that you’re likely to require and can be the perfect introduction to your upcoming responsibilities as a new business leader.

Talking with Others

When you have a business idea that you’d like to grow into a firm that you work on for many years to come, it’s important that in the early stages, you make use of feedback. That’s because you can sometimes become a little too trapped in your perspective, leading you to underappreciate some of the challenges ahead, and fail to spot some of the holes in your plan. A huge part of being a business leader is knowing when to ask for help and knowing when to listen and speak. You’ll also get these skills from communicating with friends and colleagues as much as you can.

Drive and Determination

When you’re setting up a startup enterprise, perhaps the most important skill in your repertoire will simply be hard work, graft, and an ability to make sacrifices on your journey towards finding your place in the market. This can take time and requires focus and motivation that you will apply to your work, day in and day out. Remember that plenty of startups never make it, so you need to be working as hard as you can in the first months to really get your business off the ground successfully.

Use these four tips to prepare for your new business venture, enabling you to become an effective business leader in the 2020s.