Most business owners start out running their entire business all by themselves, which is a period in your life that can make for some exciting but very demanding times. The first few minutes of the day could have you clearing up your desk and dusting up here and there, but by the end of the day you might find yourself having played a range of different roles in your business, from being your own personal assistant to acting as an entire marketing team and emailing prospects, or even pushing sales yourself.

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It has undoubtedly become a little bit easier to get through the legal requirements to start a new business, but as your business grows and you start delegating various aspects of the business, it’s very easy to lose touch with the individual cogs that make up the entire machine. That’s why it’s important for every business owner to have a basic knowledge of a small selection of technical skills that will help you better understand how to keep the machine running smoothly and perhaps astutely putting out fires and doing damage-control if and when the need arises.

Admin

If you built your business from scratch, you will already be acquainted with the dynamics of the often thankless task that is completing administrative work. Learn how to use the latest software and research modern admin trends as this could open up the door to a much more simplified way of doing things. To further alleviate the burden of these duties, consider taking help from a staffing agency specialized in providing virtual assistance. You can hire a virtual admin assistant who can transform the way you handle your daily administrative workload. With a virtual assistant, you can delegate a wide range of tasks, from managing emails to scheduling appointments, allowing you to focus on core business activities. This strategic move ensures that your admin tasks are taken care of by skilled professionals and also contributes to better business growth.

Bookkeeping

You don’t need to a qualified expert whose understanding of numbers is at the level of a Chartered Accountant, but basic bookkeeping skills are essential to the success of any business owner and their business. Learn some basic bookkeeping – even if you temporarily do the books by keeping a Cash Receipts Journal (CRJ) and Cash Payments Journal (CPJ), with all the records to be later handed over to a professional accounting agency that’ll officially complete your business’ accounting requirements in compliance with tax-filing laws and the like. Knowing what goes on as far as your business’ numbers goes is perhaps the single most important legal requirement you have to adhere to in the business world because you are ultimately liable for all your business’ dealings as the owner.

Coding

It’s no longer adequate to just be computer literate. In this day and age, those software applications which hold the most value are those which are tailor-made and often custom-built to complete a task specific to your business. You don’t have to become an expert Software Engineer, but a basic understanding of programming and coding principles will give you the advantage of knowing how to estimate the costs associated with specific code-dependent tasks. If you outsource the development part of some of your business’ offerings for example, a basic coding background will give you a good idea of how much you should be paying for those outsourced services. You can also diagnose and perhaps solve some minor internal problems as they arise, instead of having to call in an expensive consultant.