Being a successful entrepreneur takes a lot more than just branding and selling. Every prosperous business owner has a collection of key skills that brought them to where they are today — and cultivating them required a lot of time and dedication.

Of course, all the typical skills in management, marketing, and finance are all necessary, but you need more than that to gain success. So, here are four key skills you should look to build, too:

People management

A key skill that is often overlooked is knowing how to handle your team. Having a clear understanding of your team’s strengths and weaknesses can improve productivity greatly. This not only tells you where they’ll work best, but it also gives you an idea as to who to hire, where you need to improve, and how best to approach challenges with your team.

However, knowing your teammates' strengths isn’t the only requirement when it comes to people management, as Acas explain that you also need to be able to effectively inspire your team. Great leaders motivate others and draw out the best in their people through balance, cooperation, and respect. Get to know your employees outside of work and listen to them when they discuss their concerns, as these cultivate their trust in both you and your company.

Make smart decisions

Making smart decisions for your business requires a complex combination of critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving. But all this needs to go beyond just you or your business, as developing a mindset that also looks at your environment is crucial. In other words, you need to see how macro-environmental factors will affect you and your business by keeping up with the news around you. The economic calendar on FXCM provides an overview of specific events set to affect businesses here in the UK and around the world, which can serve as an invaluable resource for you to know exactly what to expect. This lets you anticipate events that can affect your organisation and prepare for them accordingly — whether it's in the coming two weeks, or the next two years. For instance, Brexit in particular could go on to affect everything from operations to hiring, making it all the more important to stay informed and make timely changes.

Communicate effectively

An entrepreneur who has the ability to communicate effectively has the power to persuade the people around them. Being able to deliver your message, whether it’s through a face-to-face conversations or a simple email, is an important skill. HelpGuide outlines several ways to communicate effectively, citing that it’s not just talking effectively that’s important, but listening as well. Practice engaged listening with your team, and pay attention to the non-verbal signals they give out. Moreover, make sure you’re hitting all the necessary points, and practice expressing yourself succinctly and thoughtfully so that people will hear or read your ideas clearly.

Handle stress in a healthy manner

The life of an entrepreneur is stressful — finding the right work-life balance, juggling businesses and networking engagements, as well as avoiding potential problems and failures is part of everyday life. Therefore, stress and negative thinking is bound to rear its ugly head now and again. I know that negative thoughts are normal, but alleviating them can help keep innovative and creative thoughts flowing. Finding moments for self-care and a dose of meditation to confront all the stress is vital, and with practice, you can reduce your stress quite easily.

In entrepreneurship, there are varied definitions of success: earning the most profit, being able to simply live comfortably with all your bills paid for, or helping out the community are all valid ones. Regardless of which aspiration you subscribe to, developing at least one of the skills above will help put you on the path to success, and become an all-around better entrepreneur.