What skills do I need to start a hybrid school?

What skills make entrepreneurs successful?! The short answer is there isn’t just one set of skills that you need. Vision, discipline, big-picture thinking, the ability to see possibilities on the other side of challenges, ability to manage finances…oh, but it also comes in handy to be able to think of practical details and not be too idealistic and to be a team player… is the answer simple? Not really…

What you do need is to believe in the vision and mission. Then you need to take the time to inventory what you do well and what gaps you might have.

You need to have the discipline to stick it out through the hard parts, the humility to understand you might need others, and the willingness to learn what you need to learn to manage the organization (which doesn’t mean doing it all yourself. In fact the best leaders will surround themselves with gap-fillers!).

Educational entrepreneurs need to start with a heart vision. You need to know why you are doing this!

Then you need to come up with a strategic plan. Next you need to fill your gaps. If you are great at finances, but panic in a room of kids (ahem…guilty), or you are an excellent team player, but struggle with delegation, or you love to work with kids, but aren’t so great at seeing the big picture of the business…all of those things matter far less than does taking an honest inventory of yourself and then fitting yourself in where you will thrive.

Know why you are doing this, have humility, be strategic, and you can do it!