For many entrepreneurs, the lack of educational requirements before starting their own business is one of the biggest reasons to start their own company and be their own boss. A successful business owner certainly does not need to have attended college or earned a degree to get to where they are. Similarly, earning your degree in business studies or the equivalent will not guarantee that you’ll be a good company boss.
However, there’s no denying that studying for an MBA can have several great benefits if you are thinking about starting your own business, or running your own business already. It is a great way for you to improve your business knowledge, widen your skill-set and build a strong network of professionals who you can turn to for help and advice if needed. Here are some of the reasons to consider studying for your MBA as an entrepreneur, and how you should approach this new task.
Reason #1. Improve your entrepreneurship skills
One of the best reasons to study for your MBA is that you will have the opportunity to significantly improve your business skills. If you have started your own business with little to no previous experience, studying for an MBA can help you get a far wider understanding of the business world in general, and all the aspects of running your own company.
Not only will you learn more of entrepreneurship and starting a small business
Reasons #2. Better chance of success
With nine out of every ten startups failing in their first year of business, studying for your MBA won’t just improve your knowledge and skills – it’ll give you a higher chance of success as an entrepreneur. One of the biggest reasons for startup failure is a lack of knowledge on the owner’s part, which can lead to making small mistakes that add up and lead to bigger problems.
Getting your MBA will ensure that you have a strong all-round knowledge of important business topics such as tax and finance, marketing, HR, business development and more. You can put the knowledge that you get when studying for your MBA into practice when it comes to making executive and informed decisions for your own company.
Reason #3. Networking opportunities
Another big reason to consider studying for an online MBA if you want to run your own business is the amount of networking opportunities that you will be able to take advantage of when studying. As a student, you will be regularly meeting with tutors, professors and even other students who have lots of business experience, providing them with a level of knowledge and skill that you can learn from. Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that building a strong professional network is key to success, and studying for an MBA is an excellent platform on which to do this.
View it as an investment
Business owners are making investments all the time; putting money into your own professional development is likely going to be one of the most important investments that you will make, both for yourself and your company. Earning an MBA can be a very large investment of both your finances and your time, but it will certainly pay off in the future.
If you’ve decided to study for an MBA to help you start or run your own business, the best way to approach it is just this – as an investment that you’re expecting a large return on. Weigh up the various pros and cons of study just as you would when making any other investment in your company.
Carefully plan ahead
As an entrepreneur, you’ll know just how important it is that you have a solid future plan in mind. You’ll have written your business plan before creating your company and probably regularly revisit it to see if you’re on track with the plans that you made, in addition to whether any amendments or additions are needed. When it comes to studying for an MBA, it’s also crucial to have a solid plan for the future.
Approach it in a similar way to how you approached planning and launching your company; consider how you are going to achieve the qualification, what you’re going to change in order to meet the goal, and any potential roadblocks and issues that may arise. You will need to work out how you intend to attend classes when you’re running your own business, or if you are studying online, how much time you have to set aside to dedicate to studying.
Relate it to your business
When studying for an MBA in order to improve your knowledge and skills for running your current business, or a business that you wish to launch in the future, it’s important that you make sure that the program is the right choice for you. An MBA is usually a safe bet for current and aspiring entrepreneurs as it covers all the core aspects of business.
In addition, you will usually be able to specialize in different areas of business through elective modules and additional study; it’s important to research program options beforehand to ensure that the options that you want will be available for you. When choosing options for elective modules, it’s a wise idea to opt for the ones that will be the most beneficial for the type of company you’re running or want to run, so that you can really put what you learn into the best practice.
Delegate Your Business Tasks
Last but not least, be prepared for your MBA program to be time-consuming and require a lot of dedication. If you’re already running a business, fulfilling this extra academic commitment may take up time that you’d normally invest into your company. So, before you begin, consider who you are going to delegate certain tasks to so that you can ensure you’ve got enough time to juggle both successfully.
