Balancing Work and School

If you aim to expand your knowledge of an area that interests you, learn a new language, or enhance your repertoire of professional skills, you’ll need to dedicate time and effort to that endeavour in order to make significant progress. But if you work full hours, and particularly if you’re an entrepreneur looking to grow your startup, your spare time is probably scarce. Thus, you’ll need to focus on managing whatever time you do have, while always devoting your full attention to the task at hand.

Take the following considerations into account.

Don’t underestimate the time commitment.

Even part-time schooling often involves homework or extra-curricular assignments. When you’re considering night school or part-time skills training, be honest with yourself: depending on the frequency of the sessions, you may need to set aside 10 hours per week or more. Unless you’re confident that your schedule can accommodate that, you may want to hold off on your academic or vocational ambitions for now, or contemplate auditing a course rather than registering as a full-fledged student. Aim for one course at a time, especially if the experience of trying to balance work and school is new to you.

Online courses may be more opportune from a time perspective, although you’ll perhaps have to forgo the considerable benefit of discussion with instructors and fellow students.

Let your boss and/or team members know what you’re up to.

If your boss and/or colleagues in the office are aware of your situation, they may be sympathetic and enable you to adjust your work schedule around your studies. If the skill you hope to cultivate is relevant to your current position, your boss may even be willing to help you with tuition. (You shouldn’t count on this, though.)

Even if you are the boss, be sure to communicate proactively with your team so that they know when you’ll be away from the office and why. Your studies may require you to leave early or arrive late on certain days; identify a team member to whom you can delegate the responsibility of holding down the fort while you’re away.

Get the most out of your time by planning and organizing in advance.

Set aside dedicated blocks for homework assignments, and isolate yourself from distractions like social media and your smartphone during those periods. Make lists of the assignments you need to accomplish, and populate your homework-area in advance with all the tools and materials you need. This will save you the trouble of hunting around for the requisite items while you’re trying to get work done.

You may experience some late nights/early mornings, especially if you have an exam or deadline coming up. Even if your studies occasionally keep you up until the wee hours of the morning, make sure you still get enough sleep during the week to maintain your performance at work. Avoid procrastination (the midwife of all-nighters) by budgeting your time, and get cracking on major tasks right away.

Reach out to classmates and instructors.

One of the most effective ways to fully grasp and retain information is by discussing it with others; you have to have some awareness of a topic before you can have a serious conversation about it. Group discussions also afford you the opportunity to explore areas where you feel your knowledge is inadequate.

Make use of the resources at your disposal within the educational institution, including your instructor’s office hours and contact information. These tools can save you time and energy, and help to make the learning process more fruitful and enjoyable.

Your Entrepreneurial Dream - Don't Let Anyone Steal It

From the very moment you had your first job, you’ve probably began the dream most common among workers: how to be your own boss?

Actually, that’s the 2^nd most common dream; the first would be to win a jackpot lottery prize and retire!

But the dream of being your own boss isn’t as farfetched as you would think. If you have an entrepreneurial dream then what’s holding you back from taking it to the next level? Maybe you once had a great idea for a business that you see developed later on by a complete stranger into a successful entity.

That only means your ideas are worth pursuing. Don’t let another entrepreneurial dream slip by.

Consider these insightful tips to help make your dream of being your own boss come true.

1.      Define Your Goal and Vision

Saying you want to be your own boss is a good motivating factor but how are you going to get there? You need to define your goal in terms of a business plan. Suppose the company you’re working for now is an area you excel at. Could you start your own version of that company? That’s usually how many small businesses begin as off-shoots from former employers in the same field.

2.      Keep It Real

The key is to pick a specific goal that you can follow. To say, “I want to make a million dollars profit in my first year,” is not realistic no matter what the business. There is nothing wrong with having lofty ambitions but you have to be practical about the direction your want to follow on your entrepreneurial journey. You might want to own your own restaurant but perhaps it makes better sense to start a small diner and build a clientele. Less overhead and more room for “learning curves.”

3.      Learn the Ropes

If you’re planning to start a business that you’re already familiar with then you should have a solid foundation of how that business works. However, that doesn’t mean you know everything about running that business. You might be adept at sales but how are you at bookkeeping or payroll or property leases? Those are all areas you’ll have to become familiar with as your business expands. To accomplish that it might make sense to learn the ropes either through college courses or working with a mentor.

4.      Take the Leap

Sooner or later all of your dreaming has got to come down to earth, so to speak. This means you have to actually begin to implement your plans. If you have a well thought out business plan then you’ll be using that as a kind of road map for this journey. There will be bumps along the way but at least you’ll be headed in the right direction.

Starting your business means you’ll have to be decisive in your business decisions. That’s what being a boss is all about. No more sitting on the sidelines; it’s time to get in the game!

Is An MBA Worth It For Entrepreneurs?

 

There is no denying that adding an MBA to your resume is an impressive accomplishment. It is definitely the kind of degree that can give you a leg up as you enter into the job market, but what if your goal is to be your own boss?

Do you need that MBA to become an entrepreneur? The records show a mixed result of successful entrepreneurs: some have an MBA and others don’t.

If you have both an idea for a business and catalogs for college you might want to consider the following factors before making your final decision.

The Risks

Investing in a startup business is going to take up a lot of your time and money. The same can be said for pursuing an MBA degree. On many levels it will be hard to accomplish both tasks simultaneously. With the MBA there will be extreme limitations on your time. To succeed with that degree you’ll want to give it your best effort without distraction. Are you ready to make a 2 to 4 year commitment of further studies?

If you do go down the path of the MBA, chances are you’ll forge a strong bond with many of your classmates. The pressure will be on to excel out in the real world as a majority of your fellow grads will be snagging those high paying corporate gigs. Would you be prepared to give those up to pursue your business startup? In other words, would your drive to becoming an entrepreneur wane over the ensuing years of your MBA studies? It’s perfectly natural but it’s a good argument for diving into your business first.

One thing you might not learn in an MBA program is probably the most important skillset you can develop, and that’s sales. It’s the ability to persuade investors or clients to come on board your startup. The only tried and true method of that is through trial and error. You’ve got to get out of the classroom to practice your pitch and find the cash.

The Rewards

On the other side of the coin, having an MBA can become a benefit, especially if you focus your degree program on the specific area of business you intend to pursue.

Depending on where you obtain your MBA, you could find yourself surrounded with future captains of industry. That’s an extremely valuable network that you can tap into. You’ll also be able to work out the details of your business plan in a kind of “laboratory” setting. Wouldn’t it be better to run several models of your business by a collective think tank of professors and business experts then going into the venture “blind”?

With the MBA you’ll also have a solid “fall back” position should your business plan come up short. It might be that added level of security could be your deciding factor.