Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I just read an article in the Entrepreneur Magazine that most successful entrepreneurs did not have a collage degree. Though I think it will never hurt you to get all the education you can it will not always make a difference in your success. If you really want to start a business I would get all the accounting I could, experience in the field you want to work in and pray for a lot of luck.

Thanks for your input. I`m not looking to get a business degree. I already have two engineering degrees. I`m in the process of starting an LLC with three others. The vision for our company is a high tech company that spans across many industries. Our first project is a sputtering machine used in the semiconductor industry. We have sort of have one customer lined up already.

I was just planning of taking several business classes to learn as much as I can. I`m the kind of person that likes to immerse myself in whatever I want to learn. Websites like startupnation.com really help as well. I can across my readings that people who have training and/or some business education are much more likely to have successful business. I`m sure that there are some that buck that trend and succeed anyway without much formal education and training.

Hey RocketScientist,

Shoot me a PM if you want to talk - some of my biggest customers are sputtering target customers - while I can`t give you names, I can talk abstractly about the market if that would help you.  I`m also an engineer with 2 degrees that then got a Carnegie Mellon MBA - looking back, your plan might make more sense (and cents!)  Some of it depends on if you`re strictly looking for book knowledge or contacts too.  I`d be happy to talk about that too.

Well, you don`t have to be a rocket scientist to be an entrepreneur.  (Sorry, I couldn`t resist.)

My actual point though is that the willingness to learn, grow, fail, etc. is often more important than business book smarts.  And that entrepreneurial spirit is also something to study.  I have absolutely no formal business training but I`ve learned a lot about business from my own experience or other entrepreneurs` stories.  I believe success is more dependent upon your approach than how much knowledge you gain before going in.

I`ll drop you a PM soon....

Hey RS-

I have a Doctorate in business with a specialty in small business management. I`ll tell you that my level of education has VERY little do with my success in business. My motivation in getting the degree was to to be able to teach, not to make me a better business person. The only things that really helped me came from when I had professors who had actual real-world experience as an entrepreneur. The ones that I had (and there were lots) who were packed with book knowledge but little or no real-world experience didn`t help much at all. It`s good to get an education but it only goes so far.

Good luck,
Ron

RS:

You should be congratulated, because you have already done more to educate yourself than 80% of all entrepreneurs, and have increased your chances of success immeasurably!

My only suggestion: experts - accountant, attorney, insurance, lender.

Good luck!



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You might want to check out this topic:
"Formal Business Education -- Do You Need It?"

There`s no doubt in my mind that you MUST have a solid sense of what makes a product, what makes a market, what are customers, and what is sales. You don`t have to learn that in school, you can learn it selling just about anything.

The advantage to a formal business education is that you get to learn stuff about accounting, handling money, and a sense of how legalities are associated with doing business.

Of all the things I`m seeing that come in to play with a small startup, the two most important seem to be process analysis and strategic thinking. Understanding how important it is to have solid, understandable, documented processes means also understanding why those processes matter to any business.

As for strategic thinking (versus tactical thinking), that`s the core difference between an executive and an employee. Being a startup entrepreneur also means being an executive, so if you don`t understand the function of a CEO or other Chief Executive, you`re in real trouble.

Everything else you can learn by the seat of your pants. :-)