You can start a business almost anytime and anywhere, as long as you have a product or service you want to sell and people who want to buy it. Whether it is the lemonade stand you ran as a kid or the small business you are building from the ground up, you learn a lot as you go and no one is capping your income based on your education.
With that said, is there any value in getting an MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree for small business owners? You definitely don’t need a business degree to be successful as an entrepreneur, but there can be some major benefits to going back to school. Here is how getting an MBA could directly impact your small business in 6 powerful ways.
1. Develop Context And Learn About Business Trends
As an entrepreneur, you often just learn new business skills and information as you need them. While this is fine for getting your business off the ground, you might lack context about what makes successful businesses successful, which could hurt your ability to grow and evolve over time.
Getting an MBA is a great way to learn more about the global business market. You will look at case studies and consider why some businesses fail and some succeed. You will also learn about business trends and get new ideas about how to ensure that your business is keeping up with the competition.
2. Make Funding And Partnerships Easier
While you don’t need an MBA to get investors interested in your business, it can make the process of securing funding much easier. Understandably, investors are careful with their money. They won’t necessarily feel comfortable making a bet on an entrepreneur with no formal training in business skills and strategy.
The same factors apply to partnerships. Having an MBA will help you gain trust and provide credibility when you need it the most. Even if you don’t learn as much as you were expecting, the professional benefits of an MBA can be significant.
3. Develop And Hone Your Instincts For Better Decision-Making
As a business owner, it is important to pay attention to both your intuition and your data. The best business leaders have finely-tuned instincts, which allow them to make smart decisions quickly. While you might have a knack for business strategy, going back to school for your MBA can help you improve your instincts and make better decisions on behalf of your business.
4. Learn About Leadership
As a new business owner, you don’t have to know much about leadership. At most, you’ll only have a few employees to oversee and it’s relatively simple to take care of any problems that might come up. As your business grows, however, leadership becomes extremely important.
Practice makes perfect, so getting an MBA won’t necessarily provide a shortcut to enhanced leadership skills. However, learning how good leaders behave and getting the chance to better understand what to do in different kinds of situations can be a great foundation.
5. Get Ideas For Scaling
Many small business owners want to grow and scale their businesses. Very few know how to successfully expand, however. Scaling a business requires balancing investment and growth, which is a difficult task.
Entrepreneurs with an MBA have an advantage when deciding how to scale a business—they understand how each part of an organization works together. They get ideas for how to grow and scale their own business. They know how to reduce the risks involved with scaling to ensure the business survives if the plan fails.
6. Network With Other Business Professionals
Getting an MBA isn’t just about the knowledge and skills you will gain that will help you in the world of business. It is also about meeting people who are also passionate about building businesses and helping them to become successful.
Networking is an important part of any MBA program. You will learn a lot from your peers and mentors. You will also likely gain new opportunities and partnerships while building your network and forming relationships with other business professionals.
How To Get An MBA
As a busy business owner, you might be wondering how you’ll find the time to attend class and study. The good news is that there are more universities than ever before offering high-quality online programs. If you don’t have time to go to school in person and run your business at the same time, an online degree could be the perfect fit. In one 2021 survey, 95% of students taking classes online would recommend getting an online degree.
Online degrees offer you the same skills and knowledge you can apply in your business as in- person programs. You can take classes at your own pace, even if you can only take one or two at a time. By cutting out commuting and increasing flexibility for students, online MBAs have been a fantastic solution for small business owners who want to improve their business acumen and earn an advanced degree in 2022 or 2023.
How Long Does It Take To Get An MBA?
Getting a master’s degree takes time. MBA programs aren’t “boot camps,” designed to last only a few months. Most in-person programs take about two years to complete and offer students a well-rounded education on business strategy.
Online MBAs, however, are more flexible. If you have lots of free time available (pretty rare for a small business owner!), you can choose an accelerated program. If you are still putting in lots of hours on your business, however, it can be better to take a normal course load so that none of your responsibilities become overwhelming.
Is An MBA Right For You?
At the end of the day, getting an MBA is a big investment. For most people, it costs thousands of dollars to get a master’s degree. Not only that, but it takes a long time to finish an MBA degree, and committing to the process is a major responsibility. Only you can decide if the benefits to your business are worth the investment.
If you want to take your business to the next level, then it might be smart to get an MBA. Take the time to think about how your business is doing now — and where you want to take it in the future. Getting an MBA could help you reach your goals!