According to the article “6 Tips to Running a Business and Improving Your Education” by contributor Scott Langdon on Entrepreneur’s website, not only do entrepreneurs have a wide range of responsibilities, but what often makes them successful at these tasks is education. Unfortunately, Langdon notes, these businesses are often the ones to cut back on education programs. As such, he offers six tips for keeping up with education while running a business:
- Delegate your smaller responsibilities. Consider what you have to gain from furthering your education and what you could lose. Then, weigh that against your current business responsibilities and see if there are some less important tasks that you can delegate to a business partner or employee in order to open up your schedule for education.
- Make a company education day. If it’s for the betterment of the business, you should feel that giving the company a day of education is an investment, not a detraction. Consider giving employees the “day off” to attend some sort of educational event together.
- Take it class by class. Because time is always a constraint for entrepreneurs, getting an education at this point will always go slowly. If going back part-time feels too overwhelming, consider taking just one class at a time, even if it sounds unappealing to take so long to complete a degree. For those who simply want to learn and not necessarily get a certification or degree, there are online course options that let you study at your own pace as well.
- Map out a schedule. Write down a schedule of both your business and personal life, which means including any free time. When you have everything laid out, you will either surprise yourself, finding that you do have the time to devote to studies, or you may find that you do not have the time you thought you did.
- Ensure you have support. If you’ve found you have both the desire and time for getting an education, make sure that you have the support of your family and business partners; otherwise, getting your education will put emotional stress on you, making it more difficult and possibly not worth it in the end.
- Remember that it’s an investment. Remember that, even if you are not taking as many classes as you’d like, the important thing is that you’re still learning and that putting this knowledge to practice in your business is the ultimate test. Of course, if you do need to focus on your business and put your education on hold for a while, that’s fine. Just remember that when you do find the time, you can follow the tips above.
Read the original article here.