Many people claim that you don’t need a University or College degree to become an entrepreneur. And while that notion is not entirely wrong, it is still not a wrong move to want to study to become an entrepreneur.
While it is true that you do not need a degree to become an entrepreneur, studying helps give you a better chance at surviving in your entrepreneurship journey. That is why many entrepreneurs who started out without a degree or diploma later went back to school to try and sharpen their skills in entrepreneurship.
Many universities around the world today have a centre for entrepreneurship studies or an entrepreneurship college where students can sharpen their skills in entrepreneurship. If you are still in school, these centres of entrepreneurship studies are a great place for you to start sharpening your entrepreneurship skills.
Even if you are not in school, these centres have some sandwich programmes for non-students that will still give you value. But studying in universities and colleges is not the only way that you can study to become an entrepreneur.
In this post, we are going to be taking a cursory look at what you need to study to become an entrepreneur.
To understand what you need to study to become a successful entrepreneur, you first need to understand the important characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. To get a full grasp of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, read this post where we broke it all down.
But for the purpose of this post, the top characteristics of entrepreneurs include the following:
Entrepreneur Characteristics To Audit When Considering What To Study To Become An Entrepreneur
- Creativity
- Optimistic
- Passion
- Motivation
- Product Or Service Knowledge.
- Ability To Network
- Self-confidence
- Vision
- Goal Mindset
- Persuasiveness
- Decision-making
- Tenacity
- Money Management
- Adaptability
- Organised
- Self-discipline
- Leadership
- Commitment
- Open-Mindedness
- Resourcefulness
- Team Building
Once you understand the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, the next step to take is to take stock of yourself. Do you have the traits of an entrepreneur? Where do you fall short? After that, the next step is to look for courses and degrees that address your shortcomings.
In this post, we will discuss 9 of what you should study to become an entrepreneur.
9 Areas To Focus On When Considering What To Study To Become An Entrepreneur
Business
As an entrepreneur, it is very important that you understand business. You should understand how businesses are run, business organisations, business laws, business registrations, and other important aspects of a business.
An education in business will help prepare you for the real competitive world that you are about to enter. Also, it will show you creative ways to handle them.
If you already have an undergraduate degree, you can get an MBA. However, if you don’t have a degree, some institutions will still consider admitting you into their programmes.
See Also: Business Ideas: A Definitive List Of All The Business Ideas You Need
Finance
As an entrepreneur, you have to be very financially savvy and understand your bottom line. If not, you might make a mistake that will lead to the loss of your company. To avert this situation, it is important that you understand the basics of business finance.
A few areas you should consider sharpening your skills in include accounting, bookkeeping, tracking payroll, auditing, financial reporting, and other areas.
See Also: Payroll Management Tips For Entrepreneurs And Smal Business Owners
Communication
Communication is integral to what an entrepreneur does. You will be communicating with potential investors, stakeholders, your customers and your staff. So, it follows that an entrepreneur must have impeccable communication skills.
If you feel that your communication skill is not strong, then take communication courses to help sharpen your skill.
Some of the best communication courses for entrepreneurs include strategic business communication, marketing communication, business communication, etc.
See Also: Communication Is Key To Success In Any Type Of Relationship
Leadership
Strong leadership qualities are important for the entrepreneur. You need to demonstrate strong leadership qualities as you continue to build your business to conquer the market.
To help you prepare for the leadership role as the founder, take leadership courses and apply yourself as the frontrunner. Some areas you can focus on are; innovative leadership, business leadership, etc.
See Also: Leadership – A Quality Every Successful Entrepreneur Must Embrace
Marketing
After creating a solution, you need to create awareness for your product or service. As an entrepreneur in today’s world, you must be informed when it comes to marketing. Because, without marketing, you might not get your products to the end-users.
To develop your marketing skills, you can choose from a plethora of online marketing courses on the internet. You can start from the Google Digital Garage and work your way up from there.
See Also: B2B Digital Marketing Strategies That Businesses Need To Explore
Negotiation
Negotiation is another skill that you need to have as an entrepreneur. This is because you will be negotiating many business deals with key partners, stakeholders, and customers. Therefore, negotiation is a skill that can not be taken for granted.
There is an abundance of negotiation and persuasion courses and guides on the internet, and a quick Google search will spoil you for options.
See Also: Tips For Making The Best Negotiation For Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship
It might sound like an oxymoron that as an entrepreneur you still need to study entrepreneurship. However, it’s the best option for entrepreneurs that are looking for crash courses that will take them through the basics of entrepreneurship.
Many business schools offer a form of entrepreneurship course that you can enroll in and graduate within a year or 18 months maximum.
Networking
As an entrepreneur, you also need to be very good at networking with your customers and your peers. Networking will help you get customers that will not only buy once but become collaborators and repeat customers.
To sharpen your networking skills, choose from a huge depository of online courses that focus on helping entrepreneurs build their networking skills.
See Also: Networking – Effective Networking Tips To Build A Connection
Management
You also need to develop your management skills as an entrepreneur if you want to build a sustainable organisation. Strong management skills will help you manage people and resources in your organisation.
More importantly, you need management skills to properly manage the expectations of all your partners. It is extremely important that you are good at management as an entrepreneur.
If you are looking to develop your management skill, a course in business management will suffice.
See Also: Cash Flow Management – 7 Tips To Maintaining A Positive Cash Flow
Conclusion
When considering what to study to become an entrepreneur, it is important that you first understand the attributes that make entrepreneurs tick. To be a rounded entrepreneur, you need to constantly develop yourself. In this post, we have looked at different areas you need to focus on if your goal is to build a business that will outlive you.
Thinking of starting your own entrepreneurship journey? Here are 35 booming business ideas and step-by-step guides to start them. It’s a strategic and financial breakdown of the most lucrative businesses in Nigeria. Get it now and start building the business of your dream.
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