What classes would be helpful to take if you wanted to start a business?
Hello all,
I majored in Education as an undergraduate and the only business-related course I ever took was Econ101. I've been working for a small company since graduating, and reading a lot of books on entrepreneurship. I've decided that I'd like to start my own business. I was wondering if there were any courses you all thought might be helpful to take? (the business I'm picturing is an internet-based business that sells cheap imitations of expensive products). Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Web-Site Design, Logistics, etc...
Book suggestions are welcome as well.
Thank you very much in advance for any help.
Blue
I actually was thinking of this same thing the other day. Shark tank is back on ABC, and it always does make my mind wander to entrepreneurship.
I am not trying to be clever (given the trademark issues you could encounter with your business idea), but business law would be really helpful in general. It could save a slip-n-fall down the line, too.
Basic accounting is a given. I'd also read up on ERM software, an accounting suite, and some basic tax law. Depending on your business model, figuring out Google AdSense and Paypal could be a good idea.
Don't bother with web design. It takes too long to get good at it. Either use a package (google sites?) or let a professional take over.
I disagree with this statement. Developers are incredibly expensive, and it's hard to convince good ones to help. I'd suggest learning code, especially if you're trying to make a web-based business. Also, you want to know you're not getting scammed by other programmers if you do pay someone else to help.
Learning Wordpress (.org not the .com) will be one of the most valuable tools you can have for an internet entrepreneur. It was developed to be a platform for blogs, but it is widely regarded as one of the most powerful tools. It has a big learning curve but you don't need to know any coding (but will be helpful if you can't to be more customized). Go to warriorforums.com for more info on internet entrepreneurship. Instead of selling imitation products, you can probably make more money by referring people to actual legit products (amazon affiliate, ebay ect).
...You want to start a business get in line. You need an idea and I doubt a class is going to help you find that. Other than that I agree withe everything West Coast said.
Basic accounting should be #1 on the list.
Actually I am currently in an Economics of Entrepeneurship class and we are reading a book title Street Smarts by Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham and Invisible Wealth by Kling and Schulz. Not sure how great they are but I need to read them for class so I am assuming they are decent for this topic
Thank you very much guys. I'm going to list those as ones I'm thinking about taking now when I ask business school professors the same questions. Will make me look like less of an idiot, hopefully.
Not too sure if such a course is available, but some colleges have courses specifically tailored to entrepreneurship-related finance. They'll teach you to project your earnings from nothing, pretty much, and possibly how to deal with things like what happens if you company grows and you want to sell it off, or seek external funding.
Failing that, any course which teaches you some basic financial modelling could be handy.
E-Myth is a good read.
You would probably learn more about entrepreneurship by running a lemonade (banana?) stand than sitting in any classroom.
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/11/19/what-makes-an-entrepreneu…
JFDI
JFDI
make a unique product the day of being a successful business while not selling something unique are over
Accounting is key, I would also recommend thinking about taking some marketing classes. Having to create a business plan from scratch for an entrepreneurship class my senior year of UG, I quickly found out that a huge part of the plan is marketing/strategy related and I had no real experience doing any of that as I focused solely on accounting and finance up to that point. It also definitely helps you to determine whether you have a viable product that would actually be in demand.
Wordpress + Studiopress + learning a bit about SEO will make you a successful net entrepreneur, assuming you have a decent business model and the motivation to implement. Best of luck
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